June 9, 1955

 

Transcribed by Timothy R. Meador, Jr.

 

* CAL’S COLUMN *

 

In our recent record of the Hays family of Smith County, we reported that we did not have time or space for the report on the family for the year 1840, as given in the Smith County census or that year. It is as follows: Archibald Haise, one male from 30 to 40 years of age, himself, we are sure; and one female between 15 and 20.  Near neighbors of this family in 1840 were: Rufus Hanes, J. C. Williams, Alexander Casada, William Franklin, Richard Parkes, Edward Draper and Elizabeth West. From the neighbors, we would judge that the family lived 155 years ago on the lower end of Defeated Creek.

 

        Nancy Haise lived in Smith County in the year 1840. She appears to have been a widow. In her family were: Two males from five to 10, and two from 10 to 15.  Females: One under five, one from 30 to 40 and one from 40 to 50, we would judge to have been Nancy. Near neighbors were: Turner Harris, D. C. McDowell, Edward Mitchell, David Smith, Mary McEntire, and Daniel Dillard. We are not positive as to where these live more than a hundred years ago, but believed they lived in the Chestnut Mound section of Smith County.

 

        Francis Hase lived in Smith County in the census above referred to. He had: One male under five, and one from 20 to 30 years old, himself, we suppose. Females: One from 15 to 20, and one from 20 to 30. Near neighbors were: Ezekiel West, Stephen Hanes, William Dyer, John Reece, Josiah Reece and Chloman Mathas.  We would judge that this Hays family lived on lower Defeated Creek, which was a few miles southeast of the boyhood home of the writer.

 

        Robert Hayes was another head of a family in Smith County 115 years ago. In his family were: One male 40 to 50, one female from 15 to 20 and one female 40 to 50 years of age, who appears to have been a pensioner, but we do not know from what war. Near neighbors were:  P. Coggins, E. Warren, Robert S. Betty, Willis Coggins, William Exum and Joe Exum. We have but little way of knowing in what section of Smith County, this family resided.

 

        Reuben Hase appears to have been an old man in Smith County in the year 1840 and is listed as being between 70 and 80 years of age. However, there was a male between 10 and 15, and another between 15 and 20. There were females: Two form 20 to 30 and one from 60 to 70, supposedly Mrs. Reuben Hase.  Living next door to Reuben Hase was Reuben L. Hase, supposed to have been the son of the Reuben Hase, first named above. He had: One male under five and one from 20 to 30, supposedly Reuben L. Hase: and two females, one from 10 to 15, and one form 20 to 30, supposedly Mrs. Reuben L. Hase. Their neighbors were: James Barnett, Samuel H. Wilson, Martha Crawford, Wilis Gibbs, William Lechford (Litchford?), Henry Williams and John Enicks (Enoch?). The general location of these two families appears to have been to the southwest of the present Carthage, approximately between the present Rock City and New Middleton. This is the last member of the family of Hays, given as in its various spellings in the census of 1840 in Smith County, Tenn.

 

        There is not one member of the family of Hays or Hayes or other spelling of the name listed in the Smith County census for 1870, which indicates that they had removed form the county some time between 1850 and 1870.

 

        We have a lot of other information about the members of the Hayes family in its various spellings. We find that on Dec. 15, 1837, Joseph Con married Deliton Hay in Knox County, Tenn. In the same county on June 24, 1840, Benjamin Hay married Huldy Tidwell.

 

        Jane Hayes was born March 22, 1772, in Virginia and married Henry Shannon. She died in Wilson County, Tenn., on Dec. 10, 1832 and is buried in the Reland (Roland?) graveyard on Wool Factory Road. Jane Hayes Shannon had a daughter, Mary Hayes Shannon, born Nov. 20, 1794. She married her cousin, James Shannon, on Dec. 31, 1816 and was the mother of:

 

        Lucinda Hayes Shannon, born Aug. 13, 1817; died June 25, 1864; married as second wife of Byrd Moore. Sarah Emily Shannon, born Dec. 6, 1819; died Sept. 25, 1887; married 1835 or 1836, James Madison Swain, born June 6, 1812; died Sept. 24, 1865; issue, three sons, five daughters.

 

        William Washington Shannon, born Sept. 26, 1822; died Dec. 1, 1822.  Ethelbert J. Shannon, born June 1, 1824; died Aug. 11, 1900; married, first Sarah E. Mosley, died 1855; three children; married, second, Nancy Justice; married, third, Mary Justice, born 1830; died 1890.

