Hay, John

Born: 1775-02-XX Virginia

Died: 1865-05-20 Sangamon County, Illinois

With a group of his Quaker neighbors, John Hay left his home in Virginia at the age of eighteen and moved to Fayette County, Kentucky, where he married Jemima Coulter. The couple had six sons and seven daughters. Hay was one of the earliest settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois, when he arrived in 1832 with his wife and eleven children. The family settled in Springfield, where Hay operated a cotton manufacturing company and later a brickmaking factory. He was active in the Baptist Church and was an important community booster. In 1850, Hay was a farmer who owned real property valued at $3,000. He was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln and was a strong unionist during the Civil War. Father of Milton Hay and grandfather of Lincoln's secretary John M. Hay.

Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Sangamon County (Chicago: Munsell, 1912), 2:1294-95; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 96; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Springfield, Sangamon County, IL, 512; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.