Col. Joseph Caldwell Hays and Anna Maria Betts
Husband Col. Joseph Caldwell Hays 1 2 3
Born: 4 Jul 1810 - Somerset, Somerset Co, PA 2 3 Christened: Died: 3 Nov 1891 - ? Meadville, Crawford Co, PA 3 Buried:
Father: John Hays (1771-1811) 3 4 Mother: Martha Wallace (1773-1843) 3 4
Marriage: 17 Apr 1838 - Meadville, Crawford Co, PA 5
Wife Anna Maria Betts 1 5
Born: 13 Oct 1808 5 Christened: Died: 20 Feb 1892 5 Buried:
Father: Ebenezer Betts ( - ) 5 Mother: Sally Gregory (1770- ) 5
Children
1 M John Betts Hays 5 6 7
Born: 12 Mar 1839 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Fanny J. Mead (1839- ) 7 Marr: 26 May 1864 5
2 M Samuel Wallace Hays 5 6
Born: 10 Feb 1841 5 Christened: Died: in infancy Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
3 M Frederic William Hays 6 8 9
Born: 17 Mar 1842 - Meadville, Crawford Co, PA 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Elizabeth Ida "Lizzie" Lashells (1850- ) 6 8 10 Marr: 12 Jun 1873 10
4 F Anna Elizabeth Hays 5 11 12
Born: 2 Dec 1844 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: David Compton Dunn (1845- ) 5 11 12 Marr: 20 Oct 1868 5 12
5 M Joseph Wallace Hays 5 6
Born: 22 May 1847 5 Christened: Died: 13 Jan 1854 5 Buried:Spouse: Did Not Marry
6 M Wilson Dick Hays 5 6
Born: 23 Aug 1849 5 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Ida M. Stewart (1846- ) 5 6 Marr: 7 Jul 1881 5
General Notes: Husband - Col. Joseph Caldwell Hays
He received the principal part of his schooling at Harrisburg Academy. He learned the printer's trade, and was soon in editorial work, he and George Fleming, of Carlisle, being associated in the publication of The Expositor at that place. In 1836 he removed to Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he made a permanent home, residing there until his death. There, too, he followed his favorite profession, in July, 1836, beginning the publication of The Statesman. Early in 1841 he became postmaster but was removed after Harrison's death, which occurred later in that year, and he then followed merchandising for several years. But on Jan. 13, 1848, he brought out the first number of the Crawford Journal, of which he made a success, himself continuing as its editor until 1864. Meantime he had taken considerable direct part in public affairs, having been elected county treasurer in 1859 and sent as a delegate to the National Republican convention in 1860, when Lincoln was nominated. In 1861 he received his second appointment as postmaster of Meadville, and in 1864 he was made assistant quartermaster, U. S. A., resigning reluctantly after a few months' service, however, having been incapacitated by an accident at Chambersburg. He had previously been aide de camp under Governors Pollock and Curtin, with the rank of colonel. In 1872 he was appointed post office inspector, serving in that capacity until 1883, and during that period visiting all parts of the United States in his round of duties. In 1873, after unearthing a large deficiency in the post office at New Orleans, he was put in charge there as postmaster until a regular appointment could be made. Ever true to his convictions, he had in this case reported the defalcations against the urgent advice of Republicans who feared the effect of exposure of misfeasance of friends in office. The true condition of affairs had been kept obscured for some time, and he was warned not to make the exposure in case his examination disclosed it, but he did his duty regardless of the effect on his party, causing an upheaval which cast opprobrium on the Republican organization in that section of the South which took years to overcome. It was a trial which few men would have had the courage to face, and it was typical of him that he carried it through. Mr. Hays continued to be a prominent figure in the social and political life of Meadville to the end of his days, and never really severed his connection with the newspaper world, on July 27, 1886, being presented with a gold-headed cane to commemorate the completion of his half-century of work therein. For many years he was an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville. [CAB, 502]
After a brief stay in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, at his grandparents' home, acquiring the elements of an English education in a log schoolhouse, the family removed to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he completed his education at the academy in that city, and then commenced to learn the art of printing in an office owned principally by Simon Cameron. But he soon after went to Philadelphia in order to perfect a knowledge of the business in a book-printing establishment. His health failing through close application to business, he was induced to accept a clerical position, and for several years performed the duties of book-keeper to a firm who were builders and contractors of the large viaduct over the Conemaugh River on the Allegheny Mountains, seven miles above Johnstown, being then called the "Portage Railroad" (the first road of the kind built by the State of Pennsylvania). His health being established, he engaged in several undertakings, one of which was the publishing a paper called the Expositor, in company with George Fleming, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1836 he removed to Meadville, where he issued the first number of a paper called the Statesman, on July 27th of that year, which was continued under his control until May, 1841, when Col. Hays was appointed Postmaster of Meadville by President Harrison. His official career was cut short by John Tyler, who came to the Presidency on the death of Gen. Harrison. He then engaged for a season in mercantile pursuits, but in 1848 he relinquished these for the press, and January 13 of that year, commenced the publication of the Crawford Journal. The political sentiments of this paper were those of the Whig party, although its anti-slavery views were so pronounced as to give it the character of an "Abolition sheet." This paper he continued to own and control until 1864. During most of this time the Journal was the only paper of this class in Meadville, and the party increased from a minority of over 500 in 1848, to a majority of 2,500 in 1860.
Col. Hays was variously honored by the party during this period. In 1859 he was elected County Treasurer, and sent as delegate to the Chicago Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President in 1860. The latter, in 1861, appointed him Postmaster of Meadville, but he was removed from this position in 1862 on charges which were proven false. Col. Hays, on his own urgent demand, was tried by the United States District Court held at Pittsburgh, in October, 1862, and a verdict of acquittal rendered by the jury on the charges preferred against him. The finding of the jury was approved by the presiding Judge and the United States District Attorney, and certified to President Lincoln. The latter, in vindication, appointed Col. Hays, in May, 1864, an Assistant Quartermaster with the rank of Captain. An accident which befell him at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, soon after the rebels burnt that city, disabled him from active service, and he resigned.
In January, 1872, he was appointed a Postoffice Inspector, which position he held until August 15, 1883, nearly twelve years, and when he retired received from the head of his Department a certificate that he had proved himself "an efficient and conscientious officer." The title, "Colonel," was conferred on him by two different Governors of Pennsylvania (Pollock and Curtin), they appointing him an Aid-de-Camp on their staffs with that rank. Educated in Presbyterianism, and having early joined a church of that persuasion, he became affiliated with the First Presbyterian Church of Meadville, in which he was a Ruling Elder, and lived retired from business among friends acquired during a residence of nearly half a century. [HCC 1885, 744]
1 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 336.
2 —, The History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner Beers & Co., 1885), Pg 743.
3 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 502.
4 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 335.
5 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 503.
6 William Henry Egle, M.D., M.A., Pennsylvania Genealogies; Chiefly Scotch-Irish and German (Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Co., 1896), Pg 339.
7 Spencer P. Mead, History and Genealogy of the Mead Family (New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1901), Pg 310.
8 —, History of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk, & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 883.
9 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 501.
10 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 504.
11 —, The History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner Beers & Co., 1885), Pg 735.
12
Samuel P. Bates, LL.D., Our County and Its People, A Historical and Memorial Record of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (W. A. Fergusson & Co., 1899), Pg 932.
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