HAYES, (Mrs.) M. M., Franklin, TN., then St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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MRS. M. M. HAYES, OPELOUSAS.-Mrs. M. M. Hayes, to whom the Opelousas Female
Institute owes its origin, was born in Franklin, Tennessee. She first attended
the Soulé Female College at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and later graduated from
the Tennessee Female College, 1851.  During the war she taught in private
schools.  In 1868 she was united in marriage with Capt. James Hayes, whose
death occurred in 1871.

After his death, in the fall of 1871, Mrs. Hayes opened a school, the
outgrowth of which is the Opelousas Female Institute.  This institution has
steadily increased in prosperity and usefulness up to the present day.  It has
a fine local patronage, and is growing in favor away from home.  The buildings
have been enlarged and remodeled, and can accommodate, comfortably, a much
larger number of boarders than ever before.  The school is chartered, and
diplomas are conferred on all young ladies who satisfactorily complete the
prescribed course of study, which is one of the most thorough of any
institution of learning in the South.  The methods of instruction are of the
most approved.  As to location, no more favorable place than Opelousas could
be found.  Healthful and picturesque, one will scarcely find a more pleasant
place.  Mrs. Hayes, although assisted by an efficient corps of teachers,
superintends the whole school in person.  Her judgment is assisted from time
to time by the counsel of the following board of advisors:  Thos. H. Lewis,
President; Judge E. N. Cullom, J. W. Jackson, C. C. Duson, James White, C. L.
Hayes, Judge J. M. Moore, R. S. Wilkins, John N. Ogden, Leonce Sandoz, Judge
E. D  Estilette, Jos. Bloch.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp.
48-49.  Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf
Publishing Company.