THOMAS J. HAYES AND FAMILY, Smith County, TX ***************************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by Jo Nell Williams - JoNellLOC@aol.com 24 May 2001 ***************************************************************** THOMAS J. HAYES AND FAMILY, "Some Biographies of Old Settlers." Historical, Personal and Reminiscent. Volume I By Sid S. Johnson, 1900: Sid S. Johnson, Publisher, Tyler, Texas Chapter XLII. Pages 200-2001 THOMAS J. HAYES AND FAMILY. CHAPTER XLII. The subject of this sketch was born in South Carolina, June 11, 1798; removed to Georgia with his father, George Hays, when a youth, where he grew to manhood. He married and moved to Alabama in 1839, emigrated to the republic of Texas in 1840 and settled in the county of Nacogdoches, near where the town of Chereno now is, where he remained until the fall of 1843, when he located his headright certificate about seven miles southeast from the present city of Tyler and settled on same in January, 1844, having been appointed a deputy under the district surveyor at Nacogdoches and assigned to the territory lying south of about the present line lying between Smith and Cherokee counties and surveying south to the San Antonio road, or "King's Highway," and bounded east and west by Angelina and Neches rivers respectively. He continued surveying, as deputy, until the summer of 1846, when Smith county was organized, at which time he was elected county surveyor, which office he held several times. In 1850, he settled in Tyler, where he resided until the winter of 1857, during which time he was elected to the office of county chief justice for two terms. He then moved to Jack county, near Jacksboro, and located some land certificates and went into the stock business, but was broken up by the Indians, who made raids in that portion of the county, stealing horses and cattle, and occasionally killing the whites. His wife died in 1862, and in 1870 he returned to Tyler to live with his son, Col. Frank H. Hays. He died in 1875, and was buried in the Tyler cemetery with Masonic honors. During his residence in Georgia he held the office of tax collector and surveyed a district of the Cherokee purchase of that state. At the organization of Smith county his oldest son, T. Jeff Hays, was elected county clerk, which office he held to the time of his death in 1857. Judge Hays was known for honesty and good sense and lived to see his children educated and occupying positions of honor and trust. He was the father of Col. F. M. Hays, of Troupe, and of Dr. J. M. Hays, a prominent physician of San Antonio, Texas. Judge Hays was greatly respected by all who knew him.