Christopher (Hayes) Hays was born on January 10, 1738, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and about 1764, he married Eve May Apple.
Hays was a colonel from Westmorland County, Pennsylvania, during the Revolution, serving from 1777-1779. Hays originally came to Missouri with Colonel George Morgan in 1787-1789 as surveyors on a visit.
He later received a special permit of the Marquis de Casa Calva to settle in the Cape Girardeau District. Hays settled on Hubble Creek just north of Jackson, Missouri.
The Hays had the following children: Rebecca Elizabeth Hays married John Henderson, John Hays married Eleanor McCarty, George Hays married Sarah “Sallie” Byrd, and Mary Polly Hays. The Hays adopted Eve Effie Tyler who married George McFerron.
Christopher Hays became Judge Hays and was selected to serve with Stephen Byrd, Andrew Ramsey, and George Bollinger to journey to St Louis to represent the landowners in 1804 to ensure their claims were recognized by the U.S. government. He was part of the commission to decide where the district government courthouse and jail would be constructed.
He died in 1808 and was buried in the Ware Cemetery about three miles north of Jackson. This cemetery was destroyed when the Fruitland intersection to I-55 was constructed. Today, markers containing the names of fifteen individuals—and one honoring Colonel Christopher Hays—are located south and west of the original site.
For more information on Christopher Hays, check out the sources below.
Sources:
A History of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the Union. By Louis Houck Volume II pp. 112, 186, 192, 217, 283, 391-392.Volume III p. 83https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/166271/?offset=0
The Hays family:Revolutionary War to Missouri.By Beverly Hahs https://www.semissourian.com/features/the-hays-family-revolutionary-war-to-missouri-2954995
Pennsylvania, U.S., Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783 https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2591/records/31443?tid=&pid=&queryId=e1641441-0590-42bd-8468-1ad3f5b52370&_phsrc=XOg7350&_phstart=successSource
Cape Girardeau County Archives, Jackson, Missouri https://www.capecounty.us/archive-center/revolutionary-war
Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society https://www.capegenealogy.org/resources/resource48revolutionarysoldiers.html
Ware Cemetery, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri http://www.warefamilies.org/2013/08/ware-cemetery-cape-girardeau-county-missouri/
Southeast Missourian: Local History: The American Revolution led to founding and settling of Cape Girardeau
https://www.semissourian.com/history/local-history-the-american-revolution-led-to-founding-and-settling-of-cape-girardeau-b44c26f8
**Compiled by Pamela Johnson