Individual Details

Please note: This family as represented here is tentative. Proof for most of the children of Delitha is based on very little information, primarily that of the censuses and proximity of families. Her maiden name and the name of her husband remain unknown.

Y-DNA testing has revealed that the male Hays descendants do not match other Hays or Hayes males - 67 out of 67 marker matches to males of the surname Murray and Morrow. Both surnames have a common beginning in Scotland. This may explain the difficulty in tracing the Hays family - there has been a unknown paternal event (commonly referred to as an NPE) such as an adoption, foster child, stepchild who took the stepfather's surname or other possibilities.

Delitha could be a second wife since there appears to be a 10-year gap between Elias and Parthenia.

Marriages in Shelby Co TN:
Charles Vincent married Polly Hays 12 April 1834 [Elizabeth Vincent b. 1846, living with her grandmother. Should there have been other children if this was the right person?] The Mississippi State Census for 1845 lists a Charles Vinson as head of household, one male, four females.
N. R. Hays married Mary Gilbert 5 Feb 1845
[Is N. R. Hays one of the older sons of Delitha in the 1840 Census? Nicholas Hase is on a tax list, Tippah Co MS in 1841 with 4 males, 4 females. N. R. & Mary are on the Johnson Co AR Census in 1850 in the same Township (Pittsburg) where Delitha & Elias will be found in 1860. But N. R. is not there by 1860. He had in fact gone to California and the 1860 census shows his given name was Nicholas.]
1850 Johnson Co AR Census: Pittsburg Twp. #59
N. R. Hays, age 26, b. AL Mary age 25, b. TN
John W. age 5, b. TN Mary Jane age 2, b. AR Eliza Ann age 1/12 b. AR
1860 Toulomne Co, CA, p.379b, Hh 3310
Nicholas Hayes, age 40, b. TN, Stockraiser. Mary A. age 35, b. TN
John W. age 15 b. TN, Mary J. age 12, b. AR, Ann E. age 10, b. CA, George M. 9, b. CA, Sara A. age 4, b. CA. Chas. Amos, age 32, a miner. b. MI.

1837 Tax List of Tippah Co - found online at USGenWeb:
Hays, M. L. [The Shelby Co TN 1830 census has two "M." Hays and two "J." Hays families. Both M. Hays families has a female age 30-40 which would be Delitha's age. No other Hays family in Tennessee with the head of household's name beginning with an M. However, transcripts online are always suspect and I have not seen the original 1837 tax list. M's are often confused with W's & N's.]
I wonder if this was the 1838 tax list instead....

1840 Census, Tippah Co MS
Delitha Hays has 1m 10-15 [Elias?], 1m 15-20 [Martin?], 2m 20-30 [John? & ???]
2f under 5 [one would be Parthena], 1f 20-30, 1f 40-50 [Delitha]
A John Hays is also in Tippah Co with 1m -5; 1m 5-10; 1m 10-15; 1m 30-40; and 1m 60-70. He had 1f 5-10; 1f 20-30 and 1f 60-70. [Apparently an older couple and a couple with several children. Could this be Delitha Hays' father-in-law? No evidence this family was still there by 1850.]

Delitha Hays said to be listed in the 1841 and 1845 state censuses of Mississippi - I do not have copies. Ancestry has posted these online and I find no Hays in either census. Martin Crutcher, thought to have been perhaps the father of Martha Cruther Hays was also said to be in both of those state censuses. In 1841, he was listed with three males, eight females - I did not find him in 1845. Transcriptions in print of these censuses do not list Delitha and don't have Martin Crutcher in 1845.

Seems to be unrelated but there was a Nicholas Hase on the 1841 Tippah Co tax list - 4 males, 4 females. He could have been the head of household and unmarried - with brothers, his widowed mother, Delitha, sisters, in the household.

