We know from our DNA tests that John Hays who settled in VA and Patrick Hays (and brothers) who settled in PA had a common ancestor, that when arriving in America they were Presbyterian and came most likely from the tenant farmer class most likely from the Scottish lowlands, most likely southwest Scotland, then into Ulster before coming to America. Even without specific dates and locations for the diaspora we can learn much of their reasoning for the moves by looking at history in general.
The DNA diaspora which paused in Scotland continues west to North America.
In 1500 Scotland and England were separate states each with their own king, but both with a waning feudal system moving towards a Nation State but with the Lords wielding much power. Ireland was under the Clan System with the great Clan Chiefs taking turns at being in charge of all with England looking to control as the century progressed. All were Roman Catholic, as was most of Europe at the start of the century but the reformation; Luther in Germany followed by Calvin and then his followers, saw protestants split from Roman Catholics and then Protestants further divide into various factions of Episcopal’s, Presbyters, and Congregationalists. Spain was the major power with the largest navy at the start of the century but after Columbus discovered the new world all naval powers were looking for a passage to Asia.
The search for the northwest passage ended up in the discovery of the Americas. Shortly thereafter attempts to establish settlements and control centered around the exploitation of the resources and natives. Columbus exploited Hispaniola and Spain established a settlement in 1502 and fanned out from there; Jamaica 1509, Trinidad 1510, Florida in 1513, and conquered South America starting in 1519. The French began with Cartier in present day Canada in 1534 and French Huguenots tried to settle in Florida in 1562 but no permanent settlement were made by 1600. Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 tried for England in Virginia but failed there. It would be in the 1600s before we see any settlements as Spains power decreased in relation to the other European powers.
After Columbus in 1497 we have John Cabot sailing for England landing in present Newfoundland claiming it for king. “The Curse of the Axe,” a documentary about an iron axe buried in a Wyandot village reveals that it is from the Basque region of Spain and it came to present day Canada with Spanish fishermen and whalers who set up summer camps on shore, evidence of early contact. In 1507 Amerigo Vespucci sailing for Spain made several trips, accurate accounts are under dispute, and he wrote 2 books of his adventures which were widely read and spurred interest in the new world. He claimed to sail the Guif of Mexico and the coast from Florida too Chesapeake Bay and it seems to be accepted at the time as maps made of his writings had the area named “America” in his honor.
In 1513 Ponce de Leon landed in Florida and claimed it for Spain and in 1519 Hernan Cortez landed in Mexico and claiming it for Spain he then proceeded to then conquer the Aztecs. France got into the act with Giovanni Verrazzano in 1524 landing in present day NY and Narraganset Bay. Also in 1524 Esteban Gomez for Spain sailed the eastern seaboard from Florida to Nova Scotia, failing to find a passage he took a large number of Indians prisoner to sell as slaves so he had something to show for his journey. Diego Ribero made a hand drawn map of America from Gomez trip, and in 1527 created the Padron Real Map of the world as it was then known.
In 1534 French navigator Jacques Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage when he discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. He would return in 1535 and sail the St. Lawrence to the city of Hochelaga (present day Montreal, more under East America following). Hernando de Soto landed in Florida near present day Tampa Bay with a large force and for the next 3 years explored and conquered the southeast of America, finally discovering the Mississippi River (more under Eastern America).
St Augustine Florida was settled by Spain in 1565 to buffer a settlement by French Huguenots in Fort Caroline, present day Jacksonville. And in 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh explored Roanoke, present day North Carolina and in 1585 returned to set up a colony (more on these in Eastern America). Unlike future endeavors to settle and live and farm, these pre 1600 settlements were to buffer other countries advantages to trade and act as posts from which to privateer. Spanish settlements were bases on which to exploit the locals and local resources.
