University of Virginia Library

HAYS.

Four persons named Hays came to the county from
Augusta about 1780, William, James, David and John. It

is likely they were brothers; James and David certainly
were. William bought land from Thomas Smith on the
head waters of Mechum's River. He married Charity, a
sister of Rev. Benjamin Burgher, and in 1795 sold out and
removed to Kentucky. James at first settled in the same
vicinity, but afterwards purchased from John Mills a tract
that included the present farm of Brooksville. There just
before the close of the last century he laid out the town of
New York, and disposed of a number of lots. For many
years he kept a tavern, a well known stand in its day, which
after his death was carried on by his widow. He displayed
such prudent skill in the management of his affairs, that he
was able to devise to his three sons a thousand acres of
land. He died in 1813. His wife was Mary, daughter of
Claudius Buster, who was married a second time to John
Morrison. His children were James, Nathaniel, Thomas,
and Elizabeth, the wife of Robert Brooks. James purchased
the portions of his brothers, who seem to have removed to
Monroe County. He married Margaret Yancey, a daughter
probably of Colonel Charles Yancey. He gradually sold off
his property, and appears to have emigrated to another part
of the country about 1830.

John Hays conducted a public house in the same section,
and died in 1826. David owned land near the foot of Yellow
Mountain, a short distance north of Batesville. He was a
farmer, a storekeeper, a ruling elder in the Lebanon Church,
and for a time Colonel of the Forty-Seventh Regiment. He
died about 1856. Shortly after that time, a son, David T.,
sold his land in that neighborhood, and removed elsewhere.
William, another son as is supposed, married Mary, daughter
of John Dettor, and died not long before, or during, the
war.