Husband Hon. Thomas Hays 1 2 3 4 5
Born: 19 Jan 1840 - Washington Twp, Armstrong Co, PA 1 4 5
Christened:
Died: Aft 1915
Buried:
Father: Robert Hays (1812-1877) 1 2 4 5
Mother: Deborah Jane McKee (1815-1883) 1 2 5 6
Marriage: 21 Dec 1865 7 8
• Additional Image: Hon. Thomas Hays.
• Additional Image: Hon. Thomas Hays.
• Residence: : near Fairview, Fairview Twp, Butler Co, PA.
View of the residence and farm of Thomas Hays from The History of Butler County, PA, 1883; pg. 368
Wife Keziah Jane "Kizzie" Foster 7 8
AKA: Kesia J. Foster 1
Born: 27 Mar 1844 - Sugar Creek Twp, Armstrong Co, PA 8
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Father: Christopher A. Foster ( - ) 9
Mother: Isabel Morrison ( - ) 10
• Additional Image: Mrs. Thomas Hays.
Children
1 F Jenny L. Hays 7
Born: 16 Jan 1867 7
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Dr. V. F. Thomas ( - ) 7
Marr: 22 Oct 1890 7
2 M Christopher F. Hays 7 11
Born: 13 Dec 1868 - Haysville, PA 7
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Lilley Logan ( - ) 7
Marr: 20 Apr 1899 7
3 M Robert N. Hays 7
Born: 13 Nov 1870 7
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Iva Brackney ( - ) 7
Marr: 10 Feb 1897 7
4 F Maud B. Hays 7 12
Born: 16 Oct 1872 7
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Dr. John Victor Cowden, M.D. ( - ) 7 12 13 14 15
Marr: 27 Jun 1906 - Butler, Butler Co, PA 7
5 M Thomas Henderson Hays 7
Born: 19 Dec 1874 7
Christened:
Died: 24 Aug 1901 7
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
6 M Charles Frederick Wells Hays 7
Born: 12 Nov 1876 7
Christened:
Died: 24 Nov 1902 7
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
General Notes: Husband - Hon. Thomas Hays
He was born in a log house on his father's farm, in what is now Washington township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. Passing his early life on that place, he assisted with the farm work in summer, and carried on his studies during the winter, attending public and select schools in the county until he reached the age of eighteen. In 1861 he was elected by the school directors of his own township to teach the Wattersonville school, but it was not long before he got the war fever, and felt that he must enter the service of his country. Resigning his position, he enlisted, Sept. 16, 1861, in Company B, 103d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which command he served for fourteen months. Two days after his enlistment he reported at Camp Orr, Kittanning, with his brother John M. and twenty-five or thirty of his schoolmates and neighbors, all in the same company, carrying their own blankets and traps. Leaving Camp Orr Feb. 28, 1862, with the regiment, they arrived that evening at Harrisburg, and pitched their tents on about a foot of snow and ice, where Mr. Hays slept on his blankets in the Sibley tent overnight. The next morning the "boys" kindled their first hard coal fire - hard coal being new to them. They received their uniforms and guns, etc., and their flag was presented to them in front of the old capitol by "War Governor" Andrew G. Curtin. In one week they were sent to Washington City, where they camped the first night on what later became the site of the Congressional Library, and the next morning the imprints of their bodies were left in the mud. Thence they changed to Meridian Hill, Washington, D. C., and a few days later marched to Alexandria, Virginia, thence to Fortress Monroe, on Old Point Comfort. Mr. Hays was in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac and the Peninsular campaign, going with McClellan through Yorktown to Williamsburg, where they met the Rebels in the first battle, May 6, 1862. The enemy evacuated that night. Next they fought in the engagements of Fair Oaks and Seven Pines, and then in the Seven Days' battle, winding up with the battle of Malvern Hill. This ended the battles of the Peninsular campaign. On Nov. 13, 1862, he and his brother John M. Hays were transferred to Battery L, of the 4th United States Light Artillery (with which they engaged in the siege of Suffolk, Virginia), and served in the Army of the James under General Butler, took part in the battle of Drury's Bluff, and in June, 1864, were transferred with the battery to join Grant's army at Cold Harbor, engaging in battle there. In this engagement Mr. Hays' battery lost thirteen horses and fifteen men in about thirty minutes. General Tyrant, in describing the battle, states that for the time the battle lasted it was the bloodiest in the war. Mr. Hays and his brother escaped, as did the four neighbor boys, subsequently serving in front of Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, and he was mustered out in front of Petersburg Nov. 13, 1864, at the expiration of their term of service.
