Household #68: Hayes, Burton

Back to the 1900 Census & Household Index

In the 1900 Barney census, Burton Hayes headed a 3-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

Burton Hayes headed a 3-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 1 child.

Burton Hayes's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

Newspaper and Public-Record Trail

This section flags public-record leads separate from the census table. The detailed discussion stays in the family narrative, research status, and source citations below.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

Burton Hayes appears in the 1900 Barney census as a farmer with wife Etta and daughter Maude. He can be traced across a long record trail that begins with an 1880 Brooks County census entry, continues through tax digest records in the 1880s, and then follows the family through four federal censuses, a Brooks County marriage record, Florida death records, newspaper notices, and cemetery memorials. The earlier version of this entry overstated his parentage and birthplace. The newer evidence gives a firmer picture of the household, but some points still need to stay open.

The 1880 census places Burton Hays, age eighteen, in the household of Sarah E. Hays in Quitman, Brooks County. That record is a solid early anchor for Burton himself, but it does not support the previous claim that he was living with James H. Hayes and Candis Hayes. Until another direct record ties him to specific parents, the Sarah E. Hays household should be treated as the proven 1880 placement and the parentage question should remain unresolved.

Burton appears again in Brooks County tax digest material for 1883 through 1887 in the Morven district. The available digest image does not show taxable land ownership for him. That fits the later census pattern. In 1900, 1910, and 1920 he was consistently working as a farmer, and the later censuses indicate that he was renting rather than owning his place. Taken together, the tax and census records support a life of steady farm work without clear evidence that he ever held land in his own name.

The marriage record adds a useful layer of precision. On 30 June 1892, B. Y. Hayse married Miss Etta Maulden in Brooks County. That record confirms both Burton's middle initial and Etta's maiden name. The name forms vary across the file set, with Burton appearing as Burton Hayes, Burton Hays, Berton Y. Hayes, and B. Y. Hayse, while Etta's family appears as both Maulden and Mauldin. The records fit well enough in date, place, and family structure to treat those spellings as normal variants rather than separate people.

The census chain from 1900 through 1920 is strong. In 1900 Burton and Etta were in Barney with daughter Maude. In 1910 the household remained in Barney under the form Berton Y. Hayes. In 1920 the family was in the Williams district of Brooks County, where Maud Bonnard was back in her parents' household with children of her own. That 1920 entry gives the clearest bridge between the Barney household and the later Florida records because it shows the daughter as a married woman while keeping the older household intact.

Burton's birthplace is less settled than it first appeared. The 1880, 1910, and 1920 census material points toward Florida, while the 1900 census gives Georgia. His Find a Grave memorial gives a specific birth date of 3 June 1862 and places his birth in Brooks County, Georgia. That is specific enough to note, but Find a Grave is still derivative evidence. For now the safest reading is that Burton's birthplace remains unresolved pending a death certificate or another direct record.

The later Florida material is much stronger. Burton's Florida death index entry records B. Y. Hayes, white male, dying in Hillsborough County in 1925. His Tampa Times death notice says he died at his residence in Oak Park, that funeral services were held on 17 June 1925 from the F. T. Blount funeral home, that burial was in Riverview Cemetery, and that he was survived by his wife and one daughter, Maud. By 1940 Mary E. Hayes was a widowed grandmother in Hillsborough County in the household of Esther Lassiter. In 1950 she appeared again in Hillsborough County as Marietta Hayes, a widowed head of household who was unable to work. Those records fit the widow of Burton closely in age, place, and family position.

Mary Etta's own late-life records sharpen the Maulden line. Her Find a Grave memorial identifies her as Mary Etta Maulden Hayes, born 22 August 1871 in Georgia and buried at Bethlehem Cemetery in Plant City. Her Tampa Tribune obituary, published 23 September 1953, states that Mrs. Mary Etta Hayes of Dover died in a Tampa hospital, that services were held at the Dover Church of Christ, that burial was in Bethlehem Cemetery, and that she was survived by sisters Lizzie Abbott and Maggie McMillian, brothers Lawrence, Joe, and Willie Mauldin, and four grandchildren. A Florida death index entry for Mary Etta Hayes in Hillsborough County in 1953 supports the obituary and cemetery record.

This household now reads as a well-documented Brooks County family that later shifted into Hillsborough County, Florida. Burton's land status looks modest throughout the record. The main unresolved issues are his exact birthplace and parentage, not the identity of the household itself.

Open Research Questions

• Parentage audit: Keep head-of-household and spouse parentage as unresolved unless a cited direct record names the parents or the entry explains the census chain supporting the identification.
• Child census audit: Continue direct-record tracking for each child named in the 1900 household where later census, marriage, death, burial, obituary, or other parent-link proof is not already cited above.
• Burton's parentage remains open. The 1880 Sarah E. Hays household anchors him in Brooks County, but no direct record yet ties him to named parents with confidence.
• Burton's birthplace remains unresolved. Census records lean toward Florida in several years, while the 1900 census and his Find a Grave memorial point toward Georgia.
• Maude's married surname appears as Bonnard in 1920, but Burton's obituary OCR is too rough to treat the daughter's married surname there as settled without a cleaner image or another record.
• Burton's death certificate would likely settle his exact death date, birthplace, and perhaps parentage.
• Mary Etta's death certificate would help confirm her parents beyond the derivative memorial and obituary evidence.

Research Status

Well documented household. The identity of Burton, Etta, and Maude across the core census and Florida records is strong. The remaining work is mostly cleanup around Burton's origins and direct-record confirmation of late-life details.

Sources

• 1880 U.S. census, Quitman, Brooks County, Georgia, household of Sarah E. Hays, including Burton Hays, age 18.
• 1900 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Burton Hayes household.
• 1910 U.S. census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Berton Y. Hayes household.
• 1920 U.S. census, Williams district, Brooks County, Georgia, Berton Hayes household, including daughter Maud Bonnard and children.
• 1940 U.S. census, Hillsborough County, Florida, Mary E. Hayes, widowed grandmother in the household of Esther Lassiter.
• 1950 U.S. census, Hillsborough County, Florida, Marietta Hayes, widowed head of household.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record, B. Y. Hayse to Miss Etta Maulden, 30 June 1892.
• Georgia, U.S., Property Tax Digests, 1793-1892, Burton Y. Hayes, Brooks County, Morven District 660, residence years 1883-1887; available digest image does not show taxable land ownership.
• Florida Death Index, 1877-1998, B. Y. Hayes, white male, died 1925, Hillsborough County, Florida.
• Florida Death Index, 1877-1998, Mary Etta Hayes, white female, died 1953, Hillsborough County, Florida, with Tampa listed in other death-place information.
• The Tampa Times (Tampa, Florida), 17 June 1925, p. 14, death notice for B. Y. Hayes of Oak Park; funeral from F. T. Blount funeral home, burial in Riverview Cemetery, survived by wife and one daughter, Maud.
• The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida), 23 September 1953, p. 2, obituary for Mrs. Mary Etta Hayes of Dover; funeral at Dover Church of Christ, burial in Bethlehem Cemetery, names siblings and four grandchildren.
• Find a Grave memorial no. 209035978, Burton Y. Hayes, giving 3 June 1862 birth date, 17 June 1925 death date, and burial at Hackney Cemetery, Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida.
• Find a Grave memorial no. 21441845, Mary Etta Maulden Hayes, giving 22 August 1871 birth date, 22 September 1953 death date, burial at Bethlehem Cemetery, and parents Richard Harrison Maulden and Phoebe Jane Singleton Maulden.

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