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[edit] Related[edit] TranscriptAmong those who were willing to brave its perils, however, were the brothers Patrick,
Hugh and
David Hays,
also William and
James Hays,
Either brothers or near relations. They came to Pennsylvania in 1728, and all purchased land in what was then the county of Lancaster. William followed the Virginia and Carolina migrations of the few subsequent years and of his descendants we know nothing. On the assessment list of 1751 the name of James is missing, he having probably died prior to that time. Hugh Hays, of Londonderry, died in April, 1779, leaving a wife, Jean, and brother Patrick, among other legatees. [Notes and Queries, Vol. II, p. 276.] David Hays purchased 500 acres of land near Donegal, Lancaster county, in what is now Rapho township. This land was on the west side of the Big
Chickies creek, opposite Robert Spear's farm. He was a trustee of the Donegal
Church for twelve years, and on a marble tablet in that church is recorded
"Patent from John, Thomas and Richard Penn to the trustee, Rev. James
Anderson, John Allison, Jas. Mitchell and David Hays, June 4th, 1740." David
Hays died in May, 1770, leaving a wife Jean and five children:
Mrs. Alex Scott,
John,
Robert,
Patrick and
David.
His executors were sons Robert and Patrick, and son-in-law Alex. Scott. [Notes and Queries, Vol. II, p. 264.] There are still living descendants of their branch of the family, but they are extinct in Lancaster county, the last of the name dying at Marietta in 1847. Arthur Hays, a grandson of David, was in Revolutionary service commissioned an ensign in Capt. Pedan's company; participated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and in the Jersey campaign. In the graveyard at Donegal church are nine gravestones which mark the resting-places of that branch of the Hays family. The emigrant ancestor, Patrick Hays, who was the great-great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Donegal, Ireland, in 1705, and on coming to
Pennsylvania, in 1728, purchased 600 acres of land in Derry township, in what
was then Lancaster county, but is now Dauphin county. This tract lay about
three miles south of Derry. He died Jan. 31, 1790, and with his wife, Jean,
whom he married in 1729, lies in the old Derry graveyard. To them were born
seven children:
(1) David, born in 1731, inherited what is now the Felty farm; he afterward moved to Middle Spring, where he married Martha Wilson, a
daughter of James Wilson, and five children were born to them.
Wilson married Mary Culbertson.
Patrick married Elizabeth Galbraith.
Robert married Mary McCune.
Mary married Stephen Culbertson.
Jane married Hugh Hamilton.
David Hays died in 1809, and his wife Martha (Wilson), in 1818.
(2) Robert, born Feb. 2, 1733, married March 25, 1762, Margaret Wray, of
Derry. On Aug. 20, 1776, he enlisted as a private in Col. Galbraith's
battalion, of Lancaster County Associators, and according to Dr. Egle, State
librarian, became a commissioned officer. [In his Notes and Queries he tells
of Robert having with him two servants at the battle of Brandywine, one of
whom dreamed on the night before the battle that he would be killed, so he
was left behind wlth the baggage. On returning from the battle, they found
that part of the camp had been sacked and the dead body of the servant, whose
dream had been fulfilled.] His (Robert's) inheritance was what is now the
Longnecker farm. To Robert and Margaret Hays were born eleven children. These
were the great-grandparents of our subject. Their eleven children are as
follows:
(1) Jean, born in 1763, died in 1817.
(2) John, born in 1765, married Margaret Gray. He was a government surveyor and moved to Lewisburg.
While engaged in surveying he had any experiences, and on one occasion
narrowly escaped the hatchet of an Indian. His younger brother David also
became a surveyor and was employed with him at Lewisburg, where he was
accidentally killed in the performance of duty Oct. 8, 1796.
(3) Patrick, the third child of Robert and Margaret Hays, was the grandfather of our subject.
He was born in 1767, lived for a while with his brother John in Lycoming
county, and then returned to Dauphin county, and he paid frequent visits to
his uncle David, near Shippensburg. On one of these visits, while riding by
the Mickey residence near Oakville, he saw a young lady drawing water from a
well and asked for a drink. This was his first meeting with Margaret Mickey,
who became his wife Jan. 10, 1810. On another of these trips up the
Cumberland Valley he was stopped by a man answering to the description of
Lewis the Robber, a notorious highwayman of that day, whose hiding place was
in the North Mountain. Patrick remembered clearly occurrences during the
Revolutionary war, and related to his grandchildren how, during its winters,
they would hear in the nights the howls of the prowling wolves around that
home whose father was fighting for the independence of the Colonies. He lived to
be ninety years old, and during his last sickness complained that he did not
know what could be the matter with him, for he was sure he was not so old.
The children of Patrick and Margaret (Mickey) Hays were as follows: Isamiah
became the wife of Alexander W. Sterritt, of Newton township, and died soon
after marriage, leaving one child, now the wife of Malancthon Woods; Robert
Mickey Hays became the father of our subject; Margaret married James
McKinstry, and both are deceased; Mary Ann is the widow of William McCune,
and resides in Newville; Lucetta (deceased) was the wife of James Dunlap, of
Newville; Jane died at twenty years of age, unmarried.
(4) Margaret, born in 1769, married William Thome, of Hanover.
(5) Robert, born in 1771, married (first) Jean Hays, daughter of Capt. Patrick Hays, and (second) Marjory
Henderson, of Shippensburg.
(6) David was born in 1773; his accidental death at Lewisburg we have noted above.
(7) Samuel, born in 1775, died unmarried.
(8) James, born in 1777, died in 1778.
(9) William, born in 1779, removed to Virginia.
(10) Solomon was born in 1781, studied medicine, and bringing his
cases of instruments, drugs, and books to his brother Patrick's left for the
West, to choose a location in which to practice. He was never heard of after,
and what fate he met will never be known.
(11) Joseph, born in 1783, married and went to Equality, Illinois.
Robert Hays, the father, died June 6, 1809, and his wife Margaret died Jan.
6, 1820. They also are buried in the Derry graveyard
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