Coming home at the close of his service, Mr. Hays was soon managing the farm of his uncle, David Hays, in Maryland, near Baltimore, being thus employed for two years, during which time he came back to Armstrong County and married. Then he removed to near Fairview in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1867, purchasing a farm where he engaged in general agricultural pursuits and later in the horse and cattle business, raising and breeding. In time he became interested in the production of oil and gas from the property, as well as on some of the adjoining farms. He owned and operated many wells in Butler and Armstrong counties, some of which were producing oil for forty years. During the period of twenty-eight years that he resided on the "Haysville farm" at Fairview he became, through his enterprise and versatile ability, one of the prosperous and reliable business men of the district, and after his removal to the town of Butler, in 1895, he augmented that reputation steadily. He became closely associated with real estate, manufacturing and banking interests in Butler, being a stockholder in many of the manufacturing plants there, a director of the Farmers' National Bank, and a stockholder in the Merchants' National Bank. His competent management of his private affairs attracted the attention and confidence of his fellow citizens to such an extent that they called upon him for public service, and he did not disappoint his supporters in the quality of his work or his stand on questions affecting the welfare of his constituents. He was elected to the lower house of the State Legislature for the terms commencing in 1903 and 1905, and for the extra sessions of 1906, and was elected to the State Senate to represent Armstrong and Butler counties, in the Forty-first Senatorial district, for the terms commencing in 1909 and 1911, completing eight years of acceptable service in the State Legislature, four in each branch. His influence and support were always found on the side of the common people, and opposed to special class privileges or anything that contained the elements of graft and perquisites not enjoyed by all. In political connection he was always a Republican. He and his wife were leading members of the Presbyterian Church at Butler, in which he was a ruling elder, and socially he held membership in the Masonic fraternity (Argyle Lodge, at Chicora) and Grand Army of the Republic, being one of the most prominent members of Post No. 107, in which he filled various offices, including that of commander.
Mr. Hays had the honor of being chosen to make the presentation speech when, on Jan. 30, 1912, the flag of his old command in the 103d Pennsylvania Regiment was given to Memorial Hall at Pittsburgh. His wife, Mrs. Keziah J. (Foster) Hays, who had helped to make the flag more than fifty years before, was also present, as were many of the men who fought under it. As noted above, Mr. Hays was in the same command as a number of his schoolmates. When the Civil war began Keziah J. Foster and a number of other school-girls made for Company B the first American flag of the 103d Pennsylvania Regiment, which was then recruiting in Camp Orr, Kittanning, Pennsylvania, and presented it to the company with the charge to shoot on the spot any one who attempted to pull it down. This flag was always held in high esteem by all the boys, and was carried through all their battles in the war. At the battle of Plymouth, North Carolina, the regiment was surrounded by a larger force of the enemy, and after many days of fighting, with the loss of many killed and wounded, it became necessary for the regiment to surrender or all die. When the surrender took place the boys took good care that this flag did not fall into the hands of the enemy. It was concealed around the waist of the custodian, Conrod Petzinger, and carried by him eleven months while in the Andersonville prison, and when the regiment returned from prison at the close of the war and was discharged from the army, the flag was still treasured carefully. Later, enclosed in a neat frame, it was on display at Memorial Hall, Pittsburgh, where it occupied an honorable place. [HAC 1914, 641]