The Bruce Trilogy
Rebel King: Hammer of the Scots
Robert the Bruce
: King of Scots
Clans and Families of Scotland
Abraham Lincoln:
The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay
Hay Family
from Scotland
to Germany to Virginia, Ohio & Illinois
St. Andrew's Cross, Flag of Scotland
Scottish Clan of Hay:
Ancestors of the American immigrant, Adam Hay
St. Andrew's Cross, Flag of Scotland
Scottish Clan of Hay:
Pictured at left is a member
of the Sutherland clan. The early
Hays would have looked
like this except with the red tartan below.
Ancestors of the American immigrant, Adam Hay
There is a story about the Hays being ancient Scottish farmers: in Hector Boece's fables a farmer called Hay and his two sons helped defeat the Danes at the battle of Luncarty in 971 AD. After which, the family was given an estate.
There is also a story that the Hay family came to England from the village of La Haye-Bellefond in Normandy, France, with William the Conqueror's army in 1066.
The family appears in Scottish records in the 1100's during the reign of William the Lion, who bestowed on him the lands of Errol.
William de La Haye was a cup bearer (butler) to King Malcom IV who reigned between 1153-1165.
One source says: William married the Celtic heiress Eva who brought him the Errol lands.
But another source says it was William the Lion (brother of King Malcom) who bestowed on him the lands of Errol.
William de Haya married Juliana de Sordis (maybe)
William de Hay married a daughter of Randolph, Lord of Liddlesdale, and had children. His second son, Robert became the ancestor of the Earl of Tweeddale.
William also married Helen, daughter of the Earl of Strathearn.
William was succeeded by his son David.
David's son was Gilbert.
In northeast Scotland about halfway between Aberdeen and Peterhead, on a windy cliff, stands the shell of Old Slains castle (see below), the ancient seat of the Hay family, Earls of Erroll. The land at Slains was a gift to Sir Gilbert Hay
(ca.1280?-1333) by King Robert the Bruce of Scots (1306-1329) in recognition
for his loyal service during the wars of Independence against the English.
Gilbert was a personal friend of King Robert Bruce. In 1306 Gilbert (and
his brother Hugh) and Robert Bruce were hiding out in the Scottish highlands,
running from the English authorities. That same year he was in the
Battle of Methven. Robert Bruce appointed him Hereditary High Constable of
Scotland in 1309. (The family still holds that title, givng them precedence
in Scotland immediately after the royal family. ) Sir Gilbert was one
of the barons who signed the famous Declaration of Independence at Arbroath
in 1320. About the same time the Hay family also acquired Delgatie Castle
(see below). [For more reading: see books at left]
(son of Gilbert):
Nicholas Hay, b by Feb 5, 1283, died by June 1306. m Johanna ? (abt 1292-abt 1332).
(son of Nicholas):
Sir David Hay (abt 1318-1346), who accompanied King David II of Scots (1329-1371) to the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346,where King David was captured and Sir David was killed (17 Oct 1346, Battle Of Durham, Scotland). David was succeeded as 3rd High Constable by his son, Thomas.
(son of David):
Sir Thomas Hay, 7th Baron, Great Constable (abt 1342-July 1406), married (Nov 7, 1372) Princess Elizabeth Stewart (abt 1346-abt 1389), a daughter of King Robert II of Scots (who lived 1316-1390, reigned 1371-1390) & Elizabeth More. Thomas was buried at Coupar Angus Abbey.
(son of Thomas):
Sir William de la Hay, 8th Baron of Erroll, 1374-1436/7 & Margaret Gray
(son of William):
Gilbert Hay. Married Alice (daughter of Sir William Hay of Yester, d1421 & Alice Hay)
[These are the Hay Earls of Erroll, but they are not strictly father to son]
William Hay,
1st Earl of Erroll
b abt 1412, d abt 1462
William was the son of Gilbert Hay the younger of Erroll (1396-1436)
& Alice Hay. He became 5th High Constable and was created Earl of Erroll and Lord of Slains by King James II of Scots (1437-1460) as a reward for Hay support during the King's war with the rebel 'Black' Douglas Lords and their allies the Lyndsays, Earls of Crawford and the MacDonalds, Lords of the Isles. He lived in the Carse of Gowrie (now Errol Park) north of the Firth of Tay. William married Beatrix Douglas (daughter of James the Gross Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas, & Beatrix Sinclair).
Drawings of Old Slains Castle and rubble today:
Nicholas Hay, 2nd Earl of Erroll
b abt 1451 - d 1470
William Hay, 3rd Earl of Erroll
1449 - 1507
b abt 1451 - d 1470
Nicholas was the son of William Hay 1st Earl of Erroll.
Nicholas was born in Errol, Perthshire, Scotland. He married
Elizabeth Gorden, 15 Nov 1461 (who was born about 1453 in of Huntly, Gordon,
Berwickshire, Scotland. She died on 17 Apr 1500. She was buried in Coupar,
Perthshire, Scotland.)
Nicholas acceded to the title in 1462 when his father died. He was about 11 years old, and he died about age 19, then the title went to his brother.
Nicholas acceded to the title in 1462 when his father died. He was about 11 years old, and he died about age 19, then the title went to his brother.
