Hay, William Frances – 1842-1930

BOYD, DENNISON, FAWCETT, HANSEN, HAY, KEYES, LAW, LOWRY, MEYERS, MONTGOMERY, MUNSON, PEASE, SKINNER, TIFFANY, WHITFIELD

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 7/13/2021 at 21:35:33

William Frances Hays was born in Summerset County, Pa., May 22nd, 1842 and departed this life at his home in Mingo, Iowa, March 25, 1930 at the age of 87 years, ten months and 25 days.
At the age of fifteen he began to learn the harness and saddle trade.
He enlisted in the Civil War, Co. K 11 Pa. Infantry September 12, 1861 and served for three years. He was discharged from service December 18, 1863 at Cedar Mt., Virginia. He then reenlisted to serve the duration of the war. He was in the battle of Antedun(Antietam?), Bull’s Run, and Vicksburg. After the battle of Gettysburg only thirteen men were left in his company. Their names are engraved on a monument on that field by reason of enlistment, patriotism, valor and fidelity he was promoted to corporal and was discharged near Washington, D.C., July 1865 at the close of the war.
He was married in 1866 to Emma Lowry, locating at New Florence, Pa. To this union were born six children, Mrs. Ida Whitfield of Miami, Fla.; Edward and William of Spooner, Wis.; Mrs. Myrtle Law of Jerome, Arizona; John and Bertha who died in infancy. They later moved to Indiana, Pa., where he resided for 25 years, buying horses for a Philadelphia firm for twenty years, then moving to Muscatine, Iowa for two years, then to Mingo, Iowa, where his wife passed away December 20, 1903.
He married Carrie M. Keyes March 11, 1905.
He is survived by four children, 19 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, one sister of Connellsville, Pa., 90 years of age; one brother, George of Mitchellville.
He united with the M.E. church at the age of 28 years in New Florence, Pa., and later transferred his membership to the Mingo M.E. church.
Besides the relatives he leaves a host of sorrowing friends to mourn his loss.
Rev. Simmons conducted the funeral service at two o’clock Saturday afternoon at the Mingo M.E. church. The male quartette composed of B. H. Sandy, Ethelbert Heberer, Floyd Hulse and Shirley Brown sang “Sweet Bye and Bye”, “Nearer My God To Thee,” and “In the Upper Garden,” accompanied on the piano by Miss Florence Frey. The pallbearers by his own request were: Coon Hay, Irvin Hay and W. P. Hay, his cousins, and J. G. Hay, his nephew and George and Amos Hansen, cousins of his surviving wife. The body was laid to rest in the Graham cemetery.
The flag which decorated Mr. Hay’s casket was used on his grandson, Wm. J. Laws’ casket, who died at the Puget Sound Navy yard hospital eighteen months ago while serving in the medical department of the U.S. Navy and was buried at Presidio cemetery, San Francisco, California.
The out of town relatives present for the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Fawcett and Mrs. S. Hanson of Nevada; Mr. and Mrs. Amos Hanson, Mrs. Ora Hanson, Mrs. Ray Tiffany, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Skinner, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Hay and Mr. Dennison of Collins; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pease of Colfax; George Boyd and daughter, Gladyce, Mr. and Mrs. B. O. Montgomery of Des Moines; J. G. Hay of Mitchellville; Mr. and Mrs. Keith Munson of Cambridge; Mr. and Mrs. Ora Meyers of Maxwell; Mrs. L. H. Law of Jerome, Arizona; Miss Virginia Law of Washington, Iowa; C. E. Hays, Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Hays and children, Lyle and Wanda, of Spooner, Wis.; Mrs. Travis Hanson of Rice Lake, Wis. And Miss Velma Hays of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.
Source: The Colfax (IA) Tribune; Thursday, April 3, 1930, page 3