My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM HAYS, a native of Scotland, left that country during the religious persecution, and settled in County Tyrone, Ireland. He was at the siege of Derry, and suffered with the rest of the besieged until relief came, being absent from the family twenty-two months. The first of the Hays family to settle in Allegheny county was Abraham, who married Miss Fannie Pittee, a French lady. They removed from Maryland to Allegheny county, Pa., in 1767, and located one mile above Homestead, opposite Braddock’s Field, where they remained nine months. On account of Indian troubles they returned to Maryland, but in 1769 once more came to this county. Here Abraham Hays took up land which is still in the possession of his descendants. He was a Presbyterian, an upright and honorable citizen. He and his wife died on the old homestead farm where they first located, one mile above the place now known as Homestead. Abraham Hays and James Whittaker married sisters. The neighbors were Robert Byerly (who came from Maryland), Andrew McClure, Samuel Hamilton, Samuel Ferguson, James McKinney, Edward West, Joseph West, John Neal, Judge McClure (a bachelor, and brother of Andrew McClure), John Risher, Davy Calhoon, John Irvine, Robert Patterson, William Furl, William Brown and David McKee, all being about the same age. Abraham and Fannie (Pittee) Hays had nine children: Francis, Isaac, Abraham, Patty, Jacob (see his sketch below), John, Thomas, Sarah and Elizabeth. Of these, Francis was born in 1770, married Beckey Drennen, and moved in 1820 to Butler county, Pa. (they had six sons and six daughters); Isaac married a Miss Wylie, of Pittsburgh, and moved down the river to Owl Creek; Abraham married, and had two sons and two daughters; Patty married Steve Wylie, who made the first brick ever manufactured in Pittsburgh; John was a bachelor; Thomas married Elizabeth Hamilton, and had four sons and six daughters; Sarah married James Harden, and had two sons and four daughters; Elizabeth died unmarried.

Jacob, fourth son of the pioneer Abraham Hays, was born in 1778, and married, in 1799, Jane Harden, who was born in 1779; they had the following-named children: James H., born in 1800; E. W., in 1802; Thomas H. (see his sketch); Emily J., in 1806; Frances, in 1808; Nancy, in 1810; Mary, in 1812; Abraham (see his sketch); John K., in 1815; Sarah, in 1817; Alexander, in 1819; Ivy, in 1821, and Caroline, in 1824. Of these, James H. married Mary Crady, and died at Beck’s Run in 1876 (they had ten children: Ann E., Mary J., Josephine, Henry B., Emeline, Sarah, Agnes, James H., John S. and Walter F.); E. W. married, in 1822, Ivy McKenzie, a native of Jamaica (they had ten children: Mary, born in 1822; Emily, in 1824; Sarah, in 1826; Charles, in 1828; Elizabeth, in 1830; Josephine, in 1834; Alexander and Arthur (twins), in 1837; Thomas, in 1839, and Virginia, in 1841); Emily J. married Charles Gibbs, and had thirteen children; Frances married James Rippert, and had four children; Nancy married Henry Alexander, and had four children; Mary married Jacob Painter, an iron-manufacturer, and had five sons; John K. married a Miss Large, and had three children; Sarah married David E. Park. Thomas Hardin, father of Mrs. Jane (Hardin) Hays, was an officer in the revolutionary war, and had a horse shot from under him at the battle of Brandywine. Jacob Hays, son-in-law of Thomas Hardin, was a soldier in the late war. Jacob Hays was a farmer, and at one time owned and run a mill and distillery; he was a Presbyterian and a Freemason; was originally a democrat, but his last two votes were republican. He died Jan. 2, 1866, his widow on March 28, same year. Jacob Hays and son E. W. started the first ferry on the Monongahela river, in 1811, at Six-Mile Ferry. E. W. Hays handled the first stick of timber that ever went into a steamboat in Pittsburgh, and which was used for a keel; he had eighteen oxen and seven horses to draw it to Six-Mile Ferry, whence it was rafted down the river.