William Hay, 3rd Earl of Erroll
1449 - 1507
William was the son of William Hay 1st Earl (& brother of Nicholas 2nd Earl). He married Isabel Gordon and Elizabeth Leslie.
In 1488 at the Parliament held at Edinburgh castle by King James III of Scots (1460-1488) both William Hay, 3rd Earl of Erroll and John Hay of Yester were among the many Lords who sided with the King while a rebel army, using Prince James (later James IV) as a figure head, marched from Linlithgow. In fact William was one of the Lords who insisted the King should flee to Fife as the rebels reached the outskirts of Edinburgh. The rebels, allegedly led by the 'Red' Douglas Archibald 'Bell the cat', while pursuing the King to Leith seized several wagons containing some of the King's money and cloths. William was also with the Lords who marched north with the King to Aberdeen to muster support in the highlands to oppose the rebels in the south. But at the battle of Sauchieburn near Stirling the Hays like so many of the other Lords at the Parliament abandoned the King to his own fate. The Royal army was routed by the rebels and the King badly wounded, fled to a nearby mill house where he was murdered by a rebel pretending to be a priest. By 1489 we find William Hay supporting the new regime under King James IV of Scots (1488-1513).
In 1513 the Hays of Erroll (including Gilbert Hay of Delgatie Castle) and the Hays of Yester with 87 men of their same family name were all killed at the battle of Flodden Field along with King James IV of Scots. (Also falling here was the Earl of Montrose, whose descendant, the Marquis of Montrose later was hanged with Hay's descendant, William Hay, for supporting Charles II during the English Civil War.)
[There is another branch of the Hay family in Tweeddale. One of these Hays was created Baron Hay of Yester in 1488, Earl of Tweeddale in 1646, and Marquis of Tweeddale, Earl of Gifford, and Viscount of Walden, in 1694. Their family-seat is Yester-house, in Haddingtonshire.]
Son, Thomas Hay was born abt 1479-81, d Sept 9, 1513, Flodden Field, Branxton, Northumberland, England. He was married to Margaret Logie in 1493.
Son, William Hay (b abt 1480) married Christian Lyon.
William Hay, 4th Earl of Erroll,
d 1513
William Hay, 5th Earol of Erroll,
d 1541
William Hay, 6th Earl of Erroll,
abt 1521-1541
d 1513
William Hay, 5th Earol of Erroll,
d 1541
William Hay, 6th Earl of Erroll,
abt 1521-1541
George Hay,
7th Earl of Erroll
1505 - 1573
Sir George Hay, 7th Earl (b 1505, son of Thomas Hay & Margaret
Logie). He married Margaret Robertson & Helen (Bruce) Bryson and died
Jan 30, 1573/74.1505 - 1573
Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Errollc.1531 - 1585
He also married Lady Agnes Sinclair and had William Hay of Fetterletter.
Another son, George, had a grandson, John, who became the 12th Earl of Erroll.
maps show different places the Hay clan lived: Delgatie in the north, Old Slains castle was south of Peterhead at the Bay of Cruden, but there were also Hays farther south in Perth.
(30 April 1564 – July 16, 1631)
In 1585, Francis Hay (abt 1557-1631) succeeded his father, Andrew (8th Hay), as the 9th Earl of Errol.
At this time the two most powerful lords in the northeast of Scotland were the Earl of Erroll (Hay) and the Marquis of Huntly (Gordon). Following the reformation in 1560 these two families continued to adhere to the Roman Catholic faith and plotted for its restoration.
Francis Hay plotted with Gordon and Douglas to depose Elizabeth I of England, convert the young James VI back to Catholicism and create a united Britain in plot known as the "Treaty of the Spanish Blanks," allegedly signed by Hay Earl of Erroll, Gordon Earl of Huntly and the 'Red' Douglas Earl of Angus of Tantallon castle. In 1588 when the Spanish Armada sailed toward England, the Hays of Erroll of Old Slains castle were among several other Scots Lords alleged to be in league militarily with the Spanish Armada.
(Picture at right of an
Armada ship mooring near Tantallon Castle).
King James was lenient with them at first (he seemed to truely like Francis Hay) but eventually was forced to turn against them. In July, 1592, "Francis Hay, Earll of Errole was put in Ward in the castle of Edinburgh for Papistry" and in February, 1593, the “Earls of Huntley and Errole, denounced rebels and put to the horne for not appearing to subscribe the Band concerning Religione” The Earls of Huntly, Erroll and Angus forfeited their titles to the crown. James V1 was forced to this by the church, however he was furious with any of his subjects who might undermine his chances of obtaining the English throne because of entanglements with the Spanish.
In 1594 the rebel lords were called before the King and Council to answer for their loyalty. But instead, the Earls of Huntly, Erroll and Angus raised a rebellion in their defense. In the battle of Glenlivet, Oct. 3, 1594, not far from the Gordon stronghold of Auchendoun, the 300 soldiers of Francis Hay and George Gordon routed the Campbells of Argyll and the MacLeans, 10,000-strong, who were fighting on behalf of King James VI. Patrick Con of Auchry, was captain of the cavalry in the army of the Earl of Erroll, Lord High Constable of Scotland. The outcome of the battle was greatly affected by the skillful handling of a disciplined body of 100-200 picked horsemen of Erroll’s. Francis Hay himself was wounded in the leg by a MacLean arrow while leading the mounted charge.
