Biography of Seth Hays

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The story of Orville Word and his father, John Word, is exhaustive. I have spent many hours researching this family. My 3rd Great Grandmother, Eliza Wilcox Hays, who married Orville Word, had a brother name Seth Millington Hays. He is my 2nd Great Uncle. The Boone family, the Hays family, and Orville Word were owners of all the trading post up and down the Sante Fe Trail. Here is the story of Seth hays.



Biography of Seth Hays

In 1839-1844 Seth M. HAYS was living in Westport, now part of Kansas City, Missouri. In 1844-1845 Seth HAYS, about thirty?three years old, followed the Kansas River west into present day Kansas.
April 1845 Charles B. Chouteau and Seth M. HAYS were in charge of Frederick Chouteau's trading post (located on what is now Mission Creek in the westernmost part of Shawnee County, west of Topeka, about two miles from the Kansas Indian Mission that Methodist missionaries had founded in 1835).
In the spring of 1846 the Kansas signed a treaty with the government, ceding their land along the Kansas River in exchange for a new but smaller reservation located along the upper valley of the Neosho River, in what is now Morris County, Kansas. Seth HAYS, perhaps sensing that Chouteau's trading post would soon close its doors, returned to Westport.


April 1847 At Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail, Albert G. BOONE (grandson of Daniel BOONE, and cousin of Seth HAYS. His parents were Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel and Rebecca, and he married Zerilda Randall) and James G. HAMILTON, of Westport, Missouri, (by virtue of their Kansas Indian trading license) established a trading post on the Kaw reservation. Boone and Hamilton placed bachelor Seth M. HAYS in charge. Seth M. HAYS, a citizen of Westport, Missouri, having obtained a license from the Government to trade with the Indians in "Kansas."
April 1847 Seth M. HAYS was the first permanent white settler in Council Grove. When he arrived in 1847, he brought with him a Mexican teamster, who also was a handyman and interpreter, and a freed black slave (Aunt Sallie).
Seth M. HAYS built a log cabin (trading post) near the west bank of the Neosho River near where the Commercial House later stood. He lived there with Aunt Sallie, his housekeeper.
Mid May 1853 At Council Grove, there is a large, well furnished store (run by Seth M. HAYS), where a constant supply of everything required for the road is kept.
Soon after Kansas Territory was organized in 1854, the government ordered a census of the territory. When census taker James R. McClure arrived in Council Grove the following year, he reported that there were thirty?nine people living there aside from the Indians. He also noted that Seth HAYS operated a well furnished store and "kept for sale all kinds of goods needed by the constant stream of teamsters" who passed through the settlement following the Santa Fe Trail.
1857 The HAYS House, said to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River, was founded by Seth M. HAYS.
The Council Grove Town Company was organized in 1857, with Seth HAYS, Thomas Huffaker, the Chouteau brothers, and a few other residents as stockholders; and in 1858 the territorial legislature approved the incorporation of the town.
February 2, 1858 Hezekiah Brake, Mr A., Louis Boyse reached Council Grove that night, and began our arrangements for the trip to New Mexico. Seth M. HAYS kept a store and an outfitting station at Council Grove at this time. He had in keeping now six small Mexican mules, a good pony, a large wagon, and various other necessary acquisitions to our outfit. It took us four days to get the animals ready and lay in a supply of everything needful for our journey. An freed slave who worked for Mr. HAYS roasted coffee, made cakes, and gave us a keg of pickles and sauerkraut as relishes.
October 1858 The first term of the court was held, and the place of holding it was in the old log cabin built by Seth M. HAYS. The court officers were: William Weir, of Wyandotte County, was prosecuting attorney; L. McCarthy, clerk, and W. B. Harrold acted as Sheriff. The place where the jury deliberated upon their verdict was under the shade of a tree that stood in the yard.
1867 Seth Hays adopted a daughter. This is the same time frame that the Quaker Manual Labor School closed (reopened 1869?1873). His daughter was not Kaw (Morris County Historical Society).


