How Many Hirams Does It Take To Find John Hayes' Ancestors?

I put Hiram Hayes into the search engine for Ancestry and got a hit for the 1880 Census in Hamtramck, Wayne, Michigan. There are other Hayes families around Hiram, such as those belonging to Edward and Michael whose parents turn out to be John Hayes and Ellen Allen. The Hayes familes are all nested together in the census in the northeast corner of the township. However, the details don't all fit. One thing that I notice as I search is that Hiram Hayes arrived in the United States in 1866. Edward and Michael were both born in Michigan in the early 1830s. Hiram was born in Canada around 1864. Can this all be explained? Hmmm...good question.

Just a reminder, our John Hayes records 1872 as the date of his arrival. This has caused me a great deal of anxiety for some time. However, when I finally got all of the pieces of the puzzle together, this information actually helped me to confirm what I had found. It is an amazing tale. Yes, the Guinness family is involved. So, I had better keep moving to get to the pint.

In the 1880 Census, there are two Hirams. One is 43 (1837) and he has a wife, Mary (44; 1836). The other Hiram is 16 and has an older sister named Rosa (18). When I walk the census forward to 1900, I get a bonza hit. [By the way, there is at least one more Hiram, or should I say Hierom (Jerome) in the pile.]

Hiram D. Hayes (36; Oct 1863) is living in Wexford, Wexford County, Michigan with his wife Sarrah E. Hayes (32). They have three children with them: Amy (13), Minnie M. (3) and Russell D. (1). Very significantly, as we will see in a future post, Hiram's father was born in 'France, Canada' and mother 'Canada, Ireland'. Hiram and Sarrah were married in 1887. Sarrah has had four children; but, only three have survived. Her parents were both born in English Canada.

And, where is the older Hiram (60) in 1900? He is living with his wife of one year, Mary (56)! He is also living with a son, William, and his wife of two years, Olive. They are all in Deep River, Arenac, Michigan. He immigrated in 1866 and his parents were both born in Ireland. The age differences betwen the 'two' Marys may indicate that Hiram had married again. This is certainly not unheard of. I'll have more to say about this later.

In the 1910 census, the couple are listed as 63 for Hiram and 60 for Mary. They are still in Arenac. In fact, just two years later, they both die within months of each other. Mary dies of face cancer. While we can access their death certificates, there is not information of consequence as there is no informant. Mary dies first and Hiram is so incapacitated that he can only make his mark. When he dies, there is no family member there to provide information. So, sadly, there is nothing about parents. However, this is not the dead end that it looks like it might be.

Did you notice that Hiram D. Hayes is living in Wexford in 1900? This is Sherman Village. Who else is living in Hanover, Wexford? John, Lottie, Clarence (17), Harry (9), and Eva (7). [Note that in the 1900 Census, Lottie is listed as having 3 of 5 children still living; this will be important below.] Is this enough to link the two families? Perhaps not. But, what if we were to as where everyone was between 1880 and 1900? It certainly gets interesting. We know that Hiram D. and Sarah E. were in Green Oak, Livingston, Michigan in 1898 (between Lansing and Detroit). Their son Raymond, who had been born in 1892, was killed by a horses' kick to his head on 8 May 1898. According to the death certificate, he was buried in the Baptist cemetery there. Their son, Russell D. was born in Green Oak on 15 August 1898.

Minnie M. was born in 1895/1897 in Argenton [Argentine], Genessee, Michigan.

If we look for William Hayes, who might be John's brother, we get the following important hit. A William A. Hayes is in the Census for Maple Forest, Crawford County, Michigan in 1880. He is single. In 1888, there is a land claim in Crawford for a William H. Hayes. It turns out to be for 100 acres which is a lot of land to clear, plow and upgrade by yourself! According to the Crawford County, Michigan Dibean Marriage Index, a William Hayes marries Ellen Ford on 6 September 1889.

When we realize that Florence A. Hayes was born in Royal Oak, Oakland on 7 November 1880, Clarence Milton in Cadillac, Wexford on 2 February 1883; Charles is born in Maple Forest Township on 8 June 1889; according to the "Michigan, Births, 1867-1902" records, of which a scanned copy was viewed, Harry James in Maple Forest Township (draft registration says, Frederick), Crawford on 19 October 1890 and Eva C. in Grayling, Crawford in 1893. It would seem that the Hayes family members were working to support each other in a variety of places. Later, Clarence Cecil, son of Clarence Milton, would settle in Mount Morris with his cousins.

Can I do more? Yep. After all, there is a pint of Guinness waiting for me at the end of the trail.

Just a reminder: William H. Hayes said in the 1920 Census that he arrived in 1871; in the 1910 Census he said 1866. Is it possible that both dates are correct?

Attribution for image: Kenneth Allen [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons