Rusk County, Texas History.
William HAYS:
The following bio was taken from page 230 of the book entitled "Rusk
County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the
Rusk County Historical Commission.
Transcribed by Gloria Riley
Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator
Our family traces its ancestry back to 1604 A.D., when Father Adrian,
head of the Presbyterian Church, encouraged his people to leave
England because of religious persecution. The people of Scotland were
encouraged to do the same thing. They settled in Ulster and became
known as Scotch-Irish. They were totally different in character and
religion from the native Irish. They became famous in history for
their defense of Londonderry against James II. They cultivated the
land and became very prosperous. Under Charles I, who came to the
throne in 1625, they again faced religious persecution, when the
native Irish people rose to expel them from Ireland.
Many of the people immigrated to America as early as 1706. They wanted
a land of their own. They settled in Maryland, Virginia, and
Pennsylvania. They sought religious freedom and fertile soil.
John Hays, "The Immigrant," was married to Jane Love, who was born in
Scotland in 1705. John came to America in 1725, and was followed by
Jane, their four children, and his father, William Grimes Hays in
1742. They settled in Chester, Pennsylvania in 1742. Here Robert Hays,
our great-great-grandfather, was born. The Hays families and other
Scotch-Irish were placed between the settlement of Quakers and the
frontier because they were a "scrappy lot." They fought valiantly on
the battlefields of the American Revolution. John Hays, Jr., and his
wife Molly were with General Washington at Valley Forge. She became
known as Molly Pitcher because of her service to the wounded. The Hays
family fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe under William Henry Harrison
during the War of 1812. We have a button from Harrisons campaign,
marked "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." William Hays, who fought with
Harrison, had a grandson (our grandfather) who was named for President
Harrison.
William C. Hays, son of William Hays, was born in 1806 in South
Carolina. He married Mary Christopher Wilson as a young man and then
moved her to Murray County, Tennessee in 1828.
W. C. Hays, with his brothers and friends, brought horses, which they
had bought in Kentucky, to Texas to sell. They were impressed with the
land and prospects of future developments in Texas. Enoch Hays stayed
and built and operated the ferry at Camden, Texas. William C. Hays
"took out" a Texas citizenship.
On returning to Kentucky for horses, W. C., several friends, and his
brother James volunteered to fight for Texas independence. After
returning to Tennessee, James Hays left for Texas with a number of
friends and David Crockett. James traveled with Crockett to San
Antonio and the Alamo. They all died there defending it in the cause
of freedom. He, James, has a bronze marker in his memory there, along
with the other defenders.
Grandfather, W. C. Hays, was a member of Captain Woods Company at San
Jacinto. We have a receipt signed by the Aid-de-Camp of Thomas J.
Green, Brigadier General, Texas Army, dated September 1836, which
reads as follows: "Received of Capt. W. C. Hays, a medicine chest."
This was Santa Annas personal medicine chest captured at San Jacinto.
Grandfather later received a land grant in Rusk County for
participation in the Battle of San Jacinto. The land still belongs to
the Hays family and is located east of Minden, Texas, where W. C. Hays
later lived. He was a farmer, a cattleman, and a tanner.
W. C. Hays had five sons who fought in the War Between the States.
When they were ready to sign up and leave home, Grandfather said,
"Now, I dont want any heroes. I just want you home for the spring
plowing."
John Bruce Hays was killed at Vicksburg and is buried in the National
Cemetery there.
Our great-grandfather, W. H. H. Hays, who was in Hoods brigade, was a
Baptist minister and established quite a number of Baptist churches in
Rusk County and deep East Texas. Many of them have plaques
commemorating him. Among them is the Old North Church in Nacogdoches.
He also preached at the First Baptist Church in Henderson between 1888
and 1902. Grandfather W. H. H. Hays was well educated and able to read
his Bible in both Greek and Hebrew. He was a friend of Sam Houston and
the Rev. George Truett, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas.
The Rev. Truett and Grandfather made trips together to the Southern
Baptist Contentions.
Two pieces of W. H. H. Hays furniture were given by our family to the
Howard-Dickinson House in Henderson. Of special interest to his
descendants is a beautiful walking cane with a fifty dollar gold piece
embedded in the handle, which he received form his commanding officer,
Nathan Bedford Forrest. The cane has been donated to the Confederate
Museum in Austin.
Our people came to America to escape oppression. They wanted to be
free, and those who came to Rusk County stood up and fought
courageously for freedom just as they had for American freedom. We of
the Hays family are proud of our Rusk County heritage.
Written by Deva Hays