My Genealogy Hound

Prof. James B. Hayes, president of the Vichy Normal and Business Institute since its organization, in 1887, by himself and Prof. D. N. Gardner, is one of the most prominent and enterprising residents of Vichy. He was born in Greene County, Tenn., in 1850, and is the eldest of two sons and one daughter born to George W. and Maria (Hownen) Hayes, also natives of Greene County, Tenn., where they lived until 1856, when they located in what is now Johnson Township, Maries Co., Mo. Since 1870 the parents have lived in St. James; the father is a carpenter, and during the late war served in Company G, Thirty-second Missouri Volunteer Infantry, United States Army, in which he enlisted in 1863, but after serving about one year was discharged on account of disability; he was a son of James Hayes. Benjamin Hownen, maternal grandfather of our subject, was of French descent, and was born in North Carolina; his death occurred in Greene County, Tenn. James B. Hayes was reared on a farm, and in early life attended the common schools of his neighborhood. After spending one and a half years at St. James College, and one year at the North Missouri State Normal, at Kirksville, he turned his entire attention to teaching, and has been principally employed in the public schools of Maries, Phelps and Gasconade Counties. He is a close student and one of the best informed and most prominent educators in Missouri. He was elected commissioner of the schools of Maries County in 1880, to which position he was re-elected in 1882, serving with much credit during the four years. In 1887 Prof. Hayes married Ida E., daughter of Judge Mathew W. and Margaret Ann Kinsey. Mrs. Hayes is a native of Maries County.