Yolo County CA Archives Biographies.....Hays, Eli 1835 - 1897
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 10, 2005, 2:13 pm

Author: Tom Gregory

ELI HAYS

    One of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Yolo county was
Eli Hays, who was born October 7, 1835, in Kentucky and died October 6, 1897, on
his ranch in Yolo county. In 1856 he crossed the plains with ox-teams,
experiencing many adventures with the Indians, and located in Yolo county, where
he purchased a quarter section of land five miles south of Woodland and engaged
in farming and stock raising. To this he added from time to time until he had
six hundred and forty acres in a body. His father, Jacob Hays, was a native of
Virginia, but lived for a time in Kentucky before going to Missouri, where he
operated a grain and stock farm. In 1865, after the death of his wife, Nancy
(Good) Hays, who was a Kentuckian, Mr. Hays took his children to Oregon, where
they lived about a year in the Willamette valley. In 1866 they drove south over
the mountains to Yolo county, where Eli Hays was already well established.
Securing a farm of three hundred and forty acres, Mr. Hays again resumed
agricultural pursuits, also dealing in stock. All of his nine children grew to
maturity, but only one daughter is now living, Mrs. Jane Enyart of Woodland.

    The widow of Eli Hays, formerly Sarah Guile, was born in Hamilton, Ohio,
whence her father, Silas Guile, removed from New York. He was of English descent
and served in the Seminole Indian war. Part of the city of Hamilton stands upon
land which Mr. Guile once owned and upon which he conducted a farming and
dairying business. His wife, Eliza (Beaver) Guile, was reared in Hamilton, Ohio,
and was the daughter of Daniel Beaver, of Pennsylvania. In 1855 Mr. Beaver, with
his son-in-law, Silas Guile, and his eldest son, Gideon Beaver, came to
California by way of Cape Horn. Later Mr. Beaver attempted to return to Ohio,
but the steamer Central America on which he sailed from Panama was wrecked in
the Gulf of Mexico September 12, 1857, and he was lost with others. He had
previously come to California in 1848, via Cape Horn, settling in the Sacramento
valley. Upon his arrival in Yolo county Silas Guile purchased three hundred and
twenty acres fourteen miles from Woodland, which he successfully cared for until
his death at the age of seventy years.

    Mrs. Hays is the oldest of two children, and with her brother, Daniel B.
Guile, came to California in 1869 by the Panama route. She had charge of her
father's home until her marriage to Mr. Hays. Her brother resides in Woodland,
near which city is located his fine fruit ranch. For eight years prior to his
death, Eli Hays was a victim of extremely poor health, thus the burden of both
the home and the ranch fell upon his wife, who, through her incessant labor and
good management, proved equal to her task. Her son, Ernest, now has charge of
the ranch, his brother, Daniel, assisting. The other children are: Viola, now
Mrs. William Rablin; Slayden; Myrtle; Ray, and Bert. Mrs. Hays is an earnest and
consistent member of the Adventist Church of Woodland, and enjoys the love and
esteem of many friends.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


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