Milton R. Hays

As printed in 1910

MILTON RAY HAYS.

In Monroe township are to be found some of the best farms and most progressive and enterprising farmers in Nodaway county, and in this class must be numbered Milton R. Hays, whose splendid and well cultivated farm, four miles west of Skidmore, is maintained at a high standard of agricultural excellence. Mr. Hays is widely known because of his success as a farmer and is well liked because of his splendid personal qualities and genuine worth.

Mr. Hays was born at Burr Oak Grove, this county, on August 2, 1871, and is a son of James and Laura A. (Young) Hays. James T. Hays was born near Blandinsville, McDonough county. Illinois, April 4, 1838, a son of Thomas R. Hays, a native of Washington county, Kentucky, and a grandson of Hillory Hays, a native of Virginia. In 1859 James T. Hays accompanied his parents on their removal to Nodaway county, Missouri, where they located on a farm four miles west of Skidmore. When he attained his legal majority he began farming on his own account and he remained devoted to this line of work, with gratifying success, until about sixteen years ago, when he gave up active labor and removed to Maryville, where he now resides. For a short time he was interested in a farm near that town, and then for about seven months he was engaged in the milling ioo6 business. At the end of that period he took the agency for the Page Woven Wire Fence Company, which he conducted with marked success, though, because of ill health, he is not now covering as much territory as formerly. He is also to some extent engaged in the real estate business at Maryville, in which he is fairly successful. Mr. Hays married Laura A. Young, the daughter of Milton and Mary J. (Richardson) Young, her birth having occurred near Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hays became the parents of ten children, namely: Nellie, wife of William A. Argo, of Burr Oak Grove, this county; Milton R., also of Burr Oak Grove, and whose name heads this sketch; Eddie C., of Hooker county, Nebraska; Pearl C., of near Skidmore, this county; Elvira B., of near DuQuoin. Illinois; Hermione died at the age of eighteen years; J. T., of Hooker, Nebraska; Laura L., at home; Willie and Samuel died in infancy.

Milton R. Hays spent his boyhood days in the neighborhood Where he was born, and his preliminary education was obtained in the common schools, being supplemented by studies at the Maryville Seminary, where he was graduated and received a diploma in 1892. In March, 1893, his parents removed to Maryville, and during that summer the subject lived on the farm of his uncle, John G. Hays. He then rejoined the family in Maryville, but in the spring of 1896 he returned to the old home farm, four miles west of Skidmore, in Monroe township, where he has since resided. He has given wise direction to his farming operations and his efforts have been rewarded with a gratifying measure of success. The farm is well improved and, under the careful tending of Mr. Hays, it has produced splendid crops annually.

On February 15. 1899, Mr. Hays married Alice Knepper, the youngest daughter of Hiram and Fredericka (Stull) Knepper. She was born in Ogle county, Illinois, and came to Missouri with her parents when she was about two years old. They located in the southeastern part of Atchison county, where her father soon bought a farm and it has been the family home ever since. Mr. and Mrs. Hays became the parents of six children, namely: Hol lis Richardson, Hermione, Opal Pauline and Victor Raymond: Guy Eldon and Merril Owen died in infancy.

Fraternally, Mr. Hays is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and religiously, he and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which they give a generous support. Mr. Hays possesses a genial disposition, makes friends readily and is well liked by all who know him.

As printed in Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.