I spent today steeped in the history of Bandera, and the history of my great-grandfather’s family, the Hays, one of the founding families in this community. Ray Hay, my great-grandfather, was always a bit of a mystery to me. I knew he’d had another family before he married my great-grandma, and he’d been estranged from that family after he divorced his first wife. I knew they were all from Bandera and that his son had grown up to be quite a prominent citizen in the area, and that’s about all I knew.
Well, over the past couple of days I have learned much, much more. A lot of it is really convoluted and probably of no real interest to anyone but me and others in my family, but here are a few high points:
1) My great-grandfather helped to build the museum here in Bandera.
Frontier Times Museum
2) His father, my great-great grandfather, was rather notorious and may have shot and killed three, maybe four men, crimes for which he never went to trial, perhaps because his father was the county judge.
3) My great-grandmother once owned The Cabaret here in Bandera, a famous Texas dancehall.
The Bandera Cabaret Dancehall
4) My great-great-great-great grandfather, Alexander Hay, and his wife, Jessie, were the first Scots to be baptized into the Mormon faith and moved to the U.S. from Scotland to join a large group of Mormons who planned on establishing a colony in Texas.
The George Hay family, early Mormon settlers in Bandera County
5) My great-grandfather’s son was the first mayor of Bandera, helped to incorporate the town, was part of the EMS, ran the local paper, was a realtor, and heavens knows what else!
Ray Marvin Hay, my great-grandfather's son
6) The Hay family co-owned a general store, the basement of which was used as a speakeasy during Prohibition. It is said that a tunnel was constructed to connect the Hay family home across the street to the basement so that patrons could enter the illegal establishment without being seen. It is here that my great-great grandfather reportedly shot a man over a card game.
The Carmichael-Hay building, once a general store, now houses an antique shop
I have to thank Ruth Hay and Bobby Hay for helping me start to unravel the mystery of my great-grandpa, one of the most important figures of my youth. I also learned a great deal from the curator of the Frontier Times Museum, Rebecca Norton, and from staff at Love’s Antique Mall.
I have more I’d like to see and do while I’m here in Bandera, and I believe there is probably much more to learn, but today was an amazing start!
