History

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John Coffee Hays is the first cousin of Jeremy H. G. Hayes (five times removed).

In 1836, at the age of 19, Hays migrated to the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston appointed him as a member of a company of Texas Rangers because he knew the Hays family from his Tennessee years. He met with Houston and delivered a letter of recommendation from then-President Andrew Jackson, his great uncle. Rachel Jackson was Hays' great aunt of the Donelson family, a relative of his mother.

In the following years, Hays led the Rangers on a campaign against the Comanche in Texas, and succeeded in weakening their power. He rode with a Lipan Chief named Flacco who led the charge into every battle with him. The duo led and inspired the Rangers. In 1840 Tonkawa Chief Placido and 13 scouts joined with the Rangers to track down a large Comanche war party, culminating at the Battle of Plum Creek.

Later, Hays commanded the force against the invasion from Mexico of 1842. During the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), Hays commanded the First Regiment of Texas Rangers at the Battle of Monterrey, established six companies along the northern and western frontier of Texas. He then commanded the Second of Texas Rangers in Winfield Scott's Mexico City campaign. Later, while fighting under Gen. Joseph Lane, who was defending the American line of communications with Vera Cruz, Hays defeated superior numbers of Mexican cavalry at the Affair at Galaxara Pass and Mexican guerillas in the Skirmish at Matamoros and the action of Sequalteplan. The Rangers excelled during this conflict, gaining nationwide fame. Hays was the first to use the Navy Colt Paterson five-shot revolver. He expedited Samuel Walker to meet with Samuel Colt which led to the design of the legendary Colt Walker six-shot revolver used in the Old West.

Governor William Hall is the son of Major William Hall and was married to Thankful Hall Doak.  Thankful Hall Doak is the maternal grandmother of 4th great-granduncle to Jeremy H. G. Hayes.

Governor Hall was born in Surrey County, North Carolina and moved with his parents to Tennessee at the age of ten. In 1796 he was commissioned a Second Major in the Sumner County Militia and became Colonel and ultimately Brigadier-General in the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. He served four terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives and four in the Tennessee Senate. As Senate Speaker in 1829, he became governor upon the resignation of Sam Houston, serving until the inauguration of his successor. Two years later he was elected to a single term in the U.S. House of Representatives, after which he retired to his estate near Castalian Springs in Sumner County. There he wrote Early History of the Southwest. He was a delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850, which considered means by which Southern states might protect the rights of their people in the U.S. territories. Hall died at his home in Sumner County, where he is buried in the family graveyard.

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, seeking to act as the direct representative of the common man.

Andrew Jackson was married to Rachel Donelson, who was John Coffee Hays' great aunt.

Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, was the dominant actor in American politics between Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Born to obscure parents and orphaned in youth, he was the first "self-made man" and the first westerner to reach the White House. He became a national hero when he fought the Federal Reserve, and as President he sought to act as the direct representative of the common man. 

Andrew Jackson married Rachel Donelson (of the Hays family), and the land where the Hermitage sits today was once owned by the Hays family before selling it to Jackson.

William de Hay of Leys is Jeremy's twenty-second great-grandfather.

William de Hay is part of Clan Hay, which is still honored today as one of Scotland's historic families.

The Hay are one of the major clans of Scotland, whose Chiefs, the Earls of Erroll, have been hereditary Lords High Constable of Scotland since Sir Gilbert Hay of Erroll was rewarded with that office after the Battle of Bannockburn by King Robert the Bruce in 1314.

There are societies and non-profits set up in the name of Clan Hay, and in Scotland this is still one of the honored families.

 Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. A staunch abolitionist from Ohio, he was also a brevet major general for the Union army during the American Civil War. As an attorney in Ohio, Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. 

Rutherford B. Hayes also is a member of Clan Hay, and is in the blood line of Jeremy H. G. Hayes.