william "bill" hadden was born in maple shade, new jersey on june 2, 1921. his parents were william james hadden, sr., and elizabeth derr hadden. as a young man, he was very active in the boy scouts of america and was a sea scout. he married margaret shumate (daughter of whitney shumate and jessamine shumate) on august 28, 1944, and they had four children: elizabeth hadden lunney; william james hadden, iii; whitney w. hadden (also known as whit haydn) and robert lee hadden.