Hays, Wm. M. 1839-1911

HAYS, FRAME, WILLIAMS, PAGE, HAYES, HARNDEN, BREESE

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 9/1/2017 at 16:14:48

The Grinnell (IA) Herald
June 23, 1911
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OBITUARY.
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Wm. M. Hays was a son of John T. Hays and Sarah Frame Hays. His ancestry can be traced back to the time of Queen Anne when one of the Hays family located in Philadelphia. Mr. Wm. Hays was born Nov. 5, 1839, in Frederic county, Md. where his parents and grandparents were born and lived. He came with his parents to Iowa in 1854. The journey from Maryland to Iowa was made in wagons.

When Mr. Hays located in Grinnell the town was only a few months old. In the spring of 1858 he, with his parents, moved to Chester township.

When the civil war began he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Iowa cavalry which was recruited in Grinnell in August, 1861. He re-enlisted at Vicksburg in the same company and served with his company until the close of the war. He was in active service during this period continuously with the exception of a few weeks spent at home on a furlough. He was in all the principal engagements in which his regiment took part and was mustered out in 1865 returning to his home in Chester where he lived until he left the farm and moved to Grinnell. Here he resided until less than a year ago when he moved to Texas.

He was united in marriage to Miss Frances Williams in January, 1868. He lived happily in tis union till the death of Mrs. Hays, which occurred March 28, 1899. To this union were born five children all of whom remain to mourn his departure excepting one who died in infancy. Walter resides in Sheridan township, Willis in Houston, Texas, Frank in Kechie, Texas, and Myrtle in Grinnell. There are also seven grandchildren; two brothers and two sisters, Mrs. Martha Page, of Joplin, Mo., Mr. J.A. Hays of Denver, Colo., J.R. Hays of Olathe, Colo., and Mrs. Mary J. Hayes of Franklin, Nebr.

He was again united in marriage to Mrs. Mary L. Harnden, Sept. 1905. Mrs. Hays had been called to the bedside of her daughter, Mrs. Wm. Breese, in New York, previous to Mr. Hays' last illness. She is still with her daughter.

Mr. Hays was called from this life June 17, 1911. He was visiting his son, Willis, in Houston, when the summons came.

Mr. Hays was converted at a revival meeting held in the old school house in 1856. He was baptized and united with the Baptist church in 1858 or 1859. He was among the first to unite with the church after its organization. At the time of his death he had been a member of the Grinnell Baptist church longer than any other person. He remembered how the Fist Baptist church, which was the first church building in Grinnell, was built. Men went into the forest and hewed out the timbers and had them prepared for the mill for use. IF any ready milled lumber was used it was brought overland from Muscatine. He saw the church grow from its infancy. Its prosperity was ever a cause for his rejoicing.

Mr. Hays had been in feeble health for some years. When he suddenly became worse he knew the end was near.

So he chose the scripture texts for his funeral sermon and requested that his remains be brought back that they might be laid to rest by his Grinnell comrades.

He died with a confident trust in God.

Funeral at 2 p.m., in M.E. church.

Rev. L.D. Weyand and L.F. Parker officiated.

The Baptist church was not ready for use as the new floor was not yet finished.