MY RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS
SCRAPBOOK PART VII
By Jonathan K.T. Smith
Copyright, Jonathan K. T. Smith, 1995

(Page 13)

HAYES

HAYS LOT, unnumbered just north of Jobe Lot 285-B
[Lot 386-A in Tombstone Inscriptions]

north to south:

ELINOR VIRGINIA HAYS, 1886-1909

A broken tombstone, base only left, footstone inscribed "T. H."; perhaps infant child of Middleton and Sallie Hays

SALLIE PARKER HAYS, 1848-1890

Captain MIDDLETON HAYS, 1843-1926

JAMES CARUTHERS HAYS, 1875-1962
Son of Sallie Parker Caruthers and Capt. Middleton Hays

FLORENCE HAYS HITCH, 1884-1962
Daughter of Sallie Parker Caruthers and Capt. Middleton Hays

LOUIS V. HITCH, 1873-1948
Born in Falmouth, Ky. Son of Joseph Bryan Hitch & Anna Cravens Hitch

MARY CARUTHERS HAYS, 1882-1970

TARA AMANDA DAVIS, 1974-1984

1.
CONFEDERATE MILITARY HISTORY (Tennessee), 1899 (Reprint, Wilmington, N.C., 1987), volume 10 Extended, page 532:

Lieutenant Middleton Hays, of Jackson, was born at that city in 1843. He was a gallant Confederate soldier, and by his courageous devotion honored the record of his family, for many years distinguished for patriotism. His father was Gen. Samuel J. Hays; his grandfather, Col. Robert Hays, a brother-in-law of Gen. Andrew Jackson; his mother was closely related to Arthur Middleton, one of the signers of the declaration of independence. Young Hays enlisted among the first of the Tennessee youth to take up arms for the State, and became a member of Company H, Sixth Tennessee regiment of infantry. His first battle was Shiloh, where the Sixth, under Col. W. H. Stephens and General Cheatham, was distinguished in the desperate fighting at the "Hornets' Nest," on Sunday, April 6, 1862, and on the next day, under the immediate leadership of General Cheatham, made a gallant stand against the reinforced and confident enemy, which lasted for four hours and was pronounced by Cheatham the most hotly contested he had ever witnessed. At Shiloh, Hays was desperately wounded, a ball passing through his right lung and entirely through his body. He received an honorable discharge on account of disability, and at a later date was able to re-enlist, joining Company G, Nineteenth Tennessee cavalry, of which he was elected first lieutenant. With this regiment he served under Forrest in all the subsequent operations of that famous general, and was frequently employed in enterprises that required dash and courage. He is now a member of the police force of Jackson, and is popular with his old comrades and the community which he serves.

 

2.
Compiled Military Service Record, Confederate, Civil War. Middleton Hays. Enlisted in Co. H, 6th Tenn. Inf. May 12, 1861 for a term of two years; wounded at Shiloh, April 1862 and was thereafter absent on leave because of his wound; captured in Jackson, Tenn. in the summer of 1862 and later paroled; honorably discharged Nov. 28, 1862. Later, April 1, 1864 he enlisted, as a first lieutenant, in Co. B, 18th Tenn. Newsom's Cavalry for duration of war.

 

(Page 14)

3.
John Middleton (nicknamed Mid) Hays, born in 1843, was one of the children of Samuel Jackson Hays (c 1800-1866) and Frances Pinckney Middleton (a niece of Arthur Middleton, one of the South Carolina Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1776). The Hayses were people of considerable reputation and wealth in antebellum Madison County. A genealogical manuscript concerning this Hays family, written by a descendant, Mr. Joseph Cleveland Hays, Jr. of Jackson, is on file in the Tennessee Room, Jackson-Madison County Library. He wrote the following, evidently taken from an obituary of Captain Hays:

Middleton Hays became a farmer on a large scale and also served as a Captain in the Jackson City Police Department. In his later years, he was an oil inspector for the city of Jackson. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, a member of the John Ingram Bivouac of the United Confederate Veterans and a member of the Moose Lodge of Jackson. Though he left the University of North Carolina to join the Confederate Army that school conferred upon him the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911, as a member of the Class of 1864. He was a member of the Epsilon Alpha Fraternity and the Phi Literary Society while a student there. He was also a member of the Alumni Association of that school.

Middleton Hays died at 7:30 P.M. on May 15, 1926 at his home at 270 west Baltimore Street in Jackson. He was eighty-three years old. His wife, Sallie Parker Caruthers Hays died on April 3, 1890 and both are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Jackson.

Mr. Davis supplied Jonathan Smith with the following genealogical data:
John Middleton Hays, June 28, 1843-May 15, 1926
married, Dec. 16, 1868,
Sallie Parker Caruthers, April 5, 1848-April 3, 1890; daughter of James Caruthers
Their children:
1. John Middleton Hays, Jr., Feb. 20, 1871-Jan. 21, 1888
2. Frances Laura Caruthers Hays, Feb. 27, 1873-Jan. 26, 1946; married Stephen Murphy
3. James Caruthers Hays, March 6, 1875-Feb. 22, 1962; never married
4. Samuel Jackson Hays, May 22, 1876-July 24, 1953; married Anne Ferreday
5. Musidora McCorry Hays, Aug. 3, 1878; married Clyde Hunt
6. Stoddert Caruthers Hays, Nov. 7, 1880-Aug. 7, 1887
7. Mary Caruthers Hays, April 16, 1882-Nov. 12, 1970; never married
8. Florence Parker Hays, July 17, 1884-Nov. 11, 1962; married Louis V. Hitch
9. Elinor Virginia Hays, June 23, 1887-Dec. 19, 1909; not married
10. Trimble Middleton Hays, Nov. 23, 1888-Jan. 31, 1963; married Ida Mae Rice; among their children was Mary Frances Hays, b. 1927, wife of Joseph Cleveland Davis and one of their children was Joseph Cleveland (Joe) Davis, Jr., born 1949 (married; father of three children, one of whom, Tara Amanda, is buried in the Hays lot in Riverside).