1850 Census, Tippah Co MS, Dwelling #1038.
"Delilah" Hays, age 53, born NC. Parthena, age 12, b. TN [Parthena will later testify that she was present at the marriage of Elias & Martha Crutcher Hays in Tippah Co in 1847.]
Probable granddaughters: Mary Ball, age 11, Alethe Ball age 9, Elizabeth Vincent, age 4. [There was a marriage in Shelby Co TN: Charles Vincent to Polly Hays, 12 Apr 1834. A Charles Vinson was listed in the MS State Census in 1845 - there was one male, 4 females in his household. No Hays/Ball marriage has been found.]
I believe the following may be sons:
Dwelling #1013. Elias Hays, 22, Laborer, born TN. Martha 17, born TN, Mary E. age , age 1, born in Mississippi
Dwelling #1073. Martin Hays, age 21, born NC. Margaret R. age 21, born TN
Dwelling #1074. John Hays, age 26, born NC. Frances, age 23, b. IL, Nancy J. age 6, born TN. And Wiley Martin, age 18, b. AL.

Another young Hays man lived in Tippah Co, but his birth place seems to separate him from these others. He was in Dwelling #518. Thomas Hays, 30, born SC. Nancy, 26 born TN. Alsey O. age 2 & John, 4/12, both born in MS. And Rebecca Robinson, age 18. Thomas Hays remained in Tippah Co and in the 1860 census was apparently living with his in-laws Asa [age 82, b. VA] & Frances Robinson [age 65, b. SC]. The daughter Alsey had apparently died, but wife Nancy, son John and four other children were listed. The only other Hays left in Tippah Co in 1860 was a Samuel Hays, age 23, born TN, living with John Reedy & wife Susan and baby son James T. I have had very small atDNA matches to 3 generations of Thomas Hays descendants. There certainly was a place for a son Thomas in the 1840 Census - I have added him as a provisional son.


Another Hays family was in Johnson Co AR in 1850, but they can be shown to have a different origin.
Horsehead Twp. #75 Willis Hays, age 40, b. NC
Elizabeth age 65, b. NC
Spadra Twp. #70 Henry B. Hays, age 43, b. NC
Malinda age 42, b. VA
Mary E. age 19, b. IL
Stephen E. age 13, b. AR
Darthelia age 6, b. AR
[Jane Lumsden has data on Henry B. & Willis showing their parents as Henry Hays & Elizabeth Dillard from NC, perhaps Burke Co. So Elizabeth in the household with Willis is no doubt his mother. Other Hays brothers were Elias G., John, and Steven Anderson Hays. This Elias is in the 1850 Mortality Schedule of AR as having died of scurvy in Johnson Co; he was born in NC & died in Mar of 1850. John & Anderson Hays are in Horsehead Twp, #76 in the household of William Gentry, ages 27 and 24, both born in NC. There's no information on how they got from NC to AR, if there were any intermediate residences on the way, but Henry does have the one daughter, born in Illinois about 1830, then they must have been in Arkansas by 1837 when son Stephen was born.]


Places of birth of subsequent children of Elias & Martin indicate several of these families left Tippah Co about 1851 and moved to Johnson Co AR.

April Court, 1853. Johnson Co AR
Delitha Hays petitioned the court to appoint Elias B. Hays as guardian for her granddaughter Elizabeth Vincent under the age of 14.

6 Jul 1856. Mary Ann Ball was married to Richard Grantham in Johnson Co at the home of Delitha Hays. [Mary was living with Delitha back in Tippah Co, 1850, when she was 11 years old.]

1857 (date is incomplete). From Probate Court Records, Johnson Co AR, over 10,000 Names. Compiled by Mrs. R. W. Michel. Copy sent from Jane Lumsden: Richard Grantham petitions to remove Elias Hays, guardian of Elizabeth Vincent.
20 Aug 2000. Charlene checked this: Petition was denied and Elizabeth remained in the home of Elias for the 1860 Census..


