In researching the children of Boone Hays of Jackson Co., MO I have come across an Upton Hays who applied for and received a Confederate pension in Ottawa Co., OK. Boone Hays' son, Col. Upton Hays (b. 1832, MO) was killed in a skirmish near Newtonia, Newton Co., MO in 1862. This Upton Hays who survived the Civil War went to a Confederate reunion in Arkansas in the early 1900's and applied for the pension in 1925. He lived in Picher, Ottawa Co., OK. In the application he claims that he was born in Louisville, KY, he was 79 years of age putting his birthdate at about 1846 and had lived in OK for 15 years (1910-1925).
He claimed to have joined the 2nd MO Cavalry in 1862 and served in Co. B under Gen. Shelby, Capt. Franklin and Lieutenant Webb and was discharged in 1864 in Shreveport, LA . The pension Conmmisioner questioned this as there was no Pvt. Upton Hays listed on the roster, that the 2nd. MO Cav. had become the 12th MO Cav, CSA in 1862 and that Capt. Franklin led Co. G, not Co. B. They asked him if he was a relative of Col. Upton Hays who led the 2nd MO Cav and he replied that he was his nephew.
The pension file reveals that he married Annie in 1881 at Lamar, MO and there were 2 children, George Hayes of Joplin, Jasper Co., MO and Mrs. C. O. Bard of Seneca, Newton Co., MO. He died 29 Jan 1930.
This Upton Hays does not appear in the 1870-1920 censuses. An Upton Hays, nephew of Col. Hays, b. 1864 MO, does appear and another nephew, also an Upton, died as a child.
Annie Hays, in Quapaw, Ottawa Co., OK, applied for and received his benefits in 1930. She claims to have been born in Marion, OH in about 1859 and had lived in OK for 8 years. She does not appear in the 1900-1930 censuses. She died in 1933, in Joplin, MO. According to her son George, she had been living in Peoria, Ottawa Co., OK and he had brought her to his
home in Joplin during her final illness. Both George Hayes and Mrs. Bard requested her last payment to cover her burial expenses and it was eventually sent to George.
There are both a George (C.) Hayes and a Mrs. C. (Claud) O. Bard living in Joplin, MO in 1930, both born after 1881, but neither has parents born in KY and OH. I've been unable to locate these people in earlier censuses. George has a widower, Joseph Smith, 72, IL/OH/OH living with him and a search of the Ottawa Co., OK censuses leads me to wonder if this family was using the name of Smith. Some Civil War vet.s changed their names to avoid reprisals
Any comments will be helpful