Roger Hayes's Blog: Family

I've been married for 43-years to a girl, the former Lonnie Ferrari, I met in Freeport, Illinois, my hometown.We have two grown sons and four grandkids. Our oldest son, an actor with a day job, lives in LA. He and his wife have a son and a daughter. Our younger son lives half an hour away, and is a musician, also with a day job. He has a son from a previous marriage, and he and his wife have a daughter.

My parents divorced when I was in my early 20s, and Mom remarried and moved to Tucson. Lonnie's parents retired, sold their house, and became full-time RVers. In the mid 70s they found themselves in Arizona where they stayed for the next 35-years. My mom and Lonnie's parents got together regularly while in Arizona.

Our two moms: mine on the left; Lonnie's on the right.

Family Trees: Because of space limitations, five generations are shown although they go back a lot further. Ancestry research was conducted only on American shores, so flags of origin are used to denote immigrant ancestors.

Roger's Tree

Lonnie's Tree

The Hayes Line in Illinois: The first Hayes to move to Stephenson County, where I was born and raised, was Lemuel, my great-grandfather. (My dad's middle name was Lemuel, but he didn't like it, so don't tell anyone.) Lemuel was born in Colesville, Broome County, New York. Records do not indicate why he left New York, but apparently he did so alone, and settled in Illinois. He lived for a time in Nauvoo, where he worked as a wagon maker. In the early 1850s, he moved north to Stephenson County, and purchased 110 acres, on which he established a farm. He married his neighbor's daughter, and the couple raised sixteen children, the youngest of whom was my grandfather, Ralph E. Hayes. The farm is located midway on a line extending from Lena to Stockton, and half a mile north of US Route 20.

Lemuel's farm, identified by the white border: