My Hays Family

The widow Delitha Hays, living near Elias in the 1850 Tippah County, Mississippi, census, is surely his mother, but his father's name remains unknown. Tippah County suffered a major loss of records during the Civil War, making research difficult.
According to various records, Elias was born in four different states.... interesting, but not likely! Probably he was born in Tennessee, his family migrating south into newly opened territory in Mississippi in the 1830's. He moved his young wife to Johnson County, Arkansas soon after the 1850 Census. Elias apparently served on both sides during the Civil War - his family paid dearly for his ambivalence as they were burned out while he was away. Elias Hays died of consumption in 1879, probably contracted while he was in the War, leaving a struggling widow with young children still at home.