The first person buried in the cemetery was Nancy Elizabeth Crump Hayes, a young wife and mother of two, who died on Christmas Day in 1839. Her death was only a few months after the county was established in 1838, which was the same year the Cherokee were required to relocate to Oklahoma.
Born on Feb. 22, 1809 in Georgia, she was the daughter of John N Crump and Penninah Taylor. At age 23 she married George Washington Hayes (1804-1864) in North Carolina. Their daughter Elizabeth Ann was born in 1829 in Gwinnett, Georgia and a son, James Lafayette, was born one year later in 1831 at the same location. Sources indicate that George Hayes drew land in the state lottery in 1836 in Gwinnett. At some point George Hayes must have learned the Cherokee language because he served as an interpreter during the Cherokee removal.
Nancy’s cause of death at such a young age is not known, but we can imagine how traumatic it must have been for her children Eliza and James. In 1838 the family of four lived along the Hiawassee River while Hayes assisted in the Cherokee removal. For this service he was given a grant of 700 acres on the Valley River in Tomotla.
Nancy’s Widower George Washington Hayes
Later, Nancy’s widower George W. Hayes was a member of the General Assembly in NC from 1843 until 1861 except for 2 sessions for which he did not run. George did not stay single for long, for shortly after Nancy’s death, he was campaigning in 1840 for a seat in the Lower House, and he met Elizabeth Hamilton Stewart at Valleytown, NC. They were married at Fort Defiance, Caldwell Co., NC Feb. 6th, 1842 by Edmond Jones, a Justice of the Peace. Together they had 10 children. (Source: Find-A-Grave)
In 1850, George W. Hayes and his 2nd wife built a log home in the Tomotla community. This home may still be standing, as it is mentioned in the 1995 edition of “A Pictoral History of Cherokee County” published by the Cherokee County Historical Museum. It is also mentioned as being at the NW corner of SR 1426 (aka Tomotla Rd) and SR 1373. It was also included in “A Guide to Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina”.
The nearby town of Hayesville was named after George W. Hayes because he introduced the bill to split Clay County off from Cherokee County. George’s 2nd wife Elizabeth later donated the land in 1886 which Tomotla Methodist Church was built upon.
Nancy’s Children
By 1850, Nancy and George’s firstborn daughter Elizabeth Ann was married to local attorney John Rolen. He was the assistant Marshal of the Census that year and it shows they were living in Cherokee County and had two children, a boy named Eugenius age 2 and an infant daughter Celesta, age 4 months. Elizabeth Ann Rolen lived in Murphy her entire life, census records show her living with her son throughout the years.
Their son James Lafayette Hayes appears to have married in Murphy and later moved to Arkansas where he was an attorney. He enlisted with the south in the Civil War and died in Benton Arkansas at the age of 33 in 1865, presumably from injuries or sickness while at war.
Sources: Ancestry.com, FindaGrave.com, A Pictorial History of Cherokee County by Cherokee County Historical Museum pub 1995; A Guide to Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina, Bishir, Southern & Martin, published 1999 by University of North Carolina Press, p. 406.
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