Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Edward L. Hays (b. circa 1817 - d. 1883)
MSA SC 5496-036177
Property Owner, Rockville District, Montgomery County, Maryland

Biography:

Edward Leonard Hays was born around 1817. He married Sarah West in 1840,1 with whom he had ten children: Maria Tillard (b. 1842), Mary Catherine (b. 1843), Augusta Selby (b. 1845), Frances Eleanor, nicknamed Fanny (b. 1846), Edward Perrie (b. 1847), Arthur (b. 1849), Eugene (b. 1850), William Clinton (b. 1851), Sarah Willson, nicknamed Sally (b. 1853), and Elizabeth Estep, nicknamed Bessie (b. 1855).2 Hays' farm stood a few miles west of Rockville on a tract of land called "Wickham's Chance."3 His slaves farmed common Montgomery County crops like wheat and corn, and also processed wool and butter.

On September 17, 1845, twenty-year-old Charles Brown fled his enslavement on Hays' farm. Although Hays advertised a $100 reward in the Maryland Journal,4 Brown was never captured. By 1855, Hays' slaves had decreased from thirteen to a single slave named Hilleary ( b. circa 1828)5 who remained Hays' slave until 1859. In 1860, Hays still owned only one slave, this time a two-year-old boy whose name is unknown.6 By the time of Maryland's emancipation in 1864, Hays owned six slaves, all sharing the surname Brewer.7 They included Clarissa Brewer and her children, who remained in the Rockville area following emancipation.8

Hays sold 150 acres of farmland in 1852,9 reducing his land holdings by half. Four years later, he purchased twenty-six acres bordering the Darnestown Presbyterian Church.10 Hays continued farming after the Civil War, also serving as a justice of the peace from 1876 to 1880;11 as Deputy Register of Wills for Baltimore County under David M. Perine;12 and as one of the magistrates for Darnestown's "two colored schools," including the Quince Orchard Colored School.13

His wife Sarah died between 1860 and 1870, and Hays married his second wife, Anna Torrance Waring, on November 18, 1880.14 Hays died in Darnestown less than three years later, on February 12, 1883.15
 

1.     Maryland Marriage Record for Edward L. Hays and Sarah West, February 28, 1840, Montgomery County. Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research, comp. Maryland Marriages, 1667-1899. The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. www.ancestry.com.

2.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Edward L. Hays, 1850, Montgomery County, Rockville District, Page 18, Line 13 [MSA SM61-142, M 1499-1].
        U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Edward Hays, 1860, Montgomery County, Rockville District, Page 75, Line 11 [MSA SM61-213, M 7223-1].
        William Neal Hurley. Our Maryland Heritage, Book 31: Hays and Gott Families (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2002) 14.

3.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Liber JGH 8, Folio 239, 1860-1862, [MSA CE 63-9]. Edward L. Hays to Edward P. Hays, October 24, 1860.

4.     "$100 Reward." Maryland Journal 1 October 1845: 3. MSA SC 3839, Reel M 7933. Maryland State Archives.

5.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Edward L. Hays, Slaves, 1850, Montgomery County, Rockville District, Page 4, Line 2 [MSA SM61-168, M 1505-5].
        MONTGOMERY COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, (Assessment Record, Slaves), 1853-1864, [MSA C1112-1].

6.     Ibid.

7.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics) MSA CM750-1, Accession No.: CR 12255-2. Sarah Hays, per Edward L. Hays her agent & attorney, May 6, 1867.

8.     U.S. Census Bureau (Census Record, MD) for Clarissy Brewer, 1870, Montgomery County, District 4, Page 9, Line 28 [MSA SM61-275, M 7256].

9.     MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Liber JGH 2, Folio 192, 1853-1853, [MSA CE 63-2]. Edward L. Hays and Sarah Heeter to John Heeter and Martha A. Heeter, June 29, 1852.

10.   MONTGOMERY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records), Liber JGH 5, Folio 359, 1855-1857, [MSA CE 63-5]. John L. Dufief to Edward L. Hays, June 23, 1856.

11.   "Appointments for Montgomery County." Baltimore Sun 5 April 1876: 4. Baltimore Sun Historical Archive. Enoch Pratt Free Library.
         John D. Bowman. Guide to Selections from the Montgomery County Sentinel, Maryland, January 1, 1876 - December 31, 1881 (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2005) 114.

12.   "Brief Locales." Baltimore Sun 16 February 1883: 4. Baltimore Sun Historical Archive. Enoch Pratt Free Library.

13.   Qtd. in J. Thomas Scharf. History of Western Maryland. Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties (Philadelphia, PA: Louis H. Everts, 1882) 762.

14.   Effie Gwynn Bowie. Across the Years in Prince George's County (Richmond, VA: Garrett and Massie, Inc., 1947) 609.
        Bowman 141.
        William Neal Hurley. Our Maryland Heritage, Book 31: Hays and Gott Families (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2002) 14.

15.   "Brief Locales." Baltimore Sun 16 February 1883: 4. Baltimore Sun Historical Archive. Enoch Pratt Free Library.
    

Researched and written by Rachel Frazier, 2010.

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