Welcome, I Hope You Enjoy your Visit
With wings spread wide, riding on the currents of air, high above the Land of Scotland, The Falcon surveyed all below. It was a land of Bravery, Faith, and Valor. The Falcon swooped to earth, alighting upon a large stone, and Thus, Begins the story of Our Branch of the Hay Family Tree.
In the 5th Century the "Scots" came from their home in Ireland and settled in the West of Scotland. The Scots, partially Christianised when they came, had Saint Columba as their great missionary, and through him and his followers, built on the work of Saint Ninian, converting the Picts and other tribes to Christianity. Saint Columba is buried on the sacred island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland.
After centuries of wars with the Picts, the Scots put the crown of Scots and Picts on the head of their king, Kenneth MacAlpin, in 843.
The Hay Family story begins in tenth century Scotland, at the Battle of Luncarty, so the legend goes.
Just about a mile from a little village of Luncarty in Perthshire, Scotland, in what is now Demarkfield, a Scottish farmer and his two sons were drawn by the sounds of a pitched battle..... the Battle of Luncarty, which is believed to have taken place in 971 A.D.
Kenneth III was reigning at the time and having learned that the Danes had landed north of the River Esk in Angus and that they had pillaged, burned and murdered all, including women, children and the old, and were then heading to Perth, King Kenneth, with his soldiers, set out to stop them.
The battle was joined at Luncarty. The battle was fierce with neither side showing any mercy. Despite the bravery and valor shown by the King and his armies, the Danes broke through the lines and the soldiers began to retreat. It soon became a full rout. Having been drawn by the sounds of the battle, a Peasant farmer and his two sons saw what was happening, and being of brave hearts and proud character, the three grabbed their ox yokes and sythes and blocked the retreat.
The Father then rallied the soldiers and, with his sons, led the soldiers back into the battle. Having gathered heart from the bravery of the farmer and his sons, they returned to the battle and were so fierce in their attack that the Danes were completely defeated and sent into retreat.
The farmer was a man of great size and strength, as were his sons, and they were honored for their part in the winning of the battle. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the King set a falcon loose, and stated that all the lands over which the bird flew would belong to the man and his sons, as a reward for their bravery.The falcon flew over a great area, then landed upon a large stone. This stone exists to this day and is known as the Falcon Stone.
The reign of Malcolm Canmore (1057-93) was a time of great social, political and religious revolution. Malcolm had spent much time in England and he and his saintly queen (Margaret) encouraged the introduction of English customs, civilization, and the English language. Many Normans (the Normans having conquered England in 1066) brought French culture to Scotland. The Hay family name, being of French Norman origin, was originally De La Haya and means variously a hedge, a fence or a stout wall.
Scotland was a wealthy country until the beginning of the 14th Century, when Edward I of England (the "Hammer of the Scots") was determined to join Scotland to the English crown.
It was during this time that William Wallace and his followers fought for their freedom. Among the many freedoms they sought was freedom of religion. The nation had become divided between the Catholics(known as Jacobites)and the Protestants
The desire to preserve independence was embodied in a plea to the Pope, known as the Declaration of Arbroath. Long, bloody and destructive wars over the ensuing 300 years ensured that, while Scotland remained free, it was also poor.
John Knox, the Edinburgh churchman, played his part in the reformation in Scotland, which adopted a Presbyterian tradition and lost the link between church and state (which is retained in England).
England and Scotland were linked through James VI of Scotland acceding to the English throne in 1603, following the death of Queen Elizabeth I (of England). Elizabeth had persecuted (and finally executed) James' mother and her own cousin, Mary Queen of Scots, but died childless.
In the course of these many wars and deprivations many Scotts immigrated to other European countries, often Germany. One wonders why, when Germany was also undergoing its own political and religious upheavals. One reason might have been Mary,Queen of Scots. She brought Catholicism back to Scotland, and while many were pleased others had become followers of John Knox. Many Scots, both Catholic and protestant fled to Germany.
