About eight years ago, after months of research, I came across a story from the family of Isaac's first (known) wife, Judea Varner. The Varner folklore says Isaac left home at age 16 and had no other contact with his family.
On June 17, 1840, in North Carolina according to the only family record I've seen that names a location, Isaac married Judea Varner. Some say the marriage occurred in Kentucky, which may be possible since their first child may have been born in Kentucky. No official marriage certificate or public record of their marriage has ever been located, and I'm convinced it does not exist.
Varner family stories say Isaac possibly lived in Kentucky after he left home at age 16. Varner's say the couple's second child, John Matthew Hayes, was born in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky. But the court house records there were destroyed by fires.
Isaac and Judea's third child, Penelope Ann Hayes, was definately born in Marengo County Alabama in November 1846. Judea's father, John Varner, owned a cotton plantation there.
Around 1849, Isaac, Judea and their kids moved near Athens, Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, where their other children were born. There are Hayes' all around Louisiana, but we've never been able to make any connections to our line.
Judea gave birth to their last child, George Henry Hayes, on May 3, 1859, there in Claiborne Parish. Judea died that day, and George lived only a month.
William Peyton Hayes, my earliest known Hayes ancestor born in Louisiana, married a Claiborne Parish girl in 1871. They are both buried in Columbia County Arkansas, where Isaac Simpson Hayes moved sometime after Judea's death.
Franklin Pierce Hayes, my great-grandfather, must have gone to Arkansas with his dad? He was only six years old when Judea died. Frank eventually married Nannie Sumrall and lived near Shawnee Prairie in East Texas.
On September 17, 1865, Isaac married Cynthia Ann Isler in Columbia County Arkansas. They appear on the 1880 Federal Census with his occupation as a farmer and his birthplace as North Carolina. (IT HAS HIS BIRTHDATE WRONG = SAYS ABOUT 1816.)
Isaac and Cynthia had two known children, both born in Magnolia, Arkansas.
There's 12 of my known Hayes ancestors buried in the Harmony Cemetery, Rocky Mound, Columbia County, Arkansas.
Isaac and Judea's daughter Charity Caroline Hayes is buried in the Spring Branch Cemetery in Columbia County Arkansas. She married H.H. Pope.
There's a lot of Hayes' in the Columbia County area, but we've never been able to prove any relations.
I don't know the location of Isaac's grave, or the exact date of his death. I believe it was around 1892.
I've been on the trail of Isaac's ancestors for about 10 years, and others have been searching longer. I think it starts in North Carolina, but who really knows? It leads into Kentucky, Alabama and Louisiana before going cold in Arkansas.
