Hays, Joseph, Sr., & Family

HAYS, HALE, KEY, GRIER, DELANEY, THOMAS

Posted By: Kimberly Breeden (email)
Date: 7/11/2007 at 19:00:33

Joseph Hays, Sr. (1760-1850) hated the institution of slavery to the extent that he cast the only vote cast in his county in Maryland for John P. Hale, Free Soil candidate for President.

During the "War of 1812" In Carroll County, Maryland was the 400 acre plantation of Joseph Hays, Sr., grandfather of Daniel F. and Joseph T. Hays still living at Grinnell, Iowa.

Adjoining the Hays plantation was that of Col. John Ross Key, father of Francis Scott Key who, during the bombarding of Fort McHenry, penciled on a scrap of paper the words of the National Anthem.

Colonel Key commanded a regiment of militia called out by President Washington in 1794 to suppress the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania. It was in a company of Col. John Ross Key's regiment, composed of Carroll County men that Francis Scott Key and Joseph Hays Sr., friends from boyhood, served side by side, as they had served in the War of the Revolution under Washington.

Previous to 1815, Joseph Hays, Sr., with three neighbors, all prominent Masons, signed the Bond of a man, Grier who was handling Government funds and when Grier betrayed his trust, Joseph Hays, Sr. lost his plantation but by the influence of Francis Scott Key who was holding a prominent official position in Washington, the Government granted Joseph Hays, Sr. a life lease on the property on which he remained for about 35 years until his death in 1850.

Upon the death of the elder Joseph, the Hays clan, numbering now about seventeen, found themselves without a home. This was a contingency naturally foreseen and like prudent people they had been laying aside funds against the event of the death of the aged head of family. Also like prudent people they cast their eyes towards the west. With no definite goal in view the long journey, which required about three months, towards the west, commenced. Three wagons with seventeen people made up the party. They passed through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and settled in Iowa, north of Grinnell, in Chester township where tracts of land, purchased for $1.25 per acre were chosen for all the members of the Joseph Hays, Sr. family who desired to emigrate.

In the Hays lot in Hazelwood cemetery stands a simple stone bearing the bronze emblem of the D.A.R., the last resting place of Aunt Debbie Hays, a real daughter of the Revolution. In the same lot is the grave of Edward Delaney, a colored man who as a boy, was purchased by Joseph Hays, Sr., and later, sold to Joseph Hays, Jr. who brought him to Iowa, before the Civil War.

The old plantation served as home for the elder Joseph and his four sons and three daughters as well as for the orphan children of his son Abram. These three latter, Abram, Samuel and Catherine with a relative Darius Thomas were among the early settlers in Poweshiek and Jasper Counties, Iowa.

Taken from:
Descendents of Abraham Ludwick
A Tabulation of the Descendants of Abraham Ludwick and of Families Allied by Marriage
Author: A.S.Miller (Arthur Scott), Opt. D
Publication: 1929
St. Louis County Library-Headquarters Branch
St. Louis , Missouri 63131-3598 USA
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