Dedicated to LuRena Hayes Johnson, 1886-1969, daughter of John Phipps Hayes and Eleanor Jane Hayes, who spent a lifetime searching for our Irish roots, and whose devotion to family history built the foundation for our Hayes Family Organization.

The Family Tree:  How do I fit in?

Our Family Tree
Two main Branches, sons of Jane & John Hayes of Clonakilty

At the height of the Irish famine during the mid-1800s, two brothers left Ireland and went to England to find work. Their names were George Hayes, born about 1822 or 1823, and John Joseph Hayes, born 1825, to John and Jane Hayes of Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland.

George and Frances Phipps were married in Clonakilty in 1847. George had previously been a member of the British Army which was stationed in Ireland, and later followed his old regiment to England, where he continued his trade as a bootmaker for the army, and John Joseph found work as a journeyman shoemaker in London. While there, he was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and a short time later converted his brother George and his wife Frances.

While traveling as an elder for the church, John Joseph met Rachel Eleanor Wagstaff in Bedfordshire, England, and in 1853 they emigrated to Utah with Rachel's mother Mary Bathsheba Wagstaff. They were married on board the ship Elvira Owen shortly after they left England.

In May 1867 George and Fanny's oldest son William, who was about eighteen, emigrated to Utah on the ship Caroline. Family sources show their second son John Phipps Hayes emigrated in 1872, but no official record has been found. Daughter Frances Georgina, age 20, came to Utah October 1873, on the steamship Idaho. In October 1874 George and Fanny and their two other daughters Matilda Henrietta and Martha Amelia Elizabeth Ann crossed the ocean on the steamship Wyoming.

After arriving in Utah, John Joseph and Rachel Eleanor became the parents of five children who lived: Eleanor Jane, Isaac John, George Samuel, William Lehi, and Henry Nephi.

From these humble beginnings, in 2002 the posterity of these two brothers numbers over 3,000. Do any of these names mean anything to you? Anderson, Argust, Arnup, Bartlett, Brain, Brewster, Brockbank, Carr, Doxey, Hayes (of course), Horsley, Johnson, LeCheminant, Pettey, Pingree, Moore, Monson, Wahlin, West. If they do, you are one of our kissin' cousins. See if you can find where you fit on our family tree.

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