The Hays Siblings that Moved to Missouri: Hamilton, Patrick and Rhoda Hays,

The Children of Charles and Elizabeth Hays

Charles Joseph Hays (1800-1874) and Elizabeth Neil Hays (1804-1873) were married 22 Mar 1822 in Greene county, TN and to this union eleven children were born as follows: Hamilton (1823-1883), h/o Easter Carson; Margaret (1825-1857), w/o Charles Shanks; Robert (1828-1828); Thomas (1829-1865), h/o Elizabeth Jane Mullins; Patrick Hays (1832-1904), h/o Rhoda English; Mary (1835-?) w/o Hale Thompson; John Hamilton (1837-1906), h/o Elizabeth Jane Fraker; Jane (1840-1881); Rhoda (1843-1895); Charles Neil (1845-1926), h/o Isabel Mc Roberts; and Reuben Henry Hays (1880-1949), h/o Daisy Viola Million. Most of the Hays (Hayes) children spent their lives close to their parents in Greene county and in nearby Washington county, Tennessee. However three of the Hays children, Hamilton, Patrick and Rhoda moved to Atchison County, Missouri to make their homes.

Hamilton Hays, the oldest child of Charles and Elizabeth was born 23 Apr 1823 in Greene County, Tennessee. He married Easter (or Esther) Carson on 13 Apr 1848 in Tennessee and to their union was born eight children as follows: Cassandra (abt. 1848-1928), w/o Samuel Moore Hays; Mary Elizabeth (1850-1919), w/o Hugh Hezekiah Hays; Thomas Hays (1852-1913); Martha C. (abt. 1855-1881), w/o John Clodfelter; Patrick Buchanan (1856-1940), h/o Estella Marinda Carr; Charles (1859-?); David (1862-?); Hamilton aka. Did (1867-?). The five oldest children were born in Greene County, Tennessee while Charles and David were born in Missouri and the youngest, Hamilton (aka. Did), was born in Nebraska. Hamilton and Easter moved their family to Missouri in 1856. In their son, Thomas Hays’ obituary from “The Atchison County Mail,” newspaper dated 21 Feb 1913, it states, “At the age of 5 years he (Thomas) came, with his parents, from Tennessee to Scotland County, Missouri. They moved to Nebraska for a short time, then moved to Atchison County, Missouri and lived near Sonora and Watson the remainder of his life.”

Sisters Cassandra and Mary Hays, the two oldest children of Hamilton and Easter, moved to Missouri and married brothers, Samuel Moore Hays (1845-1916) and Hugh Hezekiah Hays (1852-1890). Samuel and Hugh were the sons of Nathaniel Hays and Ann Bayless Million Hays, daughter of Reuben Bayless of East Tennessee. Nathaniel and Annie Hays also came to Atchison County, Missouri from East Tennessee in 1857 and he died in 1867 in Missouri. Annie Bayless Million Hays died 11 Sep 1895 in Atchison County, Missouri as well. Cassandra and Mary Hays, along with their husbands, raised families in Atchison County, Missouri, and were prominent citizens and are all buried at the High Creek Cemetery in Atchison county.

Martha C. Hays and Patrick Buchanan Hays, fourth and fifth children respectively of Hamilton and Easter Hays, were born in Greene County, Tennessee, they grew up in Atchison County, Missouri, they married and resided the remainder of their lives in Missouri and nearby Nebraska. Martha married John Clodfelter (1853-1918) 23 Feb 1873 in Atchison County, Missouri. The Clodfelters had four children. Martha Hays Clodfelter died in 1881.

Patrick (Pat) Buchanan Hays was born 27 Oct 1856 in Tennessee. On 11 Dec 1889 he married Estella Carr and they had five children, two sons passing away infancy. Pat Hays died 21 Feb 1940 in Auburn, Nemaha County, Nebraska. He was an interior decorator and was laid to rest in Atchison County, Missouri at the High Creek Cemetery alongside other family members.

Hamilton Hays died 2 Sep 1883 in Watson, Atchison County, Missouri. According to “The Atchison County Journal,” 3 Sept & 15 Sept 1883, “Hamilton Hays was sent to Watson in a wagon to procure medical aid (for Wm. Hays), and on his return home fell out of his wagon and is supposed to be fatally hurt; he is paralyzed and unconscious….He had long been a resident of this neighborhood and his untimely death occasioned universal sadness here. His remains were followed on the following day to the Sonora grave yard by a long line of vehicles filled with sorrowing friends…” Easter Hays, or “Aunt Esther” as she was called, died 1 Mar 1907 of pneumonia and her obituary from “The Atchison County Mail,” 8 Mar 1907, says, “Her daughters, Mrs. Mary Hays and Mrs. Sam Hays, deserve much praise for the way in which they have cared for their mother in bearing her burdens.”