 

        James Buchanan Shannon, born Oct. 11, 1826; died April 23, 1828. George Washington Buchanan Shannon, born Jan. 22, 1829; died Sept. 22, 1863; married 1847, Mary Caroline Baird, born Jan. 28, 1832; died Oct. 22, 1908; issue, four children.

 

        Henry Jefferson Shannon, born Jan. 18, 1832; died July 31, 1890; married first, Miss  Mosley; married second, Anna Tansil.

 

        Mary Jane Shannon, born April 3, 1835; died May, 1894; married Willis D. Martin, died Dec. 10, 1892; issue, two children son and daughter.

 

        Rebecca Bowen Shannon, born May 27, 1838; died Dec. 9, 1914; married Oct. 24, 1861, John Summerfield Brown, born in Warren County, Tenn.; issue, 4 children.

 

        Ezekiel Holoway, born Feb. 10, 1803, married March 24, 1825, to Jane Shannon, daughter of Henry Shannon and wife, Jane Hayes. George W. Hayes married Emma Clare Moore, daughter of Wooten and Katie Moore, in Columbia, Tenn. Theophilus Hays married Polly Morgan in Knox County, Tenn., supposedly on Sept. 16, 1794. Martin Hayes married Sallie January in Knox County, Tenn., on April 24, 1812. Alexander Hayes married Catherine McNutt in Knox County, Tenn., on Sept. 16, 1814. John Hayes married Susan McCaslin in Dickson County, Tenn., on Dec. 30, 1843. In Aug. 1846, in the same county, James B. Hayes married Malinda Gunn.

 

        Next we note a change in spelling, the next group spelling the name Hays. Thomas Hays married Miss Virginia E. Boulware on Jan. 1, 1856, in Richmond, Virginia, with Rev. Robert Boyte C. Howell, a Baptist minister, officiating.

 

        Facts obtained from the family Bible of John Hays. Bible now in possession of Mrs. Frieda Hays Pate, who lives at 1043 W. Greenwood Ave., Nashville, Tenn. Sent by Anne Carver Graves, Nashville.

 

        Robert Hays, father of John Hays, born Nov. 11, 1800, died Jul 26, 1870; married Mathursy Wilson, Dec. 27, 1827, by William Saunders.

 

        Methursy Wilson, born May 5, 1805, died June 6, 1872.

 

        Henry Hays, father of Robert Hays, who died in 1812; married Nancy Pute in Virginia.

 

        William Wilson, father of Mathursy Wilson, married Elizabeth Craven, Aug. 17, 1803.

 

        The children of Robert Mathursy were: Anderson Hays, born Dec. 20, 1841; Mary Jane Hays, born Nov. 16, 1837; Martha Hays, born 1843; John Hays, born Feb. 17, 1845, died May 27, 1920.

 

        George Melvin, father of Mahala Melvin, born Oct. 1, 1828, died April 11, 1863; married Hess Obryant, Feb. 5, 1846.

 

        Hess Obryant, born Oct. 3, 1831, died about 1910.

 

        Edward Melvin, father of George Melvin, married Mrs. Nancy Cowgill, Dec. 22, 1825, by Absolum Gleaves.

 

        John Hays married Mahala Wilson in 1868.

 

        The children of George and Hess Melvin were: Mahala Melvin, born Sept. 9, 1848; died April 13, 1921; John Melvin, born 1850; Mollie Melvin, born 1852; died about 1913.

 

        The children of John and Mahala Hays were: George Robert Hays, born Nov. 9, 1870, died Aug. 13, 1917; Junius Hays, born 1872, died March, 1904; Dr. John Hays, born March 7, 1876.

 

        Ada Beatrice Hays, born 1880, died Oct., 1904; married John Pomeroy in 1903; one infant child, who died Oct., 1904.

 

        George Robert Hays, son of John Mahala Hays, of Davidson County, Tenn., born Nov. 9, 1870, died Aug. 13, 1917; married Flora Adeline Carver, Dec. 20, 1890.

 

        Flora Adline Carver, daughter of Alexander J. and Almenda Adeline Carver, born Feb. 20, 1873, died March 24, 1920.

 

        The children of George Robert and Flora C. Hays are:

 

        John Oakley Hays, born Dec. 15, 1891.

 

        Freida Bethman Hays, born March 4, 1896.

 

        Adeline Beatrice Hays, born Oct. 12, 1902.

 

        Mahala Hays, born Aug. 14, 1906.

 

        Flora Edith Hays, born Aug. 7, 1910.

 

        John Oakley Hays, married Leona Cunningham, Oct. 15, 1914.

 

        The children of John Oakley and Leona C. Hays are:

 

        J. O., Jr., born April 6, 1922.

       

        Dorothy Leona Hays, born June 4, 1923.