Glenlivet was the last effort of arms, victorious but vain, to restore the Catholic faith in Scotland. King James arranged to have Huntly castle destroyed as he marched north to personally blow up Old Slains castle.
Pictures: Location of Delgatie -- Delgatie Castle today
King James also attacked (but didn't destroy) the other Hay castle at Delgatie.
Delgatie was acquired by the Hay family in 1314 and remained in the
family until abt 1745 when the Hay family was on the wrong side of royal
conflict, but the family eventually regained it. Now Delgatie Castle is a charitable
trust and the Hay Clan Centre. Mary Queen of Scots (at right) stayed there for 3 days in 1562.Other castles owned by the Hay family.
After the battle of Glenlivet in 1594, Francis fled into exile and only returned to Scotland in 1597 when the titles of the 3 Earls were returned to them. Instead of trying to repair Old Slains he went 6 miles north and rebuilt Bowness castle and renamed this castle New Slains. (Subsequent Earls added to it, the last great reconstruction being in 1837. It was abandoned in 1916 and today it is a ruin.)
Below: New Slains rubble --- New Slains about 1880 (at Cruden Bay south of Peterhead)
(In 1895 it was at New Slains castle, while on a visit to Cruden
Bay that Bram Stoker was inspired to write his classic novel Dracula.
Early drafts had the vampire coming ashore at Slains Castle.) Also, Kinnoull Castle in Perth (no remains) was a property of the Hays from 1340.
Other Hay properties: Balhousie Castle (Perth), Castle of Esslemont, Castle of Park, Craignethan Castle, Neidpath Castle and Yester Castle
In 1597 the Spanish Armada was rebuilt and ready to sail again with eighty-four mostly new galleons. This time the Scots lords as a whole, including the Hays, Gordons and Douglases, given their past troubles, would have nothing to do with the Spanish so this Armada never ventured into English or Scottish waters.
When he returned to Scotland in 1597, Francis made peace with the Scottish Kirk (church) and became a protestant. In 1602 he was appointed High Commissioner of Scotland. He did not have peaceful relations with the church though because they seriously doubted his conversion. He was imprisoned 1608-1611. In 1620 he had to appear in court and answer charges that he had sent his son and his brother to France. It was against the law to send your children to a Catholic country to school.
Francis Hay, Count of Errol married 1st Anne, daug of John, 4th earl of Atholl; m 2nd Margaret, daughter of James Stewart, Count of Moray, son of James V; and m 3rd Elizabeth, daug of William, 6th Earl of Morton. (This last marriage again made the King unhappy with him). There is some disagreement over who is the mother of the next Earl of Errol, William Hay. One source says he is the son of Margaret, granddaughter of James V. However, another source says Francis had no children by his first 2 wives, but had 6 by his third.
He died in 1631 and was buried at Slains Church.
(Balhousie (at left), located in North Perth, Scotland, was built
in 1860, but it has a 16th century towerhouse, which was owned by the Eviot
family until 1478, when it was sold to the Mercers, and later passed to
the Hay family, who owned it in 1631.) William Hay,
10th Earl of Erroll
d 1650
d 1650
Francis' oldest son, William Hay, inherited the title and became the tenth Earl of Errol, and not long afterward a long-standing jurisdictional dispute was settled and the Earl of Errol became recognized again as the Lord High Constable of Scotland, ranking next to the King in authority. This is a hereditary position and still in effect today.
In 1618 he married Lady Anne Lyon of Kinghorne.
In 1615 Adam Gordon, was killed in a single combat by Francis Hay, a German cousin of the Earl of Errol. His brother, the Laird (Lord) of Gight, resolved to revenge this deed, seized Hay, without any warrant, and brought him to Aberdeen, where, in an illegal trial, presided over by the sheriff-substitute, who was also a Gordon, he was condemned to death. Next morning he was led out to a solitary place, and there butchered by the Gordons. No punishment seems to have been inflicted on the perpetrators of this bloody deed, which caused a fierce quarrel between the Earl of Errol and the Marquis of Huntly. (The Gordons and the Hays had a 200-year-long feud, even though they were both Catholic supporters and often on the same side in battle, and had often intermarried. The feuds were often over boundaries and properties, but the Gordons were known to be lawless and unruly, fighting with relatives or anyone who could cross them. The Gordon Earl who lived at the time of Francis Hay was known as the "cock of the north.")
William Hay (of Delgatie Castle) supported King Charles I. "Charles I was not Catholic, but he supported William Laud's version of Anglicanism, a form of Protestantism that encouraged elaborate ritual not unlike the Roman Catholic, and which, while politically not friendly to the Vatican, at least recognized Catholics as within the universal church, in sharp contrast to the Calvinists, who regarded the pope as the antichrist. However, Charles' wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, who was French, was indeed Catholic, had a catholic chapel at court, etc.This was a source of tremendous tension within the kingdom, though Charles himself was personally very devoted to his wife, and vice-versa." (quote from Jeffery Wollock)
Charles' refusal to work with Parliament and his strong belief in the "divine right of kings," eventually caused his execution in 1649.
