Category: Kinship

Anchor Ancestors 1: Henry Hays

According to a family bible, Henry Hays was born on August 30, 1808, in Maryland. He married Sarah Eakle (8) and they had nine children together. He owned land in Washington County, Maryland. (10-12)

According to a biography of his son Josiah, Henry moved his family to Ogle County, Illinois in 1854. (7) After his wife Sarah died (Source: family bible), he then married Mary Ann Leighman on April 29, 1875, in Ogle, Illinois. (9) He lived in Pine Creek township (Polo) until he died. (14-18)

He died on December 19, 1888 in a tragic train accident, having lived a long life of 80 years. (1-7) His headstone is in Fairmount Cemetery in Polo, Illinois.

See the Anchor Ancestors 1: Henry Hays page for children, research questions, and sources.

Anchor Ancestors

To help connect to Hays & Hayes “cousins” and share research, I’m developing profiles of my Anchor Ancestors. You may call them brick walls, but I prefer to think of these ancestors as the anchors to my family research.

If you wish to share your Anchor Ancestors with a broader audience, send me a profile. Please use source citations for your life events whenever possible. You can include:

  • Interesting stories you’ve discovered
  • Research questions you are pursuing
  • Links to other profiles of this ancestor (ie. FamilySearch and WikiTree)

I held back on posting Anchor Ancestor profiles earlier, because I was waiting for the profile to be perfect. But, that is hard in genealogy. Instead of perfect, these profiles show the story I’ve built, the evidence I’ve collected, and the questions I still have.

Let’s help each other untangle our roots and tell our Hays & Hayes Anchor Ancestor stories.

Check out the current list of Anchor Ancestors.

Happy Anniversary Henry & Sarah

186 years ago today, Henry Hays, my 4 times great grandfather, married Sarah Eakle, in Washington County, Maryland. I am grateful for their union, the children that were born, and the fact they later moved to Illinois. Without all those steps my father, most likely, would not have met and married my mother.

Henry Hays is the ancestor that I am most curious about and that has me the most stumped.

It is believed that he was born in Washington County, Maryland in 1808. But, the earliest mention I have of Henry is in the marriage index for Washington County, Maryland. And, the earliest original record I’ve found for Henry Hays is a land purchase in 1843.

Nothing before their marriage in 1832.

I am curious about Henry’s earlier life and about his parents. Ultimately I would love to know the nationality for Hays. It could be English, Irish, Scottish, and even French.

If you are researching Henry or another Hays / Hayes line from Washington County, Maryland, let’s connect. If you’ve taken a DNA test, let me know which ones. Depending on what you’ve taken, we can compare results.

Holiday Conversations

The holidays are a great time to catch up with family. You can share the research you’ve done and listen to the family stories that put the research in context.

Scan and share old photos.
You can show how family members and the holiday celebration has changed over the years. You can share photos of family members that everyone hasn’t seen in years.

This year I scanned slides my father had gotten from his father. Since my parents never had a slide projector, we never saw these images growing up. I used an adapter that we had for our older Epson scanner. Continue reading Holiday Conversations

Herb Hays: From the Farm to the Pacific

It started with a photograph. The image behind the blog title includes my father and his parents. (1) Dad is in a miniature version of Herb’s navy uniform; and, I wanted to find out more.

Using a combination of interview, newspapers, and muster rolls, I pieced the story together that took Herb from the farm in Ogle County to the Harbor of Japan in the final months of WW2.

Herb Hays, my paternal grandfather, enlisted in the Navy on 9 May 1944 at Chicago, Illinois. (2) My grandmother said that he enlisted in the Navy rather than wait to get drafted in the army because he didn’t want to sleep in a foxhole. (3) Continue reading Herb Hays: From the Farm to the Pacific

Did Bryant Serve?

The questions raised in “Serving on the Home Front,” came when I was browsing draft registration cards. I browsed the draft cards looking for my Great Grandfather, Bryant Edward Hays. I had started thinking about him while I was reading a novel about a family that lived through the two world wars. Born in 1888 and married in 1916, I wondered whether he served.