       

        Freida B. Hays, married Earl Graves Pate, Jan. 6, 1919.

 

        The children of Freida Hays and Earl Graves Pate are:

 

        Miriam Louella Pate, born Oct. 12, 1919.

 

        Earl Graves Pate, born June 4, 1923. Freida Jean Pate, born Nov. 25, 1924. Lloyd Whitfield Pate, born July 26, 1926.

 

        Adeline B. Hays, married John Henry Pate, May 14, 1925.

 

        The children of Adeline Hays and John Henry Pate are:

 

        Joe Henry Pate, born March 28, 1926. Virginia Adeline Pate, born May 31, 1928. Robert Hays Pate, born Oct. 12, 1929.

 

        David Chandler and Elizabeth C. Hays were married on March 2, 1843 by Rev. John Beard, the same minister officiated in the marriage of Mary Hays on Feb. 18, 1849 to Carson D. Boren.

 

        John R. Buchanan married Nancy E. Hays on Oct. 31, 1848, but we do not know where. Elizabeth Cage, a descendant of Major William Cage who was born in Virginia in 1745, married Harman Hayes and they became the parents of the celebrated Col. Jack Hays, of the Texas Rangers. On June 25, 1844, in Dickson County, Tenn., James Reynolds married Lucy R. Hays.

 

        On Feb. 18, 1806, in Wilson County, Tenn., which lies some 35 miles to the southwest of our own county of Macon and about half that far from Carthage in Smith County, Julius Alford married Ann Hays, with Harmon Hays going on the bond. Could this have been the Harman Hays, the father of Co. Jack Hays, referred to in the preceding paragraph? On Aug. 4, the same year, Andrew Hays married Susannah Enoch, the same name given above as one of the neighbors of a Hays family. Campbell Hays was surety on Andrew’s bond. On Oct. 1, 1810 in Wilson County, Tenn., Isham F. Davis married Rachel S. Hays.

 

        On Oct. 5, 1812 in the same county, Joseph Hays married Susannah Adams. John Hays was surety on Joseph’s bond. On July 25, 1812, John Hays married Betsey Estes, with Samuel Hays as John’s bondsman. On Dec. 17, 1816 in Wilson County, Tenn., William Hays married Jenny Adams, with James Madon performing the ceremony.

 

        On Dec. 15, 1824, in the same county, James Hays married Polly Thomas, with Thomas Orrin as surety on James Hays’ bond. On Aug. 1, 1825 in Wilson County, Thomas Lewis married Elizabeth Hays. James A. Strong was surety on the marriage bond. On Dec. 16, 1827, James Hays married Sally Night (Knight?). On Aug. 14, 1827, in the same county, Preston Hays married Ann Searcy, with Hugh Hays as surety on Preston’s bond.

 

        Col. A. E. Garrett, formerly of Carthage, Tenn., lost his first wife in 1870. In 1871 he married Mrs. Addie McDonald, who previous to her first marriage was Miss Addie Hayes, the daughter of Addison Hayes, once a resident of Nashville.

 

(To be continued)

____________________

 

This Article Appeared In The Times

But Was Not Actually Titled Cal’s Column

 

MACON’S OLDEST CITIZEN, NICK SIMONS, 107, DIES

 

        Macon County’s oldest surviving citizen, Nick Simons, died at the home of a sister, Mrs. Annie Suddarth, near Gallatin, Tuesday. He was 107 years of age.

 

        Mr. Simons, until recently when he became ill, lived alone on his 94-acre farm near Siloam, in the west end of this county. He did his own housekeeping and cooking and farmed some, even in his last years.

 

        Mr. Simons was the subject of a feature article in this newspaper in April of last year, and at that time was very active despite his advanced years. He talked very sensibly and his hearing was but little impaired.

 

        Born December 8, 1847, in Madison, Indiana, of German immigrants, the little, gray-bearded man came to Tennessee at the age of four. He was first married at the age of 19, and shortly after that started work at Gallatin. Later he worked in Nashville before opening a small stor Jeear Siloam.

 

        Of sixteen children born to Mr. Simons, only a son and two granddaughters survive. They are: Mrs. Annie Suddarth, of Gallatin, Mrs. Julia Binkley, of Nashville, and Hubert Simons, of Westmoreland. In addition, 40 grandchildren and 51 great-grandchildren survive.

 

        Funeral services were conducted at 1 p.m., Wednesday, from New Hope Baptist church, with the Rev. Floyd Lambert officiating. Burial was made in the New Hope Cemetery.

____________________