Samuel Lewis Hays (October 20, 1794 – March 17, 1871) was a nineteenth-century farmer and Democratic politician in the part of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

that became West Virginia after he left for

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Hays served multiple terms in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and one term as in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in a district that was eliminated as Virginia lost residents.

Early and family life

Hays was born in Harrison County near Clarksburg in what later became the state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. He married Roanna Arnold in 1817. Following Roanna's death in 1841, Hays married twice more: first to Nancy Covert (died 1863) and then to Emma Fletcher.

Career

Hays moved to what was then Lewis County (later Gilmer County) to farm in 1833. Lewis County voters (and at times those in adjoining Braxton County and later Gilmer County) elected Hays many times to represent them (part-time) in the

. Hays was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

to the

27th United States Congress The 27th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. between March 4, 1 ...

, serving from 1841 to 1843, and made an unsuccessful bid for reelection in an adjoining district in 1842 when Virginia lost a congressman in as a result of losing population in the 1840 census. However, Hays again won election to the Virginia House of Delegates, this time representing Braxton and Lewis Counties. During his Congressional term, Hays sponsored the admission of

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in near ...

as a cadet to the military academy at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

, and also urged the building of the

Parkersburg Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metro ...

- Staunton Turnpike. He laid out the town of Glenville in 1845. Hays, Joseph Smith,

John S. Carlile John Snyder Carlile (December 16, 1817October 24, 1878) was an Americans, American merchant, lawyer, slaveowner and politician, including a United States senator. A strong supporter of the Union (American Civil War), Union cause during the Ameri ...

and Thomas Bland also represented Randolph, Lewis, Barbour, Gilmer, Braxton, Wirt and Jackson counties as their delegates to the

Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 was an assembly of elected delegates chosen by the voters to write the fundamental law of Virginia. It is known as the Reform Convention because it liberalized Virginia political institutions. Backgro ...

, which gave more representation to the western counties. In 1857, Hays moved to Sauk Rapids,

Minnesota Territory The Territory of Minnesota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 3, 1849, until May 11, 1858, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Minnesota and wester ...

. President

James Buchanan James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...

, a fellow Democrat, had appointed him Receiver of Public Moneys and Hays continued as such until Buchanan's presidency ended in 1860, at which time Hays resumed farming near what was then the administrative center of the new state of Minnesota.

Death and legacy

Hays died in 1871 and was interred at the Old Benton County Cemetery in Sauk Rapids.

External links

Descendants of Samuel Lewis Hays
1794 births 1871 deaths Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from Harrison County, West Virginia People from Glenville, West Virginia People from Sauk Rapids, Minnesota Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia 19th-century American politicians {{Virginia-Representative-stub