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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer 


				N. B. AND MARY A. (OLMSTED)* HAYES

	The father of this gentleman, Hector Hayes, was born in Prattsburg, N. Y., in 1804, and 
was a farmer by occupation.  His wife, Lucinda (Warren) Hayes, was born in Connecticut in 1806. 
Hector Hayes removed to Ontario Co., N. Y., when a young man, and was there married.  In 1836 he 
removed with his wife and two sons (George and Bradford) to Michigan, and settled in North 
Plains, Ionia Co., in a region covered mostly with burr-oak.  But one other family was then in 
the township, and had settled at the same time with Mr. Hayes.  The nearest grist-mill was at 
Marshall, Calhoun Co.  Wheat was ground for immediate use in a coffee-mill, and "bolted" through 
a common sieve.  The family realized in their experience the broadest meaning of the word 
"pioneering."  The sons remained at home, attending to matters on the farm and spending a portion
of their time at school in winter.  N. B. Hayes ("Brad") began attending Olivet Institute when 
twenty years of age, remaining two years.  He subsequently rented his father's farm for two 
years, and taught school during five winters.  At the age of twenty-four he purchased eighty 
acres of land, and commenced improving it.  When twenty-nine years old he was married to Miss 
Mary A. Olmsted, of North Plains.  Her parents, Jay and A______ (Case) Olmsted,* were early 
settlers in the township, and came from Onondaga Co., N. Y.
	N. B. Hayes was chosen president of the First National Bank of Muir at its organization, 
filling that office two years.  He was for two years president of the Ionia Cooperative Mutual 
Benefit Association, and held the position of president or director of the Grand Rapids and Muir 
Log-running Association during its existence,--about seven years.  With the exception of one 
year, he has been a trustee in his school district since he was twenty-one years of age.  In 1876
he was elected by the Republicans to the Legislature, running one hundred votes ahead of his 
ticket in his township, and three hundred in the district.  While in the Legislature he was a 
member of the committee to investigate the noted Rose-Douglas university case.
	Mr. Hayes is now the largest farmer in the county of Ionia, owning two hundred acres in 
the town of Lyons, fourteen hundred in North Plains, and about fifteen hundred acres of pine-land 
(cut and uncut) in Montcalm County.  He carries over forty-six thousand dollars of insurance on 
his farm-buildings, etc.  In 1862 he engaged in the lumbering business, which he has continued 
successfully to follow, manufacturing from one million to six million feet of lumber annually.  
His farm in North Plains is connected with his office in Muir by a Bell telephone, the distance 
being three and one-half miles.  This was the second telephone erected in the county.  
Connections are also made with his bookkeeper's residence, the residence of Mr. Just, cashier of 
the bank, the bank, the railway depot, the residence of S. W. Webber in Lyons, and two stores in 
the same village.
	Mr. Hayes, whose parents are both living, is the father of four sons, who are all 
residing at home.  He is the owner of the largest barn in Ionia County, it being one hundred and 
sixty-two feet in length, with a wing one hundred feet long, with twenty-three-feet posts.  a 
cellar is constructed under a portion of the edifice, and one hundred head of cattle can be fed 
and sheltered at one time.  The building cost seven thousand dollars.



* Or Olmstead.

This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881.  Pages 275-276.  North Plains.