Samuel Lewis Hays

Who was Samuel Lewis Hays?

Samuel Lewis Hays was a nineteenth-century politician in Virginia. Hays was born in Harrison County near Clarksburg in what later became the state of West Virginia. He was married to Roanna Arnold in 1817 and moved to Lewis County to pursue agriculture in 1833. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates. Following Roanna's death in 1841, Hays married twice more: first to Nancy Covert and then to Emma Fletcher.

Hays was elected as a Democrat to the 27th United States Congress, serving from 1841 to 1843, and made an unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1842; however, he later served as a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1850. During his service as a Representative, Hays sponsored the admission of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as a cadet to the military academy at West Point, and also urged the building of the Parkersburg-Staunton Turnpike. He later laid out the town of Glenville in 1845. Hays moved to Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, in 1857 and was appointed Receiver of Public Moneys by President James Buchanan. He served in this capacity until 1860, at which time he resumed his agricultural interests. Following his death in 1871, Hays was interred at the Old Benton County Cemetery in Sauk Rapids.