Samuel Hays (1835-1897)

He was born in Philadelphia and at the end of the Civil War went into the pharmacy business in Memphis and then St. Joseph, Missouri, where he also opened a hardware store and eventually became a Director of the St. Louis & St. Joseph Railroad. He became prominent in Republican politics, serving as a Representative from Buchanan County’s 1st District in 1868. In 1870, he was elected the 11th State Treasurer of Missouri (1870-73), after which he moved to St. Louis where in 1878 U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Postmaster. He served until 1884, and was, for a short time, President of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and then the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. Having been, "one of the most widely known men in St. Louis" he moved to New York City in 1885, and was later appointed to the Immigration Bureau by President Benjamin Harrison. He was married, had three children, and died in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. He was the brother of James L. Hays, " the well known real estate dealer" Postmaster of Newark & President of the New Jersey State Board of Education.