| 150 cont'd | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
JOHN B. HAYS.
JOHN B. HAYS, of Carlyle township, came into Allen County as a youth in the spring of 1861 from Madison County, Illinois. Be[sic] was born in St. Clair County, Illinois, April 4, 1849, and was a son of Thomas Jeff-
| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 151 |
erson Hays, a native Kentuckian, born about 1814. The latter died in 1854. Zachariah Hays, our subject's grandfather, was born in Scotland and upon migrating to the United States, settled in Kentucky. He was one of the pioneers there and also to Illinois, in which State he died. He was a soldier of the war of the American Revolution, was a farmer in civil life and reared a family of seven sons, Norris, Zachariah, Elias, John, Thos. J., "Jack" and Andrew all of whom reared families in Kentucky and Illinois.
Thos. J. Hays married Susan Ann Cox, our subject's mother. She was a daughter of John B. Cox, a Scotchman, who was the father of six children and died in Madison County, Illinois. The children were: Emanuel, Wesley, Susan, Ann, Phena, Nancy and Mary, all of whom had families. Susan Ann Hays was the mother of three children, viz: William A., of Miami County, Kansas; John B. and James, deceased. Thos. Hays, a half brother of our subject, resides in Jasper County, Missouri.
John B. Hays really began life when he enlisted in the army. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted at Iola in Company E, 9th cavalry, and mustered in at Leavenworth. He was with the supply-train escort from Ft. Scott south into Arkansas and the regiment was placed along the Missouri and Kansas and Territory lines to watch the frontier. They had some experience with the guerrilla, Quantrel, in this service. They got him into a house, burned the house down over him and yet he and a companion, got away, wounding a Federal major as they went. The third and last year of his service Mr. Hays spent in Arkansas and the Territory and was mustered out at Duvalls Bluff the "baby of the company." When mustered out he weighed, with all accoutrements, two pistols and one hundred cartridges, just one hundred pounds. He saw much hard and exhausting service and suffered from sickness and general physical debility, yet he forced himself on and came out of it all and was discharged with his regiment more of a wreck than a man.
Since the war our subject has devoted himself to the farm. He has resided in Missouri, and in Miami and Allen counties, Kansas; has worked by the month and has farmed on his own account but not until 1889 did he settle down near Carlyle upon his own farm. He was never married and, until his sight failed him, he took a warm personal interest in local public affairs. He is one of the well known Republicans of Carlyle and is descended from a long line of Whigs, Free Soilers and Republicans. His first presidential vote was cast for Grant in 1868 and his last one for McKinley.
Pages 150-151, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