In 1636 Scotland was in a great uproar over the Episcopalian-style worship the King was enforcing on the Calvinist-Presbyterian country. Hay's Delgatie Castle was the site of the first skirmish in the civil war between the Covenanters and the Royalists in May 1639. In 1642 the English Civil War began in earnest between the King's forces and the Protestants in Scotland and England. James Graham, the Marquis of Montrose, though raised a Scottish Protestant, felt that it was right to support the King, and led one of his armies. William Hay fought with him and served as his chief of staff. After the execution of Charles I, Montrose and Hay shifted their allegiance to Charles II, who was in exile in France, with his mother, a French princess. Even though the Protestant forces had already won and executed the king, Charles II encouraged Montrose to continue the fight, knowing that he was sending him to his death. Montrose and Hay were captured and executed in Edinburgh in 1650, both buried in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh. (Picture of the Marquis of Montrose at right.)
This quote from English and Scottish Ballads
(p141) leaves a little confusion about whether Montrose's friend was
William Hay or Francis Hay. I lean toward it being William because
of the death dates of the two men."Gallant Montrose, that chieftain bold, / Courageous in the best degree,
Did for the king fight well that day; / The Lord preserve his majestie!
Nathaniel Gordon, Stout and bold, / Did for King Charles wear the blue;
But the cavaliers they all were sold, / And brave Harthill, a cavalier too.
And Newton-Gordon, burd-alone, / And Dalgatie, both stout and keen,
And gallant Veitch upon the field, a braver face was never seen.
Footnote: Sir Francis Hay, of Dalgatie, a steady cavalier, and a gentleman of great gallantry and accomplishments. He was a faithful follower of Montrose, and was taken prisoner with him at his last fatal battle. He was condemned to death with his illustrious general."
Gilbert Hay,
11th Earl of Erroll
1631 - 1675
There is one source that shows a John
Hay, born abt 1635 in Hoheinod, Germany (d 1704), who was the son of
Gilbert 11th Hay. (but another source says Gilbert married
Lady Katherine Carnegie and they had no children.) 1631 - 1675
There could have been several Gilbert Hays. There was one Gilbert who was born abt 1656 and ended up in Prince George Co, Va. writing his will in 1719.
But if Gilbert 11th Hay was a titled Lord, why might he have been in Germany?
Gilbert Hay was born in 1631. In 1648 he was involved in trying to rescue King Charles I (who was executed Jan 30, 1649), and later was involved in raising a regiment to support Charles II. These efforts in support of the Catholic kings could have caused him a lot of grief, and could be an excuse for his spending time in Germany.
On the other hand, Gilbert had no issue in Scotland because the title passed to a relative.
John Hay, 12th
Earl of Erroll
1650 - 1704
1650 - 1704
John Hay was the 12th Earl of Errol. John was the son of Sir Andrew Hay & Margaret Kinnaird. [Andrew was the son of George Hay & Elizabeth Cheyne. George was the son of Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Erroll.]
John was born about 1650, married 1674 to Anne Drummond and died 30 Dec 1704.
In 1688 William of Orange (Netherlands) and his wife Mary (daughter of James II) were invited to come to England to take the throne. This permanently solidified Protestant control of all of England & Scotland. However, there were still pockets of Catholic resistance.
In 1708, Charles, the 13th Earl of Erroll opposed the union of Scotland and England, organized the Jacobite uprising and was imprisoned for it.
In 1714 Queen Anne died leaving no children and a group called the Jacobites attempted again to restore the Stewart line to the throne. The Hays supported the Jacobite Uprising of both 1715 and 1745. John Hay the Jacobite fought with the Earl of Mar and was captured with about 600 other Scots at the battle of Preston in 1715. [from descendant Curtis Pigman.] In 1716 in Scotland, 639 rebel supporters of James (son of James II) were arrested and shipped to the American colonies as indentured servants. That list includes a John Hay (on the ship "Friendship," Capt Michael Mankin, bound for Maryland or Virginia from Liverpool 24 May 1716 with 80 prisoners.) This John Hay's relationship to the rest of the family is unknown, however the Hay family were supporters of the Catholic King and the Jacobite movement.
In 1745 Mary Hay, Countess of Erroll in her own right, raised forces to fight in the failed Jacobite (Catholic) rebellion to help "Bonnie Prince Charlie" (grandson of James II) in his failed attempt to regain the throne.
In 1745 an Adam Hay was among a group who were captured and tried for being a part of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745.
By 1758 the Earl of Errol failed to have a direct descendant and the title moved to a nephew (his sister's son), James Boyd, 15th Earl of Errol (who changed his name to Hay).
It is not known what exactly caused my immigrant ancestor, JOHN HAY's father to leave Scotland, but sometime in the late 1600's, he fled Scotland to Alsace in Germany.
I don't know if this has anything to do with my line or not, but it does show that there was a Scottish-Germany connection in the Hay family: In 1615 Francis Hay, a German cousin of the Earl of Errol, was visiting relatives in Scotland when he killed a son of a long-time Hay family rival, after which he was killed in reprisal.]
John Hay
1st American generation
JOHN HAY (maybe Johann Michael Hoh, son of John Simon Hoh)
was born about 1711 in Gerhardsbrunn or Zweibrucken, Germany. He married
Anna Elizabeth Schneider, Jan 19, 1734 in Labach. They had 8 children:
boys: John Jr., Johann Valentine, Adam,
Johann Simon, Johann Francis,
girls: Anna Maria, Anna Eva, Anna Margaretha.
