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Daniel’s probate records, although she did outlive him; (3) she is known not
to have been the daughter of Cornelius; (4) she was too old to have been the
daughter of James; and (5) she is buried alongside Jeremiah the younger, who
died on 10 October 1854 at the age of forty. The conclusion is almost
inescapable that Joanna was his daughter. Before marrying John Kearney
(Born c. 1842, Ireland, son of Daniel Kearney; Living 1860, Pierrepont, St.
Lawrence, New York), Joanna appears in the 1860 census as a domestic servant
in the household of Seth Williston Remington (University Preacher) and Seth
Pierrepont Remington (Newspaper Editor), grandfather and father of famed
American artist Frederic Remington. This was quite a respectable job for a
young immigrant, and it was a sad thing for her to have died so young.
It can be determined from existing records that not everybody came to America
at once. Daniel and Catherine Hays came first, in 1850 or 1851 (they do not
appear in the 1850 census, but their son James was born in New York in June
1851). Cornelius and Honora Hayes came next, between 1852 and 1854, with
Jeremiah and Johanna (Cornelius and his father Jeremiah appear on the
Griffiths Valuation list for County Cork in 1851; Cornelius and Honora were
married in 1852; and their first child James was born in New York c. 1854,
being 6 years old in 1860 and 16 years old in 1870). Jeremiah Hayes II (born
c. 1814) came no later than 1854, as his gravestone in Colton states that he
died on 10 October 1854. Margaret Hourihan states in the 1900 census that
she emigrated in 1857 (possibly with her husband Michael Hourihan); their
first child, John, was born 1859 in New York. James and Sarah Hays arrived
no later than 1858, as their son John, born in New York, was 2 years old in
1860 and 12 years old in 1870; also, James Hays received a deed for land in
the Town of Colton on 16 March 1859. Jeremiah III (son of Daniel and
Catherine, born December 1835) states in the 1900 census that he emigrated in
1858 (possibly with James); he later married Bridget McCoy (born 23 May 1840,
Glin, Limerick, Ireland, died 13 Oct 1921, Colton, New York), whose obituary
states that “she came to America when she was 12 years old,” in 1852.
All the original Irish census records prior to 1901 were destroyed. The most
useful census substitute is the Griffiths Valuation, the purpose of which was
to determine the amount of tax each person should pay towards the support of
the poor. The survey determined the value of all privately held lands and
buildings to figure the rate at which each unit of property could be rented.
It is arranged by barony and civil parish, with an index to the townlands
appearing in each volume. The Griffiths Valuation took sixteen years (1848-
1864) to complete. The survey for County Cork was completed in 1851.
In the listings for County Cork, the name Cornelius Hayes appears 16 times,
and the name Jeremiah Hayes appears 21 times; but they both appear in only
five parishes, and at the same address only at Curraghcrowly West, Ballymoney
Parish, where they rented a house and 28 acres from William French, Esq. And
among these five parishes, the only in which the names of James Hayes and
Daniel Hayes both appear is Ballymoney Parish. Daniel Hayes and another
Jeremiah Hayes were renting houses and small gardens at Edencurra from Owen
Hayes, while James Hayes was renting a house at Ballynacarriga from John
Crowley, Sr. This does not prove conclusively that Jeremiah Hayes and four
sons (Daniel, Jeremiah, Cornelius and James) all came from Ballymoney Parish,
on the River Bandon, but it is powerful circumstantial evidence. The
complete Griffiths Valuation survey for County Cork is posted online at
http://www.paulturner.ca/Ireland/Cork/Griffiths/gb-a-c.htm (et seq.)
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