James Hays
Born October 15, 1772
Died June 8, 1860
Father: William Hays, born in 1749, died October 18, 1819
Mother: Susannah, born in 1747, died January 10, 1823
Wife: Elizabeth Dragoo, born April 29, 1774, died July 7, 1848
Son: Levi Hays, born in 1793
Daughter: Elizabeth Hays, born August 24, 1797
Daughter: Susannah Hays, born September 27, 1799
Daughter: Sallie Hays, born January 12, 1801, died August 6, 1824
Son: John Evans Hays, born May 8, 1803, died in 1883
Daughter: Gilly E. Hays, born February 2, 1807
Son: James Michlin Hays
Son: Edmund W. Hays, born October 8, 1814
Daughter: Malinda Hays, born August 14, 1816

James Hays was born in Winchester, West Virginia. He has two years of birth listed, 1772 and 1773. Most sources list his birth as 1773, but his grave stone reads he died June 8, 1860 at the age of 87 years, which would fit the 1772 date, as some sources list it.

James married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Betsy Dragaud, or Dragoo. Elizabeth was born on April 29, 1774 in Pricketts Fort, which was a fort constructed in the 1770s at the confluence of Pricketts Creek and the Monongahela River in West Virginia. The fort provided a place of refuge from American Indian attacks for early settlers. Some claim that John and Betsy Dragoo were both of French decent. Elizabeth was about 12 years old when her mother was killed by Indians and her brother was carried off into Ohio.

James and Elizabeth are buried in Jacksonburg, West Virginia.