He did register for both drafts:

The World War I Draft Registration Card lists Bryant Hays as married and engaged in farming for himself in Polo, Illinois. His card indicated that he had not served previously. He cites “wife & farming” as the reasons why he is claiming an exemption from the service. (1)

Based on the draft categories, marriage may have given Bryant a temporary deferment and farming may have given Bryant a temporary exemption. (2)

The World War II Draft Registration Card lists Bryant Hays as living in Milledgeville, Illinois. The card does not ask about prior service nor provide space to claim an exemption. He used the card that was intended for men born after 28 Apr 1877 and before 16 Feb 1897. (3)

His 1930 Census listed “No” in the column for whether a person is a veteran or not. While this is not absolute proof, it is a good indication that Bryant did not serve in the armed forces.(4)

I look forward to exploring the ways in which people served on the home front in WWI.

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References

(1) “World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Apr 2017) Card for Bryant Hays. Citing “World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” Washington, D.C.: NARA, M1509, Roll: 1614436.

(2) “Selective Service Act of 1917” Wikipedia/org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917 : accessed 10 Apr 2017)

(3) “U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, ” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 2 Apr 2017) Entry for Bryant Hays. Citing United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. NARA Branch l, NAI Number: 623284; Record Group Number: 147.

(4) 1930 U.S. census, Ogle County, Illinois, population schedule, Buffalo Township, enumeration district (ED) 3, Sheet 1A (penned), Page 268 (stamped), dwelling 12, family 12, Bryant E Hays household; index and digital images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 Jun 2017), citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 546.

 

#WW1 #Genealogy

More About Bessie

On 30 Mar 2017’s post “Where’s Bessie?“, I wrote,

“A Bessie Greenwell does appear in the 1905 Iowa State Census in Mason City, Cerro Gordo County. She is located at, “Convent E Drummond” with 8 Sisters and a “Veta Greenwell (1).”

I went searching for the original census cards and found the images at FamilySearch.

1905 Iowa Census: Bessie Greenwell, age 9 from Kentucky, is at the St. Francis Convert. Veta Greenwell is age 7 from Kentucky. (2)

My great grandmother would have been age 16 in 1905 and was born in Tennessee. This is an indication that the 1905 Census Bessie is not the same person.

I then looked for Bessie and Veta in the 1900 federal census, but didn’t find any perfect matches. The closest matches are in the West Greenwell and Martha Greenwell households.

1910 Census: West Greenwell (head, 33), Katie Greenwell (wife, 31), William R Greenwell (son, 6), Mary B Greenwell (daughter, 5), Mary Z Greenwell (daughter, 4), Joseph H Greenwell (son, 2), and Mary E Greenwell (daughter, 1). The family is white. (3)

1910 Census: Martha Greenwell (widowed, head, 32), Lillian J Greenwell (daughter, 4), Matilda L Greenwell (daughter, 3), and Bessie M Greenwell (daughter, 2). The family is black. (4)

Further connections between these households and St. Francis Convent appear in an article that mentioned St. Francis Academy in Mason City, Iowa. (5)

1887: School for Colored Children opens in Chicago, Kentucky.

1890: Sisters leave Kentucky on Nov. 30. Francis Academy opens in Mason City, Iowa.

This is enough for me to take the 1905 Census out of my great grandmother’s history, but not enough to connect the 1905 Iowa Census Bessie and Veta with a 1900 Census households.

So, I’m still trying to find where Bessie was in 1910 and what brought a girl from Tennessee together with the boy from Illinois for a wedding in Iowa.

SOURCES
(1) “Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Mar 2017) Entry for Bessie Greenwell, Cerro Gordo County, Mason City, 1905

(2) “Iowa State Census, 1905,” digital images, FamilySearch.com (http://www.familysearch.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017) Entries for Bessie Greenwell, Card #622, and Veta Greenwell, Card #623, St. Fancis Convent.

(3) 1900 U.S. census, Marion County, Kentucky, population schedule, Chicago, enumeration district (ED) 80, Sheet. 4-A (penned), line 38-44, dwelling #63, family #64, West Greenwell household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 542.

(4) 1900 U.S. census, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, population schedule, Union Star, enumeration district (ED) 7, Sheet. 10-B (penned), line 38-44, dwelling #182 (corrected), family #183 (corrected), Martha Greenwell household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Mar 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 510.

(5) “The Sisters of St. Francis: Missions and Milestones,” 2 May 2016, Transcription, Clinton Herald, Clinton, Iowa (http://www.clintonherald.com : 31 Mar 2017).