JOEL P. HAYES.

JOEL P. HAYES.—One of the early settlers west of the Neosho river in Iola township and one in whom his community has the utmost confidence is Joel P. Hayes. Mr. Hayes came into Allen county in 1870 and owns the south-west quarter of section 35, township 24, range 17. McLean county, Illinois, was the home of Mr. Hayes prior to his advent to Kansas. He was a farmer near Lexington, that county, from 1865 to 1870 and disposed of his interests there and came west only to find a place where a man of small means could more easily and more quickly acquire a home. He had migrated to Illinois for the same reason but found land there, just after the war, beyond the reach of the poor man and this fact determined him, eventually, to make another move.

Mr. Hayes was born and reared in Clinton county, New York. His birth occurred March 6, 1840, and his education was of the country and common school sort. He was born on a farm and his father was Asa Hayes whose, origin is not certain but it is believed to have been Massachusetts. He was a veteran of the war of 1812 and fought in the battle of Lake Champlain near the site of which our subject was born. He married Laura Larkins who died in 1841 while her husband died in 1867 at the age of seventy-five years. Their children are: Hiram Hayes, of Whitewater, Wisconsin; Loyal Hayes, of Vermont; Christiana, deceased, wife of Luther Robinson, of Clinton county, New York; Harriet E., deceased, married Levi Stafford, of the same point; Loren and Enoch, deceased; Mary, wife of Stephen Alford, of Illinois: Charles, of Indiana; John Hayes, on the old homestead in New York, and Joel P., our subject.

At the age of twenty-two years Mr. Hayes began real life when he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Eighteenth New York Infantry. His colonels were, first Richard Keys and then George Nichols. The regiment was ordered to Fortress Monroe and was engaged at the battle of Bermuda Hundred. Mr. Hayes was in the heavy fighting at Cold Harbor and around Petersburg and with the Army of the Potomac to the end at Appomattox. Everyday of the time from June 3rd 1864 to January 1st, 1865, he was in some engagement or skirmish and was in front of the mine at Petersburg when it was exploded, with so little advantage to the Union forces. From January 1st to April 9th, 1865, Mr. Hayes was on detail at General Gibbons' headquarters. He was discharged at Richmond, Virginia, and was mustered out at Plattsburg, New York, in July after the surrender.

With a small sum of money Mr. Hayes went to McLean county, Illinois, and found a degree of prosperity there on the farm till 1870. He was married in McLean county in February, 1867, to Hannah J., a daughter of Henderson Crabb and Mary (Beech) Crabb. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes' children are: Luel, Herbert O. and Arza Clayton.

Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are members of the Methodist congregation in

Piqua, Kansas. He was converted in early life and has found consolation in executing the will of the Master as laid down in the Scripture lessons. He is a firm believer in Providential control and supervision of the lives and destinies of men. On three occasions would his life have been sacrificed during the war, times when there seemed no possibility of preventing it, and but for the interposing hand of the Almighty he would have died around Petersburg. The elder Hayes' were followers of the faith of Wesley and their relations to their church were as those of our subject, both official and private. In public affairs the Hayes' are no less out-spoken than in matters of religion. They believe in a government, local or general, being honestly administered by its patriotic citizens. For the purpose of a political home our subject has allied himself with the Republican party and in its tenets and declarations he sees the future of our domestic institutions.

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