Thomas Heyward was born on July 28, 1746, on his father’s plantation in that part of St. Helena’s Parish which later became St. Luke's Parish, Jasper County, South Carolina, United States, the eldest son of Col. Daniel Heyward, one of the wealthiest planters of colonial South Carolina, and of Mary (Miles) Heyward, daughter of William Miles.
After receiving his early education in South Carolina, Thomas was admitted to the Middle Temple, London, on January 10, 1765.
Thomas Heywood was admitted to bar in South Carolina on January 22, 1771. The following year he was elected to the Commons House of Assembly from St. Helena's Parish. He was a delegate to the provincial convention which met July 6, 1774, at Charleston, when the news of the blockading of the port of Boston was received, and to a provincial congress which met there, January 11, 1775. Heyward was one of the thirteen members of the council of safety, chosen by this congress a few months later, which practically took over the functions of government. He was elected to the second provincial congress which met November 1, 1775, and in its second session, beginning February 1, 1776, he served on a committee of eleven to prepare a constitution for the state, which was adopted on March 26, 1776.
Heyward was a member of the militia of the state and captain of a battalion of artillery in Charleston. He participated, with his battalion, in Moultrie’s defeat of the British, February 4, 1779, on Port Royal Island, and was wounded. He took part in the defense of Charleston and upon the fall of that city, May 12, 1780, was paroled as a prisoner of war.
Soon afterward, however, his parole was recalled and he was sent to St. Augustine, Florida, where he was held until exchanged July 1781.
On his return, Heyward represented Charleston in the legislature for two years (1782 - 1784), and, resuming his duties as circuit judge, served until 1789, when he resigned and devoted his attention to agriculture. His plantation, “White Hall, " was situated in St Luke’s Parish; his house in Charleston was rented by the city and placed at the disposal of President Washington on the occasion of his visit to South Carolina in May 1791.
Thomas Heyward was one of the founders of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina in 1785 and its first president.
Heyward was twice married: first, April 20, 1773, to Elizabeth Mathewes, daughter of John Mathewes and sister of Governor John Mathews, and after her death, to Susanna Savage, daughter of Thomas Savage, May 4, 1786.