Early Spanish settlements in the Caribbean Isles and South and Central America had 2 objectives; convert to Catholicism and exploit the riches which could be plundered and sent back to Spain. The Pizarro conquest of Peru and Cortez’ conquest of Mexico are two good examples of this. As the century progressed, the reformation moving away from “Popish Rome” control then added another incentive for European powers to be at odds with each other for the reformed also included conversion to Protestantism, the penalty for non conversion to one or the other often being death. English, French, and Dutch decisions in the Americas was to offset the Spanish Naval superiority. Unfortunately for Spain, the loss of much of the Spanish Armada in 1588 to England was to tip the balance of power by 1600 from Spain controlling all of the Americas to French control of present day Canada and the Ohio and Mississippi River, Dutch control of present day NY, and English control of the Southeast and New England in the Northeast.
Scotland and England
In 1502 King James IV and Henry VII entered into the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in an effort to end the continuous off and on conflicts between the two nations. Under the treaty James IV is to marry Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII. A son is born to them who will eventually become King James V of Scotland. In 1507 King Henry VIII is crowned King of England.
In 1513 King Henry VIII declares war on France and invades them. King James IV decides to support France and marches to Northumberland and meets an English army at Flodden on 9 September, 1513. The English used both long bows and artillery against the Scots and then the two sides met in a medieval hand to hand combat battle which ended up with the Scots losing 10,000 men to the English 1200. King James IV was killed. Also William the 4th Earl of Errol and Lord High Constable died at the Kings side and John Hay, 2nd Lord Hay of Yester was killed in the battle and I expect many a Hay(s) of all social ranks died there, the feudal loyalty coming before country.
James V was an infant and various Regents and persons were vying for control and at 12 years of age he was crowned but in 1524 he was taken hostage by his stepfather and held for captive for 3 years but in 1528 he escaped and returned to power. Due to raids north and south by both sides the border region had developed into a lawless area with reivers on both sides plundering. In 1530 James imposed order on the bandit country as he solidified his control of Scotland. He married the French Kings daughter, Madeleine of Valous who died shortly thereafter. He then married Mary of Guise, their only child to live was Mary (Queen of Scots), born 1542.
In 1542 James V dies and Mary is crowned Queen of Scots and Marie de guise becomes Queen regent with many others vying for control. In 1544 King Henry VIII begins the “rough wooing,” cross border raids to entice an arranged marriage to his son Edward so Mary is brought to France for safe keeping as a result. She is betrothed to Dauphin Francis, Son of King Henry II of France. Henry VIII died in 1547 and his 9 year old son Edward came to the throne but he ruled only 9 years before dying. Mary I (Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII) rose to be Queen of England in 1553 but married Prince Phillip of Spain and returned the country to Catholicism. After a short reign Mary I died in 1558 and Elizabeth I came to the throne in England. She immediately reinstated the Church of England with her at the head.
In 1532 King Henry VIII separated from the Roman Catholic Church and formed an Episcopal (of Bishops) church with him at the head. The lands and riches of the Catholic Church now were in Henry VIII possession. John Knox was involved in the reformist movement and in 1546 got caught up in the take over of St. Andrews Castle by protestants in which a cardinal was killed. A year later it was taken back at the request of regent Mary of Guise by the French. Knox was imprisoned and banished to England in 1549 where he worked with the Church of England. When Mary I took over control of England he was forced to leave and went to Geneva to study.
Clan Hay divided on the religious issue but it has been written that many brothers chose opposing sides to save their lands and titles so the depth of belief versus political expediency is not known. That said, many held deep religious beliefs for which they were willing to die for. The northern Hay, the Earl of Errol remained Catholic and many in the southern lowlands reformed to Presbyterianism. We find reference to the Hays signing the reformation oath, In An Old Kirk Chronicle Waddell writes of the Covenant in Tyninghame (East Lothian), Scotland; “Lauders and Cunninghames, Jacksons and Warts, Kers and Hays, for one day at least lifted above their common toil and out of their jealousies and strife, exalted with a new enthusiasm and bound together by the sacred pledge.” (An Old Kirk Chronicle being a history of Auldhame, Tyninghame, and Whitekirk in East Lothian” by Rev. P. Lately Waddell, B.D. 1818)
In 1558 Mary married Francis, Dauphin of France and in 1559 he came to the throne of France but lived only one year. Back in Scotland in 1556 John Knox found that the reformation had taken hold in Scotland with many of the nobility supporting it which kept the Queen regent at bay. When summoned to Edinburg by the Bishops Knox had so many followers that his hearing was called off. Knox returned to Geneva but in 1559 came back to Scotland.