4.
Griffin Funeral Home Burial Register, 1923-1927, page 263:
John Middleton Hays, b. May 5, 1843; d. May 15, 1926. Father, Samuel J. Hays. Mother, Frances Middleton. Father born in Tennessee, Mother in So. Carolina.

5.
U.S. Census, June 3, 1880, Civil Dist. 8, Madison Co., Enum. Dist. 94, page 5:
Middleton Hays, 36, Tenn. Tenn. S. C. Farmer
Sallie P. Hays, 30, Tenn. Va. Tenn.
Middleton Hays, Jr., son, 9, Tenn.; Frances Hays, dau., 7; Caruthers Hays, son, 5; Samuel J. Hays, son, 4; Musadora Hays, dau., 2.

 

(Page 15)

6.
U.S. Census, April 27, 1910, Jackson, Enum. Dist. 169, sheet 5-A:
Middleton Hays, 67, Tenn. Tenn. S. C.; widower; Policeman
James C. Hays, son, 34, Tenn. RR yard-master
Mary C. Hays, dau., 24, Tenn.
Louis V. Hitch, son-in-law, 39, Ky. Salesman
Florence H. Hitch, dau., 25, Tenn.
Trimble Hays, 21, Tenn.; given as bro. -in-law (of Louis V. Hitch)

7.
U. S. Census, Jan. 1920, Jackson. Enum. Dist. 163, Sheet 10-B:
Mid Hays, 78, Tenn.
Ruddy /James C./ Hays, son, 40, Tenn. RR conductor
Trimble Hays, son, 38, Tenn. RR flagman
Mary Hays, dau., 35, Tenn.

8.
Robert H. Cartmell "Diary" 12, Jan.-Dec. 1894, page 173:
December 26, 1894. Papers full of killing &c. Mid Hays son aged about 17. 2 of them had a difficulty with a negro /sic/ boy about 17 years old. Shot & killed him. occured near the stone bridge at west end of Lafayette street last Monday night /Dec. 24/.

As written by Cartmell it may be misunderstood actually who was killed. A brief mention was made in THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL, Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 26, 1894 about this episode, clearing-up ambiguity in the diary account:

SHOOTING SCRAPE AT JACKSON. A Negro Shot and Killed by a Seventeen-Year-Old White Boy Jackson, Tenn., Dec. 25, — Sam Hays, son of Mid Hays, a member of the Jackson police force, is charged with firing a shot which killed Will Austin, a negro, last night: on West LaFayette street. Sam and his brother, Ruddy, were in a grocery store when some words passed between them and Austin. The boys and Austin went out on the street, where the quarrel was renewed and the negro was shot in the abdomen, dying in a short time. When found, Austin had a knife clutched in his hand. Young Hays waived an examination this morning, and gave bond for his appearance. Hays is not over 17 years of age, and is a member of a prominent family.

 

9.
Buried in Riverside Cemetery, Lot 300, are two, sons of Middleton and Sallie Parker (Caruthers) Hays, in the grave lot of their grandparents, James and Frances E. (McCorry) Caruthers and the two boys share a double tombstone inscribed:

(east side)
STODDERT CARUTHERS, son of M. & S. P. HAYS
Born Feb. 20, 1871
Died Jan. 21, 1888
(west side)
MIDDLETON, son of M. & S. P. HAYS
Born Aug. 11, 1880
Died Aug. 8, 1887
Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid
them not for of such is the Kingdom of God.

The top portion of this tombstone had fallen when the compiler read it in 1994 but it was replaced on its base in the summer of 1995. As it lay when fallen only the name of Stoddert Caruthers Hays was partially apparent, his dates hidden from view. It seemed to match the part of the tombstone inscribed with his brother's name and dates, hence in MY

 

(Page 16)

RIVERSIDE CEMETERY TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTIONS SCRAPBOOK, Part VI., page 40, this inscription was rendered: Stoddert Caruthers Middleton Hays, an oversight now corrected here. Again, below is the account of the death of Middleton Hays, Jr., as appeared in the local newspaper:

WEST TENNESSEE WHIG, Jackson, Tennessee, January 25, 1888:

A DEPLORABLE ACCIDENT Young Middleton Hayes/sic/ Falls from His Train and is Killed.         A deplorable accident occurred on the Mobile & Ohio railroad, near Carroll, this county, last Friday evening. Middleton Hayes Jr., son of Mr. Middleton Hayes of this city, and aged about 19 years, while braking on a freight train, in some way lost his balance and fell between the cars. He was not missed till the train had reached Humboldt. Search was made for him and he was found lying on the track, nearly dead, a leg crushed, an arm broken and chilled from lying on the snow. He was brought home and prompt attention given him but he did not rally from the shock and died about 3 o'clock Saturday morning. The parents have our sympathy in their hour of sadness. The funeral took place from the residence Monday, Rev. A. W. Jones D.D., officiating.

 

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