[Notice the German habit of giving
the same name to each son and each daughter. They would have been called
by their 2nd name.] Son Adam's will of 1803 was signed "Adam
Hoh".girls: Anna Maria, Anna Eva, Anna Margaretha.
John Hay died Apr 13, 1773, not sure whether or not he came to America with his 5 sons. John Jr, Valentine, Simon and Francis all stayed in Pennsylvania. But Adam moved to Virginia after 1770, maybe after his father died.
The "History of Sangamon County" (Illinois, 1912) says that John Hay was the son of a prominent Scottish soldier who left Scotland near the end of the 1600’s and joined the army of the Elector of the Palatinate of the German empire. There was terrible religious persecution in Scotland during the reign of Charles II, a Catholic ruler in a protestant country, who reigned from 1660 to 1685. In 1688, with William, a protestant, crowned, the persecution stopped. Since the prominent Hay family in Scotland were mostly Catholic, this would lead us to believe that John Hay's father left Scotland after 1688 to escape protestant rule. From 1688 to about 1745 the Jacobites (Catholics) in Scotland were trying to re-establish Charles II's son, James II and then his son Charles, both catholics, as king. Many of them were deported or had to flee to save their lives. This is most likely why John Hay left and went to Germany.
From another descendant's line [Deborah Owens]: Her grandfather said that he descended from John Hay who "had money, left Scotland because he 'had to', fought as a mercenary soldier in Germany for a Prince of Hesse, married a German woman, had 7 or 8 sons. The money was gone by the time of the death of the sons." This line of descendants stayed in Germany until just before WWI [long after the 5 Hay brothers who emigrated to America in the mid-1750's), which makes this story have even more authenticity. Perhaps the first group (5 brothers) emigrated when the money ran out . . . ]
This line of descendants moved into the Austro-Hungarian Empire about 1860 when her great-grandfather was born.
Since the above story comes from and two different German Hay lines (one that emigrated in the 1750's and one that emigrated in the 1910's) it seems extremely likely that it is true.
Connecting the German Hay family to the Scottish family hasn't happened yet. There is one source that shows a John Hay, born abt 1635 in Hoheinod, Germany, who was the son of Gilbert 11th Hay. However, Gilbert died without issue, and if Gilbert was a titled Lord, would he be in Germany?
Gilbert 11th Hay was born in 1631. In 1648 he was involved in trying to rescue King Charles I (who was executed Jan 30, 1649), and later was involved in raising a regiment to support Charles II. These efforts in support of the Catholic kings could have caused him a lot of grief, and could be an excuse for his spending time in Germany.
There definitely was a German Hoh/Hay family related to the Scottish Hay family, but it's a little earlier than this story (1615).
Some information on this German Hay family:
- There is a record of a John 12th Hay who was born abt 1635 in Hoheinod, Germany, son of Gilbert 11th Hay. Gilbert, b 1609-1674, Scotland, was son of William 10th Hay (1583-1636), who was the son of Francis 9th Hay (1557-1631). But John 12th Hay was not a son of Gilbert's, but a relative.
- They might be related to the Mueller family who lived in Gerhardsbrunn, Germany, in the Duchy of Zweibrucken, in the heart of the Rhenish Palatine. The Muellers came to America in 1766 with a Hay cousin. This Mueller family also had a Johann, an Adam and a Valentine, and they also settled in BrothersValley, Pa.
- Johann Michael Hoh was born Feb. 3, 1711, Gerhardsbrunn, Germany and died there April 13, 1773. He married Anna Elisabeth Schneider, Jan 19, 1734, Labach, Germany. Another source shows this Gerhardsbrunn Hay (Hoeh/Hoh) family having been there for several generations before some of them moved to BrothersValley, Pa.
- One source says that Johann Michael Hoh and Anna Elizabeth Schneider of Zweibrucken, Germany, were the parents of Valentin, John Adam (b 1730), Simon & Francis. And that Johann Michael was the son of Johann Simon Hoh (b 1682 Germany)
-Adam Hay (below) signed his will "Adam Hoh".
It was at Zweibrucken on the Rhine that the 5 Hay brothers were born who later came to America. About the mid-1700’s John & his 4 or 5 sons, emigrated from Germany to America.
The family soon scattered and one son, John Jr, settled in Pennsylvania, where he acquired a considerable estate and filled several important offices. Another son, Adam, went to Virginia. The other 3 went to BrothersValley, Pa. (where they may have suffered in the Smallpox epidemic of 1783)
John and his sons had received military training in Europe, and he served with some distinction under General Washington
(from "History of Sangamon County," Ill).
HAY, JOHN, one of the early settlers of Springfield, and the son of Adam Hay, was born in Berkeley County, Va., April 13, 1775, and came of a sturdy race of men. His grandfather was the son of a Scottish soldier who left his own country near the close of the seventeenth century and entered service in the army of the elector of the Palatinate of the German empire.
About the middle of the eighteenth century the grandfather, who was also John Hay, with his four sons, emigrated from Germany to America (Valentine & Franz came in 1763 on the ship "Sally"). The family scattered some:
John Jr settled in York Co, PA, where he acquired a considerable estate and filled several important offices. He served as a soldier of the Revolutionary War, attaining the rank of Colonel.
