Oh, what you can do with a little help from your friends!
Originally, I intended to write only one blog post about
Andy Hays (or Hayes), but more information keeps popping up. The folks who contact me offering additional information on my subjects are part of the fun of blogging. My Find A Grave friend, Barry, searcher of
nooks and crannies that don’t occur to me, alerted me to the gravesite of
Andrew and Martha Hayes recently posted on Find A Grave. How cool is that?! I'm saving the best for last.
On my own, I uncovered
some long forgotten notes I took years ago, bits of information I had collected
about Andy and Martha Hayes from various people, including my father, his
sister Neville, and Rich Valley residents, Garland Lamie, and Ben Clark.
Lamie and Clark said that Andy
delivered flour on his horse to a little country store in Rich Valley.
According to Clark, Andy was "liked and respected by all. They [Andy and
Martha] were plain people, good to everyone, never had a bad word to say about
anyone."
Martha’s cooking was famous in the
valley. She prepared the wedding supper for Clark's parents, he recalled. Aunt
Neville remembered her father, Clint Troutman, telling about Martha giving him
a delicious hot, buttered biscuit when he went to her house one day. His mouth
was still watering at the thought of that biscuit.
Clark said that Andy and Martha
attended the Presbyterian Church in Rich Valley, where, as was customary in
those days, they sat in “a special pew” in the back. Indeed, I found an entry
in the Rich Valley Presbyterian Church session minutes of 12 December 1897: “A.
J. Hayes (col.) appeared before the Session, and was examined as to his
experimental acquaintance with religion, which examination proved satisfactory,
and he having made a profession of his faith in Christ, was admitted into the
church.”[1]
Andy had a reputation for being a fine Christian
man, my dad said. Jacob Myers, a magistrate in the area and my mother’s
maternal grandfather, told Dad that he believed in Andy's word as truth in any
situation.
Finally, Barry alerted me to recent Find A Grave memorial to
Andy and Martha Hayes with a picture of their gravestone.[2] This
is a treasure I thought I would never find.
 |
| Marker for the grave of Martha and Andrew Hayes, Shannon Cemetery, Adwolfe, Virginia. It reads, "At Rest: Hayes, Martha, 1860-1927; Andrew, 1858-[?]." |
The photo taken by Find A Grave volunteer, Shannon Rogers Simpson,
was posted on February 5. The cemetery where she found the stone is located near Adwolfe, Virginia. She notes that she is going to keep searching
for the broken piece that contains Andrew’s death date.
That’s about it, for now, but you never know what might
surface next.
[1] Minutes of the Session of the Presbyterian
Church of Rich Valley, Virginia, Vol. 3, 13 June 1836-31 March 1918, p. 94:
1897, Dec. 12; Rich Valley Presbyterian Church, Saltville.
[2] Find A Grave, database and images
(http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 11 February 2015), photograph, memorial
page for Andrew Hayes (1858-????), Find A Grave memorial no. # 142226635,
citing Shannon Cemetery, Adwolfe, Virginia; photographs contributed by Shannon
Simpson.
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