Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JAY ORLEY HAYES
Representative of the best type of citizenship,
Jay Orley Hayes is justly accorded a prominent place
in the business, municipal and social life of San Jose. His name is widely
known and carries with it an influence which ever wields its power toward the
betterment of the community in every way, its moral uplifting, its physical
welfare, the promotion and upbuilding of all enterprises calculated to increase
the prosperity of city, county or state. First a citizen and patriot, Mr. Hayes
labors with untiring zeal for the best interests of the country; afterward a
Republican, he gives his strongest support to the advancement of the principles
he endorses. Though not known as a politician, he was selected by his friends
as a candidate for governor at the time that Governor Pardee, the present
incumbent, ran for office. He received sixty votes and the promise of one
hundred more in case Governor Pardee did not develop sufficient strength for
election. Although defeated, this action, the result entirely of his standing
as a man and citizen, brought Mr. Hayes prominently before the public and has
added to his following many influential men of the
state, who appreciate his sterling integrity and ability. Absolutely sincere
and honest and imbued with the highest and best motives, he is an ideal
citizen, willing to spend his time and money in the betterment of the
conditions of town, county and state. The value of his work thus far in San Jose
and vicinity has ample testimony in a clean city government, good streets, good
schools, good buildings, all of which have felt his strong and earnest
influence. What has been done locally can be done generally for the entire
state, should opportunity and the call of duty ever demand that he give up the
peace and quiet of his princely home for the turmoil and arduous task of a
great public office. Mr. Hayes’ personal magnetism is of that lasting order
that comes only from the conviction of meeting a truly honorable man and one
who loves his fellowmen. This feeling is heightened when one is permitted to
observe him in his home, which is the best test, after all---his devotion to
his parent, to his church duties, impress one that he is an example of the true
life precepts which he has been taught and which he has followed from infancy.
A native of Waterloo, Jefferson county, Wis., Mr. Hayes was born October 2, 1857, a son of
Anson E. Hayes, the representative of an old American family of Scotch descent,
the first member of which settled in Connecticut in 1683. For many generations
the family flourished in the New England states, various members adding luster
to the name through their association with the early colonial history. In time
the family name became a familiar one in the states of the middle
west. Jay Orley Hayes was reared in Wisconsin,
receiving his preliminary education in the common schools of his native city.
Upon the completion of the common school course he entered the University of
Wisconsin at Madison, and was graduated in 1880 with the degree of LL. B. He
also studied law in the office of Gen. William F. Vilas, and was admitted to
the bar one year after his brother, Everis Anson
Hayes, with whom he has been associated in both a professional and business
way. They began the practice of law in Madison and continued in that location
for two years, when they removed to Ashland, there forming a partnership with
Col. John H. Knight. A large and lucrative practice was established in the four
years following, their prestige extending throughout Ashland and Bayfield
counties. The partnership was dissolved in 1886, when the Hayes brothers
located in Ironwood, Mich., where they had previously acquired extensive
interests in iron mines of the Gogebic iron range. For one year they gave their
sole attention to these interests. In the spring of 1887 they came to
California and in the vicinity of San Jose purchased a fine ranch for their
home. This property they have developed and improved, conducting under the firm
name of the Hayes-Chynoweth Company a fruit enterprise which has added no
little to the prestige of Santa Clara county in this
line. Mr. Hayes acts as secretary and treasurer of this corporation, and also
of the Hayes Mining Company. He is also treasurer of the Harmony Iron Company.
In 1900 the Hayes brothers became the owners of the Herald, the leading evening paper of San Jose, and in 1901
purchased the Mercury, the only
morning paper in this city, Mr. Hayes now acting as president of the Herald
Company and vice-president of the Mercury Company.
Mr. Hayes was married June 16, 1885,
to Clara I. Lyon, a daughter of ex-Chief Justice W. P. Lyon, of the supreme
court of Wisconsin. They are the parents of five children, Mildred m., Luyetta A., Elystus L., Miriam F.
and J. Orlo.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1351-1352. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.