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Source
- Transcript:The Hayes of Derry, From Egle
Related
- See:Old Chester Hays Index
- See:Old Augusta Hays Index
Overview
Sometime before 1737 a group of people bearing the Hays surname, immigrated to America from Donegal Ireland, though Philadelphia, PA. A combination of YDNA records and original source records shows that the members of this group were closely related kinsmen. Some of them settled by 1737, in what is now Derry Township, Dauphin County, PA. This group included person:David Hays (2), person:Hugh Hays (1), and [[Person:Patrick Hays (6)]. They are commonly referred to as the Hays Family of Derry. Another group, clearly related to this line, settled sometime before 1740 in what is now Rockbridge and Augusta Counties in Virginia. Person:John Hays (20) took up land in the northern portions of Borden's Grant in the Hays Creek watershed, while Person:Patrick Hays (1) settled nearby in Beverley Manor and eventually owned land in both Beverley Manor and Borden's Grant. This group will be referred to as the Hays Creek Lineage.
Hays of Derry
| The first records we have for the Hays Family of Derry comes in 1737 when David (2) , Hugh (1) and Patrick (6) obtained land warrants on the same day in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, each for 200 acres. The warrants issued to Patrick (6) and Hugh (1) were used to secure adjacent parcels of land in what is now Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, as shown in the accompanying figure. David is shown in local survey maps of the area as owning an adjacent parcel, though he never had that parcel surveyed. He presumably died there. A David Hays took up land on Conewago Creek, in Rapho Township, immediately to the south of Derry, but this is probably Person:David Hays (10) the son of Patrick (6).
Based on the fact that Patrick, Hugh, and David Hays took out land warrants on the same day, and at least initially settled adjacent to each other, it seems likely that they were kinsmen. Their exact relationship is unknown. Some evidence suggests that David (2) was the son of Patrick (6), and that Hugh (1) was NOT the brother of Patrick (6), but other than being kinsmen, their exact relationship is difficult to document. In the 1740's and 1750's other persons bearing the surname "Hays", took out warrants, and surveyed property in Derry Township. Warrants were taken out by Hugh, Patrick, Robert, and William, Hays. The Hugh and Patrick who took out these warrants could be a) the same persons who took out the original warrants in 1737, b) their sons, c) several otherwise related members of the extended Hays family, or even d) unrelated persons. The latter possibility seems unlikely given the relatively close proximity to the original 1737 settlements, and the fact that warrants for persons by the name of Hays are largely concentrated in Derry Township, and immediately adjacent areas.
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Hays Creek
About the same time that they Hays Family of Derry settled in Derry Township, Patrick (1) and John (20) settled on Borden's Grant and Beverley Manor Old Augusta, Virginia. The first records we have for them come in 1740 when they swear that they had imported themselves and a number of other persons bearing the Hays surname (presumably, their immediate families), at their own expense. Their oaths of importation, made on the same day, note that they came from Ireland, and entered the colonies at Philadephia, PA. They do not give the date of importation, but we assume that they came with their kinsmen, the Hays Family of Derry, who were in Dauphin County by 1737.
While this oath was made in 1740, it is likely that they were already on Borden's grant and Beverley Manor, and were using the oath of importation as the basis for securing settlement rights to land they had already occupied.
Patrick (1) and William (20) settled near each other, with John settling in the lower Hays Creek watershed on Borden's Grant, and Patrick in the southernmost portions of Beverley's manor, and also owned land in the Hays Creek watershed. Both John and Patrick had a number of children, some of whom were probably adults when their parents settled in Old Augusta. In some cases, these children are listed in their fathers importation oath, but in other cases they are identified in the records of Old Augusta. John died in 1750, and left a will identifying several adult children, who were probably married in Ireland prior to their importation. It is also apparent that some of these children paid for their own passage to America, though they did not swear importation oaths.
YDNA evidence from descendants suggests that they were closely related to each other. We do not have similar evidence to show whether or not they are related to the Hays of Derry. However, we know from Old Augusta records that Patrick (1) left the area about 1760, to settle in Derry Township, and that he was the brother of Hugh Hays (1). From this we surmise that both Patrick and John are kinsmen of the three Hays who settled in Derry Township about 1737.
Hugh wrote his will in 1777. It was probated in 1779, placing his DOD as about 1778. His will identifies his wife Mary, brother Patrick, a daughter Margaret, and two sisters whose given names are unknown, being identified only as the wives of a Buchanan and a Morrison. At t his time we have no further information about them. Augusta County records indicate that brother Patrick was in fact the person here identified as Patrick (1) who lived in Old Augusta from about 1740 to about 1760, and then moved to Derry Township in modern Lancaster County PA. Patrick's importation oath identifies his wife as "Frances", who is mentioned in several records dealing with land transfers in Augusta County. It is conceivable that Patrick (1) (the Oath Taker)is the same person as Patrick (6) who settled in Derry township by 1737. However, the wife of Patrick (6) is known to have been named "Jane"; unless Frances died, and Patrick (1) remarried late in life, the two Patricks can not be the same person. Further, available records suggest that Frances, wife of Patrick (1), the Oath Taker was living at the same time Patrick (6) was married to Jane. While the records are not entirely conclusive on this point it seems likely that Patrick (1) and Patrick (6) are indeed to different people. This is significant because while we believe these persons are all kinsmen, Patrick (1) and Hugh (1) could not have the same father as Patrick (6), as we know the former are brothers, and there would not have been two Patricks in the same family. The identity of neither the father of Patrick (1) and Hugh (1), nor that of Patrick (6) and David (2) is not known.
Overall it would seem that the Hays Creek line (John (20) and Patrick (1), and the lines of Patrick (6), Hugh (1), and David (2) probably came to America sometime before 1737. Egle, in his Notes and Queries article on the Hays Family of Derry, places that importation as about 1728, though there seems to be no reliable documentation of that date. Since Hugh cites two sisters, in addition to brother Patrick, we can assume that Patrick and Hugh probably came in the company of their parental family. That family may have included their father and mother, though we have no direct evidence for this.
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