Summoned to Edinburg by the Queen Regent, Knox and the protestants instead went to the walled city of Perth. Preaching at St. John the Baptist Church Knox’s fiery sermon grew into a riot. A mob attacked the friaries and looted gold and silver. The Queen Regent offered to allow the protestants to leave the town and promised not to garrison it with French, but when garrisoned with those on the French payroll several nobles left her and joined the protestants. Knox based himself at St. Andrews and protestant reinforcements were expected coming in against the expected French response.
Knox asked Elizabeth I for assistance as the uprising grew across all of lowland Scotland. When French troops arrived in Leith the protestants retook Edinburg and in 1559 the Scottish nobility deposed Mary of Guise from the Regency. Her secretary, William Maitland switched sides and took over government administration and English troops then arrived. Mary of Guise died suddenly in 1560 which opened the door to an end of hostilities with both the French and English leaving Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament met to settle religious matters and they abolished the jurisdiction of the pope, condemned all doctrine and practice not of the reformed faith, and forbade the celebration of mass in Scotland. The church, pronounced kirk in Scots, was to be organized by Knox who chose a Presbytery system along democratic lines. Additionally, the system included plans for national education. In 1561 Mary, Queen of Scots returned to her throne and 5 days later attended mass. After a minor incident she issued a proclamation there would be no alteration on the current state of religion. She met with Knox and a contentious relationship ensued over several meetings over several years. With nobles support leaning towards Mary, Knox’s influence over political events waned.
In 1565 Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a fellow Catholic, and this caused many Protestant Lords to rebel but the rebellion fizzled out. Lord Darnley demanded a Crown Matrimonial which would make him a co-sovereign of Scotland and sole ruler if he outlived Mary. Mary denied it. When she became pregnant the child was rumored to be her private secretary. Darnley, with a group of Protestant Lords murdered the secretary in front of the pregnant Mary. Darnley switched sides again and with Mary escaped to Edinburg. In 1566 she gave birth to Charles James, the future James VI of Scotland.
It was rumored that Mary was having an affair with the Duke of Bothwell. In 1567 Mary prompted Darnell to return to Edinburg. He stayed at a house in the city walls to recuperate from an illness and Mary visited daily, indicating a reconciliation. But in the early morning hours an explosion was heard and the house blown up and Darnley was found in the garden, apparently suffocated. Many suspects were reduced to Bothwell and he was charged but not convicted. In 1567 Bothwell abducted Mary and they were married according to protestant rites, Bothwell having divorced his wife 12 days prior.
26 Scottish nobles revolted and Mary and Bothwell formed an army to meet theirs. Facing off, negotiations occurred as Mary’s army dwindled through desertion. Bothwell was allowed to leave the field and the Lords took Mary to Edinburg where she was imprisoned. She miscarried twins while imprisoned and was then forced to abdicate in favor of her son with James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray as Regent. In 1568 she escaped and raised an army but was defeated by Moray. Mary escaped to England and her supporters and those of Moray kept battling for control. Moray was assassinated and the next Regent, James paternal grandfather, was fatally wounded by Mary’s supporters. Several others follow and in 1579 James takes over himself.
In 1582 at 16 James is taken prisoner but liberated in 1583 and takes increasing control of Scotland. Kept under house arrest by Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots was eventually implicated in a plot against Elizabeth and beheaded in 1587. James married Anne of Denmark in 1589 and proved himself a successful diplomat and administrator, keeping the Lords in line and happy. In 1586 he signed the Treaty of Berwick setting himself up as successor to the childless queen of England.