1867 The Seth HAYS home was built of bricks from a local factory and native lumber. Hays slave, Aunt Sallie, lived in the basement and cared for the family until her death in 1872.

1868 The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (Katy) Railroad, built through Morris County in 1868, passed through and brought citizens to Council Grove. Wagon freighting over the Santa Fe Trail began to decline. Seth HAYS sold out and started a saloon called the Brown Jug. To attract attention in the growing community, HAYS hired a man with a bagpipe to entertain customers. His business prospered, and when members of a church were without a meeting hall, HAYS let them use his saloon. When the church held services, he would remove all evidence of his business and would cover some of the walls and the bar with wagon canvas. The Brown Jug was the first school in Council Grove.
1872 Seth HAYS's housekeeper, Aunt Sallie, died. Her funeral was held in HAYS's home.
1873 Seth Hays died and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery at Council Grove, Morris County, Kansas.
SOURCES: [Ref. Barry, Louise. The Beginning of the West ? Annals of the Kansas Gateway to the American West (1540-1854). Topeka: Kansas State Historical Society, 1972. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 78172252] [Ref. Dary, David. More True Tales of Old?Time Kansas. University Press of Kansas. 1984]


Seth Hays - Oliver page 267: Unmarried ; adopted daughter: Kittie Robbins Hays



Hays House 1857
112 West Main, Council Grove
Town founder Seth Hays, a grandson of Daniel Boone, opened the Hays House in 1857. Over the years, the Hays House was a gathering place for church services, court trials, bawdy theatricals and politicians' speeches. Among its early patrons were George A. Custer and Jesse James. Today the Hays House is famous as the oldest continuously operated restaurant west of the Mississippi River and the home of fantastic fare. (Order up the marinated brisket, Beulah's Ham, the crispy chicken fried in cast iron skillets, or the fresh peach pie topped with real cream and you'll agree with the rave reviews.)
The town founder, Seth Hays, built this home in 1867. His slave, Aunt Sally, lived in the basement and cared for the family until her death in 1872. Operated as a museum by the Morris County Historical Society, the home is open in the summer on Sunday afternoons and by appointment.
A great deal of the history of Council Grove is embraced in the narrative history of the county, some of which it will be necessary to repeat in order that the history of the organization and growth of Council Grove as a city may be the better understood. The city is located on the Neosho River, and is 170 miles west of the Missouri River. The greater portion of the city, probably three?fourths of it, is situated on the west bank of the stream. The land upon which the city is built was once part of the territory embraced within the Kaw Reservation. The first white person that settled in Council Grove was Seth M. Hays, who came in 1847 to establish a trading post for the purpose of trading with the Indians. The first house built in Council Grove was by him, which was a log cabin, and which stood on the north side of the old Santa Fe Trail, and but a few rods from the west bank of the river. This cabin served the double purpose of being both a dwelling and a store.
Hays Stock Ranch, Near the mouth of Diamond Creek 1854. Established by Seth Hays who also had an Indian Trading Post at Council Grove. Same as Cottonwood Ranch or Station. (Agr. Rept. 1877?8, p. 136; Andreas, p. 1356.)
Seth Millington Hays, of Council Grove, buys the land at the mouth of Diamond creek for a ranch. By a treaty with the Osage Indians the purchase of land by settlers had been provided for. William Harris is put in charge of this ranch.Aside from the Hays ranch at the mouth of Diamond creek there was then no other settlement in the territory of what is now Chase county.
Seth M. Hays, of Council Grove, states that he came to Council Grove in 1844, and shortly after, the Neosho was dry for 18 months. When the land sales were made in 1854, he bought his farm on Osage bottoms, at the mouth of Diamond creek, because more grass grew there than in any other part of Wise county.
Source: Seth Hays-Council Grove on the Santa Fe Trail The Kansas Heritage Server would like to thank Stephen Chinn (Steven.Chinn@Vanderbilt.edu for providing this information

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