John Hays Hammond

John Hays Hammond (31 March 1855 – 8 June 1936) was a mining engineer, diplomat, and philanthropist. Known as the man with the Midas touch, he amassed a sizable fortune before the age of 40. An early advocate of deep mining, Hammond was given complete charge of Cecil Rhodes' mines in South Africa and made each undertaking a financial success. But after the dismal failure of the Jameson Raid, Hammond, along with the other leaders of the Johannesburg Reform Committee, was arrested and subsequently sentenced to death. The Reform Committee leaders were released after paying large fines, but like many of the leaders, Hammond left Africa for good. He returned to the United States, became a close friend of President William Howard Taft, and was appointed a special United States Ambassador. At the same time, he continued to develop mines in Mexico and California and, in 1923, he made another fortune while drilling for oil with the Burnham Exploration Company. His son, John Hays Hammond, Jr., patented over 400 inventions, and is widely regarded as the father of radio control.

John Hays

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John Hays (Jew)

John Hays (1770-18??) is the only Jew known to have come to Illinois prior to its admission in the Union (August 26, 1818). He was the son of Baruch Hays, a lieutenant in the American Revolution and scion of one of the oldast American Jewish families. John Hays settled in Illinois as early as 1793 and served for twenty years as sheriff of St. Clair County, in the southwestern part of Illinois, which was the most populous section of the state in its early days.

Hays was born in New York City in 1770. At a young age, he entered the Indian trade in the Northwest as clerk to a wealthy house in Canada.

He settled in Cahokia, Illinois in 1793, where he embarked on trade with the Indians on his own account. He later became a farmer.

For a number of years, Hays held the unpaid office of postmaster at Cahokia. In 1798, he was appointed sheriff of St. Clair County and he continued to exercise the duties of this position until 1818, when the Illinois state government was organized. In 1814, President Madison appointed him collector of internal revenue for the Illinois territory.