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William Hay’s service in the American Revolution was performed in Virginia. According toBradshaw’s History of Prince Edward County, Virginia on page 670, he participated in some form of Patriotic Service, from the NSDAR and NSSAR websites. He was a signer of the Petition in Prince Edward County Virginia in support of the Revolution against Britain.According to documents belonging to another descendant, Martha Hill Spradlin, William may have spent some time under General Francis Marion, “Swamp Fox”. The general received his nickname after leading British Colonel Tarleton through some of the Southern swamps. Tarleton is quoted as having said, “…as for this damned old fox, the Devil himself could not catch him.” 

William was the son of Matthew Hay, Jr who had been born in Northern Ireland. According to a story,The House of Hay, shared on ancestry.com, his family emigrated to America around 1700 and lived near Philadelphia, PA until about 1743 when they moved to Virginia and settled in Prince Edward County. Also moving to Virginia at this time was the Galloway family, another family from Northern Ireland. After the Revolution the families moved to Bourbon County, on the Licking River to property from a Virginia Land Grant where they lived for several years before being encouraged to move to Green River Country by a family friend, Billy Ewing. They eventually settled in Butler County (formerly Logan County) near the Sugar Grove community.

William Hay, my 4th great grandfather, was born about 1743 in Prince Edward County, Virginia and died on November 8, 1813, in Butler County, Kentucky and is buried in the Sugar Grove community beside his ‘Iris Lass’ his wife Sarah. In 1733 he married Sarah Galloway (1748-1822). William and Sarah had 9 or 10children, one of a set of twins was a daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy” Hay, my 3rd great grandmother, born on December 30, 1779, along with sister Katy Hay, in Prince Edward County she died in1840 in Butler County, Kentucky. On December 10, 1798, Betsy married James Davis Hill, born in 1775 in Prince Edward County and died in 1847 in Butler County, Kentucky. They had 9 children, one a son, William T. Hill, my 2nd great grandfather, on August 12, 1801, in Kentucky who died on October 2, 1842, in Butler County. He married Martha Patsy Burks Wade, born October 24, 1803, and died July 4, 1878. in Butler County, KY. William and Martha had a son William Thomas Hill, my great grandfather, on January 8, 1833, in Butler County, who died on May 18, 1916, in Butler County. On June 12, 1869, he married Mary Elizabeth Davenport who was born on December 6, 1842, in Butler County and died on May 11, 1920. in KY. William Thomas and Mary Elizabeth had a son, Ira Davis Hill, my grandfather on February 20, 1875, in Logansport of Butler County, KY who died on July 12, 1923, in Logansport, KY. On January 23, 1898, Ira married Ethel Nole who was born on April 19, 1880, in Dunbar, Butler County, KY and died on December 3, 1963, in Logansport, Butler County, KY. Ira Davis and Ethel had a son, Jesse Burks Hill, my father, on August 17, 1903, in Logansport, KY who died on April 16, 1999 in Morgantown, Butler County, KY. Jesse married Maggie Mae Annis, who was born on July 9, 1905, in Logansport, KY and died on July 27, 2004 in Morgantown, Butler County, KY. They were married on August 20, 1938, in Kentucky.

As part of Celebrate America 250, the Butler County Chapter NSDAR members will be continuing our series of articles about our Patriots of the American Revolution. If you have a Revolutionary Patriot in your family line and are interested in joining our chapter please contact the Regent, Lynda O’Driscoll at 270.734.5137 or any member.