Sons, Valentine & Franz ended up in Brothers Valley, Pa (now Somerset Co). There may have been a connection between the Brothers Valley Hays and the Hay family in Morrison's Cove, PA (a valley in Bedford Co from New Enterprise NE to Williamsburg).
Son Adam went to Virginia. He, as well as his brothers, had received a military training in Europe, and he served with some distinction under General Washington in the War of Independence. He was an acquaintance and friend of the great General, and one of the early recollections of his son John, the subject of this sketch, was of meeting Washington on a country road. The boy was riding behind his father on the same horse when a carriage approached. They turned aside to let it pass, when it halted, and Washington greeting Adam Hay, directed some friendly remarks to the young lad, who was requested by his father to salute General Washington, which order was promptly obeyed. The mother of John Hay was Mary Boyer, who was born in Germany and came to America when a young girl. She has been described as an excellent woman, of independent spirit and strong personality.
Children: [It was a common German practice to give all or several sons or daughters the same first name, and then call them by their second name. For instance, all the sons might have Johann as a first name and all the daughters have Anna or Mary.]
1. Lt. Col. John Hay Jr, 1733-1810, born Alsace (France/Germany), settled & died in York Co, Pa. He and his brother Simon were both in the Revolutionary War; John became Lt. Colonel. He was Magistrate; County Commissioner 1772-1775; was a member of the Committee of Correspondence 1774, Delegate to Continental Congress 1776; Member State Legislature 1779-1783-1784 and member of the convention that framed the state constitution.
Northampton Co, PA history (1877): "John Hay Sr., kept a public house, on the road leading from Bethlehem to Gnadenhutten. John Hay, Jr. was a prominent man, served during the Revolution and died in 1796 while on a trip to Ft. Pitt, where Pittsburg now stands."
In 1785 " John Hay, an attorney, tops the upper strata with an assessed worth of about 1,270 pounds."
His plantation is now known as Hay Addition, City of York, Pa. John Hay married Feb 15, 1756 to Juliana Maul;
children: 4 sons, 5 daughters.
1a) Col. George Hay (1776-1832), (second son) married Seaba (Joseba) Fahnestock (1775-1800). Dr. Michael Hay, born March 31, 1795, (son of George and Seaba) married May 11, 1823 to Margaret Worley; moved to Johnstown, Pa., in 1836.
1b) John Hay III, m Susan Schmeiser
2. Adam Hay, born 1733, Alsace, Germany; don't know when he came to America; married about 1770, maybe in Northhampton, PA. Adam settled his family in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. This area was dominated by German-speaking immigrants. Married Mary Boyer (see below)
3. Valentine Hay, born Alsace, Germany; came from Rotterddam on ship "Sally," landed in Philadelpha, Oct 5, 1767, accompanied by brothers Simon and Francis. He married Elizabeth (Hoh?) and settled in Brothers Valley. He later moved with family to Kentucky. Reformed church records in Berlin, PA lists birth of his daughers:
3a) E. Gertrude, Sept 8, 1777 (bapt Oct 9)
3b) Anna Maria, Oct 10, 1780
4. Francis (Frantz) Hay, born abt 1740-1826, Alsace, Germany. He sailed from Rotterdam on the ship "Sally" and landed in Phildelphia Oct. 5, 1767. He is first found on the 1771 tax list in Brothers Valley as a free man. He married in 1773 to Gertrude Groff and had 3 sons and 4 daughters. He was the grandfather of Associate Judge Samuel Snyder in Somerset. He served on the first and succeeding official boards of Berlin Reformed Church, and laid out the western portion of Berlin, PA. He and Simon were on the 1800 Brothersvalley, Somerset Co, Pa census.
5. Johann Simon Hay, b Apr 18, 1742, born Alsace (or near Berlin) Germany. (See bio) When he was about 20 (1763) he emigrated to the America on the ship "Sally" with his brother Frantz. (A web page on Simon's family says he sailed from Rotterdam on the ship "Sally" and landed in Phildelphia Oct. 5, 1767 with his 2 brothers, Valentine and Frantz.) Simon settled for the first few years in Hagerstown, MD (at the Conococheague settlement), working as a weaver, where he met a man who owned land in Brothers Valley (now Somerset Co), Pa. He married about 1774 in Washington, Maryland to Anna Maria Shaver (b 12/13/1754 Hagerstown, Md.)
In 1767-68 he moved to near Berlin, Somerset Co (then Bedford co) PA settling in Brothers Valley at the location of Hay's Mill, which he later built. On this land still stand the old stone house he built in 1790.
Simon and brother Valentine are on the 1779 tax list of Brothers Valley Township. He and Francis were on the 1800 Brothers Valley, Somerset Co, Pa census. (A Simon, Valentine, Daniel, Michael & Michael Hay Jr. are also on the 1800 census of Bedford Co, Pa.).
His loom is in a Pennsylvania museum. He died 3/19/1818, Hays Mill, Pa. (another source says he died in Feb 3, 1842, age 103).
