The following data is extracted from Genealogy and Biography of
Ontario County, New York. The surname Hayes is the plural form
of an ancient word, Hay, or Haw, which means a fence, a hedge or
a boundary, also a space enclosed, as a park or field. Its
derivation can be traced to many European languages wherein both
the primitive and secondary meanings are precisely the same.
From this simple root have sprung the names of Hay, Hayes,
Haywood or Heywood, Hayland, Greenhays and many others of a
similar character. The name of Hayes is to be found both in
England and Scotland, but is far more common in the former than
it is in the latter country. The New England colonial records of
the seventeenth century contain the names of four immigrants of
this name : Thomas Hayes, of Milford, Connecticut (1641),
descendants of whom removed to Newark, New Jersey; Nathaniel,
who was of Norwalk. Connecticut (1651) ; John, of Dover, New
Hampshire, who came from Scotland in 1680; and George, of
Windsor, Connecticut, who, tradition