Person:Nathaniel Hays (1)

Listed on 1783 Greene County, TN Tax List

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Husband

Nathaniel Hays Pedigree 

 Birth:  About 1769  Of, , , Tennessee 

Christening: Marriage: About 1794 Of, , , Tennessee Death: Burial:

Wife

Elizabeth Gillespie  

 Birth:  About 1773  Of, , , Tennessee 

Christening: Marriage: About 1794 Of, , , Tennessee Death: Burial:

Father:   George Gillespie Family 

Mother: Elizabeth Allen

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~janicekmc/hays_sims_notes.htm

Pedigree of "Hermitage John HAYS" from Cressie Richard Dixon: John "Hermitage" HAYS died 1811 in Wilson Co., TN. His wife was Rebecca MAXWELL who d. 1819 Wilson Co., TN. CHILDREN: Sally, Rachel (m. Isham F. DAVIS), Ann (m. Julius ALFORD), Harmon A., Thomas T. HAYS. Rebecca Maxwell HAYS' will was made 25 Mar 1819, recorded Wilson Co., TN 14 Oct 1819. In this will she named her children, leaving them the following slaves: Sally (called Sally DANE) rec'd a Negro girl named Harriot; Rachel (called Rachel DAVIS) rec'd a Negro girl named Pherrbye; Ann (called Ann Alford) rec'd a house girl named Hannah; Harmon A. HAYS rec'd a Negro child named Mana; Thomas T. HAYS rec'd the land on which his mother, Rebecca, lived and Negroes named Charles and David. He was the executor of his mother's will. (My notes: we know from marriage records the approximate age for Racel: c1791 - and Ann: c.1788, and Thomas T., if approximately 21 years of age at marriage would be born c1795. From her will there apparently was no son named John Hays who could be our ancestor. And our John Hays was born in VA. Rebecca's children appear to have been born in TN.) Mr. Dixon wrote "of special interest is Robert HAYS, who was apparently a very active land broker in a large area emcompasing Nashville as well as "Hays Country". Hays Country is about 60 miles southeast of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage on the east outskirts of present day Nashville. Other HAYS mentioned in the records for the Hermitage Area are Samuel, Hugh, Nathaniel, James and William Hays". Hugh HAYS, Samuel HAYS and Nathaniel HAYS each received grants of 640ac in Davidson County surveyed June 1785, registered 1788 & 1789 (Land Deed Genealogy of Davidson County TN 1783-1792 Vol. I). These grants were adjacent and located between the Cumberland Rivr and Stones Creek. They were within 3 miles west of the present day Wilson/Davidson County, TN lines. Robert Hays received grants covering 6000ac in the vicinty registered in 1789. Nathaniel Hays sold 215ac of his grant to Thomas Taylor in 1804 and the remaining 425ac to Andrew Jackson in 1805. Andrew Jackson built the Hermitage on this acreage acquired from Nathaniel Hays.

Also relating to these same above mentioned HAYS people, comes an interesting E-mail this Sept. 2000 from Mr. Robbie Jones, Architectural Historian for The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson. He wrote: "My job over the next year is to complete a Historic Structures Report for the original log house that Andrew Jackson built ca.1804, which the LHA is going to complete a $1.4 million restoration for in the next couple of years. (Completion date of summer 2004, the 200th anniversary of the purchase of the Hermitage property from Nathaniel Hays.) Since the land that Jackson established his famous Hermitage plantation on was originally owned by the Hays family, I would like to "flesh" out their history for my report. In addition, there is a long-standing oral tradition that Jackson actually moved into an existing log house that Nathaniel Hays had already constructed, but there is no hard documentation to support this. I have uncovered a lot of scattered information on Nathaniel Hays and his neighbor to the south Samuel Hays and his neighbor to the north Hugh Hays. Jackson ended up with the entire 640-acre preemption NC Land Grants of Nathaniel and Hugh Hays and a section of Samuel Hays' 640-ac preemption NC Land Grant as well, where the Hermitage is now. His houses, including the famous Hermitage Mansion, the Hermitage Church, and Andrew Jackson Donelson's Tulip Grove Mansion, are all located on Nathaniel Hays' original land grant. I've been able to determine that Hugh Hays was living in Greene County, TN when he sold his 640-ac land grant to William Donelson & Andrew Jackson in 1795-96. (They bought it for William's brother and Andrew's business partner Samuel Donelson--Rachel Jackson's brother--to move to so he could be closer to the family--he lived at nearby Gallatin, although he never did before he died in 1804.) I also believe that I have circumstantial evidence that Nathaniel Hays was also living in Greene County, TN and moved back and forth between Greene County and Davidson County in the frontier era. A Nathaniel Hays shows up in Washington County (now TN) in 1779 (along with Charles Hays--a son of John Hays of VA), is in Davidson County in 1780, and back in Greene County by 1783, where he marries Elizabeth Gillesipie ca.1792. His son Charles Hays is born in Greene Co. ca.1794 and daughter Jane Hays soon thereafter. Nathaniel is located in East TN until around 1802?, but shows up in Davidson County in 1803. He then settles temporarily at his land grant before selling it (in two sections) to Thomas Taylor and Andrew Jackson in 1804. Where he goes next, I do not know, but Jackson sold some land to a Nathaniel Hays in Bedford County, TN in 1809 (that Nathaniel was already there), but I can't confirm that it's the same man at this time. Samuel Hays, who owned the land just south of Nathaniel, was in Davidson County by 1780, built the fortified Hays Stations on Stoner's Creek ca.1782-83, and was killed by the Creek Indians nearby in early 1793. His wife Elizabeth continued to reside at Hays Station until selling it in 1807 and then moved to neighboring Wilson County, TN. Her sons Campbell, Andrew, Hugh, and Charles grew up at Hays Station, were wards of Andrew Jackson in the 1790s, and moved to Wilson County, TN before 1807 as well I believe. Apparently, some of these sons served under Jackson in the Creek Indian Wars of 1813-14, and are documented in your webpages! I know very little about Hugh Hays, who owned the land grant north of Nathaniel Hays, and who lived in Greene County when he sold it to Jackson and William Donelson (Rachel Jackson's brother) in 1795-96. He and Nathaniel applied for their adjoining land grants on the EXACT same day in 1785 and received them on the EXACT same day in 1786 (registered on the same day in 1789). Daniel Smith of nearby Rock Castle in Sumner County surveyed the grants at the same time as well. Perhaps Hugh and Nathaniel were brothers? Due to the "myth" that Nathaniel Hays built the log house that became the original Hermitage, I would especially like to find more information on him. I believe that we have enough circumstantial evidence to prove that Andrew Jackson built the original log Hermitage "from scratch" in the summer of 1804, but it would be nice to complement that working theory with more substantial information. Nevertheless, that the Hays family owned the land that became the Hermitage is very important to my project and a story that I would like to get correct. The Hays family had strong ties to both the Donelson and Jackson families and I would like to make sure the story on exactly how they were is accurate." If you can help Mr. Jones, please write to him at robbiejones4@@home.com. Another person interested in this project is Marsha Mullin, who wrote that she was the Curator at The Hermitage. She wrote in Aug. 2001 that Nathaniel & Elizabeth (Gillespie) HAYS' children were Jane, Patsy, Charles and Nathaniel.

Giles County, TN Land record:

29 - For James HANNAH, assignee of Nathaniel HAYES, 120 A, adj. Joseph RAY; James. R. DICKEY'S dower; Andrew REGAN; Thomas RAY. Surv. 25 June 1829. James R. DICKEY & Nathaniel HAYS, C.C.