One more Hiram, perhaps Hierom (Jerome), to go

A soldier of 100th Regiment (PD:75yrs)

When I realised that I would be looking for a Hiram Hayes in Ontario, I did something a bit silly. I just put that into a Google search engine. What I found were some interesting pieces of information about the early settlers in Goulbourn. This would become Richmond, Ontario.

At a site dealing with the early settlers in the Goulbourn Township, we are informed that the soldiers who settled in Richmond had been disbanded in Lachine, Quebec. They were mainly from County Cavan and County Tipperary. In fact, the 100th was known as the Prince Regent or County Dublin Regiment which had been raised in 1804.

The plan was for the soldiers to settle along the border region with the United States to provide a group of trained militia in the event of another incursion from the south. This would also reduce the number of unemployed, and perhaps unemployable, men at arms who might otherwise return to Ireland and England. Ironically, there was a rebellion in Canada in 1837 due, in large part, to poor governance.

Included in a list of yeomen, private, who were late of the 99th Regiment (the 100th after the 95th was removed to become the famous Rifle Brigade) living in the Township of Goulburn, County of Carleton, District of Bathurst are*:

Hiram Hayes E 1/2 No 13 in the 4th Concession of Goulbourn 4 Feb 1824
Henry Hayes W 1/2 No 14 in the 4th Concession of Goulbourn 4 Feb 1824

According to the site linked below**, this setting was not auspicious. It was not well situated in terms of farming. Perhaps more importantly, the construction of a canal at 'Bytown' (Ottawa) meant work for people possessing various crafts or a strong body (similar to the construction of the Eire Canal in New York). This canal work began in 1826. It stifled the further development of the settlement of Richmond which had begun in the early 1820s. The decommissioning of the joint civilian and military authority over the settlement in 1822 had not helped.

The situation for Hiram and Henry seems to fit this nicely. I was unable to find either of them in this area in the census data of 1821/1822.Yet, according to the transcription above, they took up the opportunity for gaining a land concession at the beginning of 1824. However, by 1826, they had sold their 'memorials' to their service in the 100th Regiment of Foot which would have been 100 acres as privates.

In 1826, a John Gordon bought Concession 4, Lot No 13 E from Hiram Hayes on 9 January. Henry sold his portion in stages. He also sold them at a later date. If I am correct, he sold one half of his allotment to Edward Morris, former sergeant in the 99th, on the 4th of November 1826 and the other half on 3 December 1827.***

Notes from the site from which this information about the sale of the lots was gathered provide the following information:

Henry was born in Tipperary, Ireland and was a musician in the 99th (100th). Hiram was a private. 

There is no indication in the notes that they were related. However, as we shall see, they do end up settling near each other in another location.

Where were these two before 1824 and where did they go after 1826? At this point I just shotgunned it and saw something curious in the list for the 1861 Census.

There was a Hirom Hays listed in Brant, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. Looking closely at the scanned document I was delighted to see:

Hirom Hays, Farmer, 26, Upper Canada, Church of England, Married
Cardale [Cordelia] Hays, 25, Upper Canada, Church of England, Married
William Henery [sic] Hays, 5, Upper Canada, Church of England, Single
John Hays, 3, Upper Canada, Church of England, Single

Cordelia (according to the transcriber) is a twist in the hose; but everything else looks like it might line up. Hiram, William H. and John Hayes. Rosa and Hiram Daniel were born after 1861.

Can I make the connections to Hiram or Henry? Can I make a connection between this family and the Hiram Hayes family that I have found in Michigan. I think there is a prima facie case for both.

But first notice, once more, the spelling of Hiram as Hirom! There may be a good reason for this.

* http://www.bytown.net/goulbour.htm
**Click here to be taken to a site with good background information on the topic.
***http://www.stanzell.ca/Early%20settlers%20Goulb.htm