It is of interest that the wife of Gilbert the 11th Hay was Ann Lyon, a descendent of the Stewart line. The Hay family had long been closely associated with the royaly and rulers of the time. Sir Gilbert the 5th Hay, Lord of Errol, was a comrad-in-arm of Robert the Bruce at many battles, among them Bannockburn. He was also the first High Constable of Scotland, a title still held by descendant of the Hay Clan and second in rank, only to the Royal Family of England.
Through the close association of the Hay Clan with the notables and royalty of the times, the family line traces to the Stewarts, the Lyons, the Beauforts and includes such notables as; James I and II, Kings of France, Eleanor of Aquitane, Patrick Lyon, William the Conquerer, James V, Stewart King of Scotland, Edward I (Longshanks), Henry I - Capet King of France, Louis VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X - Kings of France and many others, too numerous to name.
Gilbert the 11th, was exiled to the Alsace region of Germany. There, this ancestor converted from Catholicism and later returned to Scotland, where he was then back in favor. His son John Hay, remained in Germany and became an elder in the reformed Church at Gehardtbrun, as did his son and Grandson. The Family has been mainly Protestant from that time on.
Four generations of Hohs (Hoh being the German for Hay) lived in Germany from the birth of Johann Simon Hoh on Oct.21,1682 through the life of his son, Johann Micheal Hoh, born on Feb 3,1711 in Gerhardsbrun,Paletinate, Bavaria. Johann Micheal was married to Ann Elisabetha Schneider on Jan 19,1734 in Labach. Their son Johann Simon Hoh, named for his grandfather, was born on April 18,1742 in Gerhardsbrun,Bavaria and was the third and last generation of our family line to live in what was then a part of Germany.
The eighteenth century brought more persecution and upheaval. The Reformation was in full swing at that time and there was news of freedom to be found in the New World, so Simon Johann Hoh bravely boarded a ship to the New World.
Such trips were long and often dangerous undertakings, with the possiblity of loss of life in the crossing. There were many perils to be faced from simple seasickness to scurvy, storms, plague and even piracy or shipwreck on some unknown land. Many changes were in store for Simon Hoh in the new world, where he took back the Hay family name. Physically, Simon Hay was over six feet, very strong and stoutly built and could withstand the hardship of two normal men. He married Anna Maria Shaver 1774, in Washington, Maryland. Together they had 10 children between 1775 and 1798. He had arrived in the New World in time for the American revolution and fought for American freedom from the British rule. During his life of nearly 100 years, he lived variously in Maryland, Pennsylbania, Ohio and Ill.
The 10 children born to Johann Simon Hay and Anna Maria were;
The Anna Maria died Mar 19,1818 and was buried on Mar 21, 1818 at the Reformed Church Cemetary, Berlin, Somersett County, Pa. Johann Simon Hay died Feb. 3, 1842 at Hay's Mills in Brothers Valley Township, Pa. He was buried Feb 5, 1842 beside his wife.
Notice the German custom of giving the sons the fathers first name and the daughters the mothers first name. In most cases the child would have been called by their second name. Also note the average 2 year spacing of the birth years. Not only was it common to have large families, the mother often became pregnant soon after weaning her last born child. Large families were desirable for the cheap labor farm they provided and to insure descendants, in a time when infant mortality rates were often quite high.
From these 10 children, there are hundreds of descendants now scattered all over the world. Our story concerns the descendants of the second son, Johann Jacob Hay.
Before Gilbert the 11th Hay was born in 1609, there were Spanish Conquestadors and Missionaries already in the New World. Juan De Onate had already lead two groups of settlers from El Real, Zacatecas, Mexico northward to the area then known a Nueva Espana, New Spain. There they founded the town of Santa Fe, on the ruins of an ancient Indian Pueblo, Abiqui. Descendants of these brave people would later marry the descendants of Jacob Hay and unite the histories of both family lines.
To read about them in Chapter Two,
Our Cast
Here you will find the names and ancestry of the people on whom this story is based. Click here to recieve a very special Blessing!
We Send You Our Blessings
I would like to give credit to GedHTree for the free Family Tree software used on this site.
This Site is under Construction,
So,Please Check Back Soon, and Please sign my Guestbook below
View My Guestbook
Sign My Guestbook