1860 Census. Johnson Co AR, Hh 341.
Delitha Hays age 58, b. NC. Margaret Hays age 28, b. TN. Parthena, age 20, b. MS
Ardenia age 9 and Arkansas age 7, both born in AR. [I believe Margaret to possibly be the widow of Martin. This is the last known record of Delitha.]
Elias Hays & family was also in Johnson Co in 1860. He gave his place of birth as MS but I believe that is wrong. Baby Mary from 1850 was now age 11 and born in MS. Ann, "Dolitha", John & William have all been born in Arkansas. Elizabeth Vincent, now 14, is with the family.
Next door to Elias lived Nathan & Sarah Grantham, parents of Richard who married Elias's niece Mary Ann Ball.
Richard Grantham, age 19, b.LA, and Mary [Mary Ann Ball] age 21, b. Mississippi, and Sarah, age 1, were also living in Johnson Co.
There was a John Hays, age 39, b. in NC. No spouse. Daughter Isabella age 7 and son Francis age 4, both born in AR. [No way to be certain this was the John Hays from 1850, Tippah Co MS - if so, his wife Frances has died and the daughter Nancy, born about 1844 has either died or married or is living elsewhere. It is significant that his birthplace is NC and he has named a son Francis. This could very well be the John Hays, son of Henry & Elizabeth Dillard Hays who was a single man in Johnson Co in 1850. The age doesn't match either John.]

By 1870, Elias Hays was living in Crawford Co AR. By that year, his orphaned nieces would have likely been married.

I may have located Elizabeth Vincent but more research will be needed. Living in Vine Prairie Twp in Crawford Co was an Elizabeth, age 24, born in TN [she was more likely b. MS if this is Elizabeth Vincent]. Head of household was James Broada, age 46, Farmer, b. TN. Elizabeth was of course age 24, b. TN and most likely a 2nd wife based on the ages of the following children. I would suspect only the two youngest are hers. James, age 15, b. AR. William age 13, b. AR. John H. age 2 [could this be "John Hays"?] b. AR, Delithe M. E. age 4 months, born Feb. in AR, Sarelada age 16, b. AR, Samuel Nathan age 18, Farm Labor, b. TN, Jane Johnson age 24, b. TX.

Richard Grantham & Mary Ball were still living in Pittsburg Twp, Johnson Co AR, as were his parents.

Hays families remaining in Johnson Co AR in 1870 included the household of the widowed Sarilla Hays in Grant Twp, age 42, b. MO. She had six children from age 19 down to 4-year-old Elias J., her only child born in Arkansas - the others were born in MO. [I haven't been able to find this family anywhere in 1860 to find out what Hays she was married to.] Henry B. Hays was still there in Spadra Twp with his 2nd wife Maria and their children. There was in Henry's household a 32-year-old Elias b. Illinois - in the household in 1850 was a Stephen E., in 1860 he was listed just as Stephen - but was his middle name Elias? The age is consistent. Also in Spadra Twp was the widow of Willis D. Hays, Rachel Hayes, age 41, b. TN, with 4 children from age 16 to 7, and all born in AR. The fact that this family fancied the name Elias, and came from North Carolina and then Delitha & family moved to where they were living in Arkansas, continues to make them candidates as possible kin.

The child Ardenia Hays, will be found in Polk Co AR in 1880 as wife of Michael Duggan.

Birth	1797	North Carolina
Death	Aft 1860	Johnson County, Arkansas
Marriage		HAYS

Spouse	HAYS ( - )
Child	Mary "Polly" HAYS (1816 - )
Child	Thomas HAYS (1820 - )
Child	Lucinda HAYS (1821 - 1867)
Child	[Daughter] HAYS ( - )
Child	John HAYS (1824 - )
Child	Martin HAYS (1828 - 1860)
Child	ELIAS B. HAYS (1829 - 1879)
Child	Parthenia Jane "Thena" Hays (1838 - 1900)