Charles Alexander Hays, son of Patrick and Rhoda English Hays, was born in Bristol, Virginia 11 Aug 1874 and according to his obituary from “The Atchison County Mail,” 21 Jan 1944, “With his parents and sisters he came to Missouri when he was two years old.” Patrick Hays and Rhoda English Hays, daughter of John and Esther Williams English of Jearoldstown, Greene county, Tennessee were married 18 Mar 1855 in Greene county, Tennessee and to this union were born the following children: John Hamilton Hays (1856-1864); Andrew Jackson Hays (1860-1864); Ester Jane Hays (1864-1922) w/o William S. Paul; Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Hays (1868-1932), w/o Henry S. Herron; Margaret Ann Hays (1872-1872); and Charles Alexander Hays (1874-1944), h/o Minnie Bell Martin.

By all accounts, Patrick Hays was known to all as Uncle Pat Hays. He was a man long in form and when he died 30 Jul 1904 his obituary from “The Atchison County Mail,” 5 Aug 1904, stated, “this community was again called upon to part in life with one of our most worthy and obliging friends and neighbors, Uncle Pat Hays….He was a faithful worker in the church and a true Christian, which he proved to all by his daily walk. He was a good neighbor and friend, a kind husband and father. Mr. Hays was classed among the most worthy citizens of Atchison County and was well and favorably known…..All in all, regardless of the extreme heat, the church was crowded to the utmost seating capacity, and many who were unable to crowd into the building were eager listeners from the church yard….He was a continuous citizen of Nishabotna township for more than 30 years….Uncle Pat..was a true soldier in the Southern army and a true man to his party.”

Ester Jane Hays was born in Tennessee 21 May 1864 and she married William S. Paul 17 June 1902 in Watson, Atchison County, Missouri. She was known to her family as Aunt Jen and she died 12 Mar 1922. She and Will Paul had no children. Patrick and Rhoda Hays’ fourth child was Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Hays born 10 Jul 1868 near Abingdon, Virginia. Her obituary said that “in September 1877 she came with her parents to Missouri locating near Sonora. Two years later they moved to the old Patrick Hays farm where she lived until her marriage in 1899 to H. S. Herron. Nine children were born to this union.”

As previous mentioned, Charles Alexander Hays was the youngest child of Patrick and Rhoda Hays. Charles was his Grandfather’s namesake and after having lost her two older sons and daughter before they moved to Missouri, Rhoda Hays was said to have coddled young Charles. Known to everyone as Charlie, he was married to Minnie Bell Martin 18 Dec 1895 in Atchison County, Missouri. Charlie and Minnie were the parents of two daughters, Gertrude Rhoda Hays (1897-1974) w/o John Maupin and Bonnie Lea Hays (b. 1915), w/o Virgil Johnson. Bonnie Hays Johnson said her father always longed to visit Greene County, Tennessee so he could see where his Hays family had been born and raised, but he never got that chance.

The third Hays child from Greene County, Tennessee to make her home in Atchison County, Missouri was Rhoda Hays. Rhoda was born in Greene County, Tennessee 7 Mar 1843 and she died in Atchison County, Missouri 1 May 1895 at the home of her brother, Pat Hays. Bonnie Hays Johnson said that her mother said that Aunt Rhoda moved to Missouri from Tennessee with her family and that she never married because her beau died in the war. Rhoda Hays, along with Patrick and Rhoda English Hays are buried at High Creek Cemetery, near Watson, Atchison County, Missouri.

Atchison County, Missouri was the home of many folks from Greene County, Tennessee and for years the community of Watson, Missouri would hold what they called “The Tennessee Reunion.” The old Atchison County newspapers contain many accounts of these reunions of Tennessee pioneers who came to make their homes in northwest Missouri. Today, the descendants of both Hamilton and Easter Hays and Patrick and Rhoda Hays reside through Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

Submitted by: Jerre Johnson Robertson, 603 N. Brookline Dr., Columbia, MO; email: jerrerob@gmail.com