John Hays (1770 – after 1822) is the only Jew known to have come to Illinois prior to its admission in the Union (August 26, 1818). He was the son of Baruch Hays, a lieutenant in the American Revolution and scion of one of the oldest American Jewish families. John Hays settled in Illinois as early as 1793 and served for twenty years as sheriff of St. Clair County, in the southwestern part of Illinois, which was the most populous section of the state in its early days. Hays was born in New York City in 1770. At a young age, he entered the Indian trade in the Northwest as clerk to a wealthy house in Canada. He settled in

Cahokia, Illinois Cahokia was a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It was located east of the Mississippi River in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, 15,241 people lived in the village, a decline from 16,391 in 200 ...

in 1793, where he embarked on trade with the Indians on his own account. He later became a farmer. For a number of years, Hays held the unpaid office of

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

at Cahokia. In 1798, he was appointed

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of St. Clair County and he continued to exercise the duties of this position until 1818, when the Illinois state government was organized. In 1814,

President Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...

appointed him collector of internal revenue for the Illinois territory.Cyrus Adler and Rachel Hays Sulzberger, "Solomon Hays," in Jewish Encyclopedia.co
''JewishEncyclopedia.com''
/ref> In 1822 he was stationed at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he acted as Indian agent for the

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

and Miami tribes. Afterwards, he returned to Cahokia, where he remained until his death.

References

Sources

Hyman L. Meites (ed.), ''History of the Jews of Chicago'', Chicago Jewish Historical Society. 1924. (Facsimile ed. 1990). Quotes extensively from ''History of St. Clair County'', Brink, McDonough and Co.. 1881. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hays, John 1770 births 19th-century deaths Year of death missing People from Illinois Territory Illinois sheriffs Jewish American people in Illinois politics Tax collectors People from Cahokia, Illinois Illinois postmasters