While written history marks the major political and religious events in the stories of the leaders, the population lives the history. The continuous strife and conflict would leave the tenant farmer in precarious circumstances, barely able to survive, especially in the border region and western lowlands. Indeed, on the borders the conflict was so bad that farming was almost completely abandoned because of the raids by border reivers. Religious beliefs ran so deep that people were willing to die for them. Conversion for the farmer would usually follow the choice of the leaders. In every battle or conflict the tenant farmer would be called to duty such as at Flodden were we see 23 leaders falling, certainly hundreds of Hay’s also met their demise.
Ireland and England
In 1500 Ireland was under a Clan system and Catholic. England Was trying to assert control over the country by controlling the Clan Chiefs. Under these chief’s were lesser and sub chief’s who controlled smaller Clans and Septs, mostly Anglo Norman and Hiberno Norman Barons. In 1534 the Lord Deputy General of Ireland was the 9th Earl of Kildare and he was called to London under charges of disloyalty leaving his son, Thomas Fitzgerald, in charge. When rumors reached Thomas Fitzgerald that his father had been killed, Fitzgerald renounced allegiance to Henry VIII and swore allegiance to papal authority and he seized Dublin.
Henry’s new Lord Deputy, Sir William Skeffington, retook Dublin and then stormed Fitzgeralds stronghold. Lacking aid from Scotland or Spain Fitzgerald surrendered. Over the next year and a half the rebellion was put down and Fitzgerald and 5 uncles were hanged. Henry VIII solidified his control over the country and in 1541 declared himself King of Ireland reinforced by the Irish Parliament voting in a statute proclaiming him so.
When Elizabeth I came to power she was the Supreme Governor of the Church of Ireland, the Irish Episcopal counterpart to the Church of England. Papal authority was denied and Catholic Bishops and Priests were persecuted. She also placed English men in charge of affairs in an effort to control the Lords and Barons. This led to the Desmond Rebellion in 1569 and the rebellion continued to the Munster Rebellion in 1583 when the rebellion was finally put down with Desmond killed and his 300,000 acres of land escheated. To further Anglicization of Ireland the lands were to be broken up into portions up to 12,000 acres and English families would be settled, or “planted” on it. By 1598 4000 English people had been planted, the first plantation system.
Hugh O’Neill was orphaned when his father, Fear Dorcha O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone was murdered. He was raised as an English Gentleman. He attended court in London and the Irish Parliament and in the Munster Rebellion fought with the English. In 1587 Hugh O’Neill was given the Title of Earl of Tyrone and so like his father before him carried claim to the O’Neill Gaelic title from the north of Ireland and also the English title of Earl. He gained control of the O’Neill title in 1592 and with it control of all the O’Neill lands. In taking the title he had made himself into a ruthless and powerful warlord. Within his domain the peasantry were treated as serfs and he used their labor to generate cash flow which was then invested in muskets, ammunition, and pikes to arm his military.
Elizabeth was placing English Sheriff’s throughout Ireland. She was to grant the freemen, the tenant farmers, property rights to their land and the rent paid to the agents of the queen, thus removing the political and legal control of the Irish Lords. For O’Neill this meant that he could not muster and maintain his army. O’Neill was in contact with the King of Spain who was providing money, arms, and military advisors to him. This while he maneuvered to get himself named Lord President of Ulster. When he wasn’t so named he openly joined the rebellion against England.
O’Neill’s rebellion slowly turned into a self declared holy war for Irish independence. The English attacked Ulster and were repelled. The victory caused the rebellion to spread across all of Ireland. Open rebellion in Munster with the aid of O’Neill’s forces resulted in the Munster Plantation being completely destroyed. Native Lords who remained loyal to England saw their people side with the rebels. England, saddled with a war in the Spanish Netherlands was stretched thin.
The Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with 17,000 troops but he had nothing but disastrous expeditions and ended up signing a humiliating truce with Hugh O’Neill. Walled up in defensive quarters, disease brought death and a reduction in Essex forces. He challenged O’Neill to a single combat to settle the war but O’Neill didn’t respond. The tide began to turn in the South when Munster was retaken. In the North the English employed a scorched earth policy figuring to deny the rebels food and reinforcements. And so as they went about they killed, burned, and destroyed all they came across sparing neither woman or child.
In 1601 the Spanish finally arrived with 3000 troops in Kinsale in the South. English Commander Mountjoy with 7000 went to meet them. O’Neill marched from the North to sandwich the English between two forces. Irish foot soldiers were met by English cavalry and routed and several hundred killed. The Spanish and Irish withdrew and the Spanish surrendered under terms, being allowed to return to Spain. The Irish then began to withdraw north to defend Ulster. The question now was what terms the Irish could get in their losing battle.
O’Neill was reduced to guerrilla tactics as the English armies now swept across Ireland burning and killing as they went. The destruction caused famine so deep that the locals resorted to cannibalism. O’Neill’s sub Lords began to surrender under terms and by 1603 O’Neill himself surrendered under terms to Mountjoy. O’Neill and the other lords received full pardons and abandon their Irish titles but keep the English ones. In 1604 Mountjoy pardoned all rebels. The war left England bankrupt. In addition, English and Welsh men conscripted to fight the war suffered 30,000 dead. O’Neill reported 70,000 dead in action. Over the countryside 100,000 died from war, disease, and starvation which was 10% of the population of Ireland then. The land lay waste, Ulster was totally destroyed.
European powers and rulers in 1600
In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died and James the VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England thus he controlled England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The Netherlands in 1500 were ruled by the Catholic Habsburgs from Spain and control eventually given to Philip II. Over time the country became more Protestant with the reformation and in 1566 mobs rioted and smashed churches and Philip II sent an army to restore order but instead it formed a police state. A popular uprising begins and William the Orange takes control of the uprising and war with Spain starts. William of Orange was assassinated in 1584 and the crown offered to Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England but both decline but do send military assistance.
The provinces in the north were Calvanist and supported religious toleration. Those in the south were Catholic and supported reconciliation with Spain. In 1588 the seven northern provinces set themselves up as a republic with each province independent appointing their own stadholder and having one vote in a states general which needs to vote unanimously. The Stadholder in Holland and Zeeland is the son of William of Orange, Maurice of Nassau and he is appointed stadholder in 3 more provinces giving his a lot of control. He forms an army and navy and pushes Spain south.
In 1596 both France and England recognize the new republic but it won’t be until the end of the 30 years war and and peace with Spain that Netherlands is formally divided from the south Spanish Netherlands, today known as Belgium. The Stadholder in 1600 was Frederick Henry of the House of Orange.
France in the 1500’s was at war with Italy in the early part of the century and also impacted by the reformation starting mid century. French Protestants, called Huguenots, were brutally suppressed and France was in a state of civil war from 1562 to 1598 over religion until the Edict of Nantes supported religious toleration. The King of France was Henry IV of the House of Bourbon as we start the 1600s.
Spain in the 1500’s was building the first global empire and one of the largest in world history. Isabella I and Ferdinand II authorized the Columbus expedition in 1492. In 1516 Charles I, Holy Emperor was the King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor. In addition to vast European holdings, Spain conquered the empires of Mexico and South America and also the Philippine Islands among other locations. In 1556 he abdicated and Philip II became King of Spain (Rome went to his brother Ferdinand). Philip II married Mary I of England but her death prevented any control of that nation by him. War with the Netherlands and England in the latter half of the century drained his treasury and the Spanish Armada incident in 1588 weakened his navy. The plague hit Spain at the end of the century and Philip II died in 1598. The King of Spain in 1600 was Philip III of the House of Habsburg.
The decisions of these Monarch’s and their governments and their successors would greatly impact my Hays ancestors movement from Scotland to Ireland in the 1600s and to North America in the 1700s.