William Henry Hays (1754 - 1804)

Born 13 Dec 1754 in Province of North Carolina

Husband of Susannah (Boone) Hays — married Mar 1775 in Fort Blackmore, Colony of Virginia

Descendants

Died 13 Dec 1804 at age 50 in Femme Osage Prairie, Saint Charles, Missouri, United States

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Biography

Captain William Henry Hays was born 13 Dec 1754 in North Carolina^[1], the son of John Hays and Elizabeth Unknown. He died at his home in Femme Osage, St. Charles County, Missouri (formerly Louisiana Territory) at the age of 50 on 13 Dec 1804. He was buried at the Susannah Boone and William Hays Family Farm Cemetery Femme Osage, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. (The Family Plot/Graveyard received Spanish land grant #1670 for 510 acres near Femme Osage Creek which flows into the Missouri River. ^[2]

In March of 1775 at Ft. Blackmore on the Clinch River in Virginia, William Hays married 15 year old Susannah Boone, the 2nd of 10 children born to Colonel Daniel Boone and Rebecca Bryan. ^[3] In 1776 they moved to Ft. Boonesborough, Ky. and later to Bryan's Station, Kentucky.

William accompanied Daniel Boone on his first expedition to cut the Wilderness Road into Kentucky. William was a soldier and was well educated. He became a Captain in Captain John Holder's company at Boonesborough in 1779. About 1785 William and Susannah moved to her father's Marble Creek Farm, about 5 miles west of Boone's Station in Kentucky and remained their until the fall of 1799 when they moved with Daniel Boone's party to Missouri. Susannah died at the age of 39 on 19 Oct 1800 (aged 39) in Femme Osage, St. Charles County, Missouri, USA

The story of William Hayes death is as follows:

William Hays, known as a man of high temper was killed by his son-in-law, James Davis. Hays had forbidden Davis to come on to his place, but he did anyway. When Hays threatened to shoot, Davis fired first. After several hours of suffering Hays died at his home in Femme Osage, St. Charles County, Missouri (formerly Louisiana Territory). Mr. T.P. Davis of Wright City, Missouri, a descendant of James Davis, said in 1958, that the argument was over a land dispute. It is said that even though Daniel Boone, as Commandant of the Femme Osage District, was the one who arrested James Davis and delivered him to the "calabazo" in St. Charles, he spoke up on his behalf and believed that William Hays had pulled a pistol on James Davis first. The shooting was eventually determined to be "self defense."

The Grand Jury indictment "in Louisiana Territory under American government" read as follows.

"That one James Davis, late of the District of St. Charles, in the territory of Louisiana, laborer, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil, on the 13th of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and four (1804), at a place called Femme Osage, in the said district of St. Charles, with force of arms, in and upon William Hays, in the peace of God and the United States, there and then feloniously, willfully, and with malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said James Davis, with a certain rifle gun, four feet long, and of the value of five dollars, then and there loaded and charged with gun powder and one leaden bullet, with said rifle gun the said James Davis then and there in his hands had and held, fired and killed William Hays."

Research Notes

While William's DAR record states that his last name was Hayes, every other source related to him reads Hays.

Sources

1. ↑ U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 Accessed on ancestry.com, February 2024.
   • View Ancestry Record 2204 #996382
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136401220/william-henry-hays
3. ↑ Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.Ancestry Record

• Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 The Boone Family. [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. pp 115-117. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61157/images/46155_b289627-00123?pId=481515

• United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2DG-SLLL : 9 March 2018), William Hays, 12 Dec 1782; citing 12 Dec 1782, North Carolina, United States, citing NARA microfilm publication M246. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Services, 1980. FHL microfilm 830,358.

• Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/ : accessed April 28th, 2015), "Record of William Hayes", Ancestor # A052870.

• Hays, Lillian Hays. Some Boone Descendants & Kindred of the St. Charles District 2204 El Canto Circle, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670: Oliver Publication: Dean Publications, 1984.