Dear Irish Friends and Cousins,

I have been researching a very difficult paper trail (more brick wall than trail) back to my paternal great-grandfather, George Hayes, who was born in Co. Cork, Ireland between 1857 & 1860, and migrated to New York via Queenstown, Ireland while in his mid-twenties. After coming to the USA, George Hayess married Lelah Alice Mitchell of Illinois, daughter of James W. Mitchell. Both George Hayes & Lelah Alice (Mitchell) Hayes were born somewhere between 1857 & 1860. They had two (possibly three) children who all suddenly ended up in orphanages, but their son (my paternal grandfather) Edwin James Hayes (1902-1980), was never adopted out. He was instead sent on an "orphan train" to a ranch in Texas. The Texas ranch/orphanage (that my grandfather spent most of his youth in) re-assigned the same birth date to every orphan under their conservatorship including that of my grandfather Edwin... (25 December). While still under age, Edwin ran away from the Texas ranch/orphanage to Montana, where he later married his first of two wives, my grandmother Mae Birty Ruth. My grandfather, Edwin James Hayes, died in Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona in 1980.

If you have access to any possible information regarding my great grandfather, George Hayes and/or his Co. Cork, Ireland ancestors, or his wife Lelah Alice (Mitchell) Hays of Illinois, PLEASE let me know.

Thank you!
From the Irish/American Hayes Family Camp
R1b1b2h@gmail.com