Reformed Church records in Berlin, Pa lists births of his 5 sons and 5 daughters:
5a) Michael (1775). He might have been the Michael Hay who built a house in Salisbury, Elk Lick twp (Brothers Valley), PA. "The road entered the town on Market (now Grant) street, and became the main thoroughfare. Peter Shirer built the first house on lot No. 32, on the corner of Grant and Ord streets, where Michael Hay afterwards built the brick house." [from History of Bedford & Somerset Counties]
5b) Jacob (1777) born at Conococheague
5c) George Hay (1781)
5d) Valentine (abt 1779)
5d) Peter Simon Hay (he might be the Peter Simon Hay, born April 18, 1790; died May 4, 1845; married Elizabeth Walker, daug. of Phillip)
also daughters: Susan, Mary, Elizabeth, Eva, Catherine.
Adam Hay
2nd American generation
1763, Northhampton Co, PA - letter signed by Adam Hay
He married Anna Marie (Mary) Boyer, 1770, Northampton, PA. She came to America as a young girl.
For some reason, in the 1770's Adam left his siblings in Pennsylvania and moved to Berkley County, Virginia. Adam’s service in the Revolutionary War was “non-military Revolutionary service” in Berkeley Co., Va. He sold wheat to the army and "served" under George Washington. Gen. Washington and was an acquaintance and friend of his. A letter by Washington to Thomas Jefferson in 1780 mentions Maj. Adam Hay.
Adam and Mary bought piece of land Sept. 27, 1796 in Berkeley County, Va.
April 27, 1801 Adam and Mary sold their 184 acres for 500 pounds and moved to Fairfield County, Ohio. Adam died there in 1803.
WILL OF ADAM HAY:
In the name of God amen. I Adam Hay of Fairfield County and state of Ohio being well in health and in sound mind and memory thanks be to Almighty God for it. But calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die I recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner at the discretion of my executors hereafter named and as to such worldly goods and estate as it hath pleased God to indue me with I dispose of in the following manner and form. Viz.....And first it is my will that my just debts and funeral charges be paid out of my estate.
Item. I bequeath to my well-beloved wife Mary, my four horse craters? and wagon and all the gear and tarklin? that belongeth to the team. Likewise my two working oxen and furthermore I leave my beloved wife all my household furniture. After the decease of my beloved wife the horses and wagon and the two oxen to be left to my two youngest sons Jonathan and Peter.
Item. I bequeath to my beloved wife four milk cows. My money must be laid out for land by my executors as the ___see propper? and my wife to hold the land as her sole property till her decease, then the land to be equally divided amongst all my children.
Item. I bequeath to my son-in-law Luke Ingman forty dollars in cash.
And lastly I appoint my wife and son-in-law Luke Ingman my sole executors of this my last will and testament, revoking all other wills heretofore made. Ratifying, confirming this and none other to be my last will and testament in witness ____ share? of I have hear unto set my hand and seal this 22nd day of April, one thousand eight hundred and three.
signed — Adam Höh
witnesses present — Jeremiah Strode, Jesse Hedges
The state of Ohio, Fairfield County: Court of Common Pleas September Term 1803 at which the last will and testament of Adam Hays of Amanda township in Fairfield county is procured, proven and admitted to record.
Mary died about 1815 in Amanda twp, Fairfield Co, Ohio. Most of the children moved away, but son Peter stayed and died in Fairfield Co., Ohio.
Children (6 girls, 3 boys; all born in Berkley Co, Va):
1. Barbara Hay was born abt 1772, Va; m John Hartong (Harton) in Berkeley Co., Va. They moved to Steubenville, Ohio; then in 1815/16 to Jefferson Co., Ind. Sometime before 1820 John drowned in a river (in Ohio or Ind.). [Perhaps she moved back home to Ohio after her husband's death because there was a Barbary (sic) Hay who married George Shitterly, Nov. 21, 1819 in Fairfield Co., Ohio. Her brother Peter still lived there and maybe some sisters.] However, Barbara died May 1874 (age 103) and was buried near Madison, Ind.
2. John Hay was born Apr 13, 1775, Va. In 1793 at the age of 18 he moved (with a group of Quakers) to Fayette Co, Ky where he married about 1799 to Jemima Coulter. More on him in the History of Sangamon Co (IL). They lived there 39 years and had 13 children (6 sons/7 daugs).
In 1832 at the age of 57, he, Jemima and their 11 children moved to Sangamon Co, Ill. settling in Springfield. They left Ky. because he was opposed to slavery. He manufactured bricks in Ill. and was involved in many important community affairs. They were Baptists and John was a trustee of the First Baptist Church of Springfield. Jemima died in 1843 and John died May 20, 1865 (age 90; a few weeks after Abraham Lincoln, who was a neighbor and a personal friend of his). One of his grandsons, John Milton Hay (1838-1905), was Secretary of State under presidents McKinley & Roosevelt.
Children: (13 or 14)
1) Charles Hay, was a physician, father of John M. Hay (Secretary of State)
2) Joseph Hay, was a physician
3) Theodore Hay, was a physician
4) Milton Hay, was a lawyer. His had an law office on the same floor as Lincoln. He heard Lincoln say, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people ALL of the time." And he passed it on.
Milton's nephew was John M. Hay (1838-1905), (son of Charles) born in Ind, moved to IL, 1859 he worked in his uncle's law office next door to Abe Lincoln's, was Asst Private Secretary to President Abraham Lincoln, was at Lincoln's bedside when he died, wrote a ten-volume book entitled, Abraham Lincoln: A History, appointed Ambassador to Great Britain in 1897 under William McKinley, became Secretary of State in 1898 under McKinley & Roosevelt, negotiated the Treaty of Paris 1899 following the Spanish-American War, and was involved in preparations for the Panama Canal, established the Open Door policy with China.
