Family:William Hays and Elizabeth (1)

The HAYSes of Rich Valley

The Hayses of Rich Valley

Especially Prepared For Smyth County Families & History

by Clinton Fox Hays - 1974

Chancery records of Staunton Superior Court reveal that William Hays appeared as a witness at a court held in the Cove home of James Buchanan in the year 1809. Testifying in a suit brought by Andrew Lamie against Thomas Tate, William Hays stated that in 1769 or 1770, "Samuel Lamie and James Anderson built a house on the land whereon Andrew Lamie now lives" and that he did "know that he (Andrew Lamie)took possession of said land and creatures after his brother, Samuel Lamie, was taken or killed by the Indians." (This illustrates the constant threat from hostile Indians with which these first Rich Valley settlers were faced).

William Hays (not to be confused with William Hay of Reed Creek, as some genealogists seem so determined to do) was born about 1750 - 1755. Records have yet to yield the exact date he was settled in Rich Valley though it is apparent that it was before 1770. William Hays began acquiring land in his own name during the early seventies when Rich Valley then lay in Fincastle County. Permission to acquire land in this area had just been granted by the Crown. He and John Hays, Jr., had adjacent parcels surveyed on the North Fork of the Holston, one called "Buffalo Bottoms" and the other the "Buffaloe Cow Bottom Survey." Some of these lands acquired by patent and grants are still owned by the Hayses, William's direct descendants.

Militia service records of this period seemingly have been grossly neglected. Apparently John Hays was the first Militia Captain in this section of Rich Valley which in 1782 lay in Montgomery County. During this early period this part of the Holston, along with Wolf and Walkers Creek, was a part of Inglishes Company and in 1781 Montgomery County records tell us "John Hays (was promoted) Captain on the head of the North Fork of Holston, a part of Captain Inglishes Company." In 1782 William Hays was promoted to Lt. in Captain Hays' Company, becoming its Captain when in 1786 John, Jr. and Rebecca departed the Valley.

In Wythe County William was Captain in the County Militia and by 1797 was Major of the 100th Regiment. In his will, probated 1831 in Wythe County, Major William Hays named as benefactors his wife Elizabeth, his sons (1) Charles, (2) James and (3) Jacob, and daughter (4) Martha (Mattie) McCarty, to whose four children he left three slaves "along with their increase." The rest of the slaves, along with the estate, he bequeathed to his wife, Elizabeth , and children. Elizabeth died in 1846 leaving a will. His other children were (5) Elizabeth, (6) Nancy, (7) Mary and (8) Barbara.

(1) Charles married Nancy Gilmore in 1796, left Rich Valley in 1832 migrating to Missouri where he died in 1847. Their children were: Barbara; James Gilmore who married Elizabeth Gillespie,daughter of William and Barbara Hays Gillespie; Isabella who married Henry Umbarger; Elizabeth who married Absalom McDaniel or McDonald; Isaac who married Susan Anderson; William; Lee; Charles M.; Nancy who married Perry Young; Eleanor who married Robert Tharp, and Minerva who married A. G. Newman. Most of his children migrated to Missouri with him.

(2) James married Susanna Hayter in 1809. Their Children were: Elizabeth who married James R. Umbarger in 1840; Calvin M. who married Jane Shannon Hudson in 1840; Mariah who married John Buchanan and Mary who married Tom Hiley and migrated west.

(3) Jacob married Rebecca (daughter of Enoch McCarty of Washington County) and migrated to Missouri in 1836. Their children were Rebecca, Samuel McC., Benjamin, Eleanor E., Jacob and perhaps others.

(4) Martha (Matty) married Enoch McCarty, son of Enoch McCarty of Washington County, and they had four children: William, Campbell, Elizabeth and Jonathon. Upon the death of Martha Enoch then married Nancy Gillespie and migrated to Missouri. Nancy Gillespie was the daughter of Martha's sister, Barbara.

(5) Elizabeth married John I. Hayter in 1808.

(6) Nancy married James Cowen in 1806.

(7) Mary (Polly) married James, son of Enoch McCarty of Washington County, September 26, 1811. Their children were: Enoch J., William H., and Eleanor.

(8) Barbara, in 1800, married William Gillespie who died 1805 in Russell County. Their children were: Robert who married Sophia Barnes and migrated to Missouri ; Elizabeth who married James Gilmore Hays, son of Charles and Nancy Gilmore Hays ; Nancy who married Enoch McCarty, son of Enoch McCarty of Washington County, and migrated to Missouri. Barbara next married Robert Ware who died before 1836.

Calvin M., son of James and grandson of William, on September 14 1840, married Jane Shannon Hudson, daughter of George and Hannah Shannon Hudson of Wythe County. Jane Shannon Hudson was granddaughter of Captain Thomas Shannon and descendant of Henry Hudson for whom the Hudson River was named. The marriage of George W. Hays, their son, to Laura Nickiti Huffard is noted elsewhere in this book. By family tradition, Laura Nickiti was descended from the Indian princess Nickeiti, whose father Chief Opechancanough was the uncle of the Indian Princess Pocahontas.

Additional children born to George and Laura Huffard Hays subsequent to Hardesty's original publication may be found in the "Genealogy of Matthias Hoffer and His Descendants", republished by Paul P. Huffard in June 1945. The second son of George and Laura Hays, Robert James, was born 1885 and in 1920 married Mary Kegley, daughter of Rev. Henry Kegley, a great-great-grandson of George Kegley. Children of Robert J. and Mary K. Hays are: Jimmy who married Rachel Young; George who married Laura Buchanan; Clinton Fox; Calvin who married Janet Howard; Mary Ann who married Leslie T. Buchanan. Clinton Fox, third son of Robert James and Mary Hays, and author of this brief sketch , married Barbara Brake, daughter of Rev. D. F. Brake of Pennsylvania. Gretchen and Couliette are their children.