John (on right) with Lincoln -- John as Secretary of State -- John Hay cigar box cover
3. Elizabeth Hay was born abt 1777, Va; married Luke Ingman, Jan 20, 1801, Berkeley Co, (W)Va; probably moved to Fairfield Co, OH with her parents in April 1801, since Luke is listed an the executor of Adam Hay’s will in April 1803; Elizabeth died June 7, 1853, Ashland Co, Ohio
4. Catherine Hay was born 1779, Va. She married Thomas Selby; died Aug 9, 1830, Ashland Co, Ohio
5. Eve Ann Hay was born 1780, Va; married abt 1802-3, (Probably in Fairfield Co., Oh) to Jacob LEATHERS. They moved to Wayne Co. (northern Ohio) about 1817; then moved to Ill. after 1840. Children:
1) Susannah Leathers, b Ohio; m John Harpster
2) John Leathers, b 1806 Ohio; m Elizabeth Slater
3) Jacob L. Leathers, b 1810; m Mary Ewing
4) William Leathers, b 1811; m Nancy Orum
5) Elizabeth Leathers, b abt 1815; m Jacob S. Baker
6) Silas Leathers, b 1821 Ohio; Marinda Ransom
7) Mary Ann Leathers, b 1824 Ohio; m David Heral
ch: Mary Elizabeth Heral (m John VonAllmen) -- I wonder if Mary knew her 2nd cousin was the Secretary of State in 1898? Her granddaughter said that she remembers her having an old book about Abraham Lincoln, and she wonders if it was the one written by John Hay.
6. Susannah Hay was born July 6, 1781, Va; married Tunis Newkirk, Apr 9, 1801, Berkley Co, Va (her father, Adam was the bondsman); died July 4, 1843, bur Greenfield, Fairfield Co, OH. Children (all born in Fairfield Co, Ohio):
1) Anna Newkirk, b 1802; d 1882, Hamilton Co, Oh
2) Jeptha Newkirk, b 1807; d 1881 Fairfield Co, Oh; m Nancy Ann Michael
3) John W. Newkirk, b 1813; d 1864 Fairfield Co, Oh; m Julianne Stansberry
4) Virginia Newkirk, b 1817; d 1902 Cambria, Mich; m John Lamb
5) Jane Perty Newkirk, b 1820; d 1889, Cambria, Hillsdale Co, Michigan; m Daniel Lincoln Pratt
7. Rosanna Hay was born abt 1783-4,(May be daughter of Adam or Peter): married Orin Abbott, May 27, 1824; he was Justice of the Peace for 15 years. Orin ran a store at the Rock Mill and had two distilleries, one on the Peter Hay farm where he married Rosannah. She died Sept. 7, 1852; he died 1862. Children: (2 sons and 3 daughters)
1) John Abbott, b Oct. 1, 1828
2) Lafayette Abbott, b Sept. 24, 1830; m ? Lysinger; was in 73rd Ohio infantry in the Civil War and was in “Sherman’s raid to the sea.” He had an arm amputated during the War. After the War he was a merchant at Clearport with “one of the best stores in the country.”
8. Jonathan Hay was born maybe 1786, or was twin of Peter; married Elizabeth Hooker, May 4, 1809, Fairfield Co, Ohio; moved to Wisconsin.
The following may be Peter the son of Adam, or Peter the son of Peter the son of Adam: Leander’s autobiographical sketch in History of Fairfield County says he (Leander) was the son of Peter (& Christiana) who was the son of Peter. But I am going to assume here that this Peter is the son of Adam & Mary:
9. Peter Hay (Esq.), b 1788, Berkeley Co., Va; d Oct 27, 1853, Fairfield Co, Ohio; m Aug 25, 1819 to Christiana Platter (she was born in Ross Co., Ohio and moved to Fairfield Co. when she was young). He ran a mill—the “Peter Hay Mill”; it was sold in 1830 and years later torn down. They were member of the Presbyterian Church, and were buried in Amanda twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio. Children:
1) Joseph Hay
2) Margaret Hay, m Col. Schleich
3) Catherine Hay, m Levi Burgeon 9- 2-1861
4) Peter Hay
5) Edwin R. Hay
6) Edward Hay
7) Sarah Jane Hay “Jennie”; m Oct. 22, 1863, Daniel J. Schleich (b 1834). He was a Captain in the Civil War before he married, but had to resign because of illness. He was a farmer (until 1881 when they moved into Amanda), a Democrat, member of the Presbyterian Church, Township Treasurer, member of the School Board. 5 Children:
7a) Thomas Frederick Schleich
7b) Edward Schleich
7c) Augustus Taylor Schleich
7d) Ellen Schleich
7e) Walter Schleich
8) Zelda Hay
9) Leander Hay (youngest), b Apr. 14, 1841, Amanda twp., Fairfield Co., Ohio; attended Ohio University but became a farmer, owning 300 acres. He m Jan 1866 Malinda C. Strickler. He was a Democrat, Justice of the Peace, Township Clerk, and member of the Reformed church. One child: Frank Edwin (m Rose Hanaway and d Aug. 29, 1894)