William Hercules Hays

William Hercules Hays served as a judge for the District of Kentucky. Hays was born in Washington County, Kentucky. He read law in 1845 and then opened a practice in Springfield, Kentucky. Hays also served as a judge for Washington County from 1851 to 1859. In 1861, Hays was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives. Following the Civil War, he became the State Inspector General of Kentucky from 1865 to 1866. Hays received a recess appointment from President Rutherford B. Hayes on September 6, 1879 to a seat vacated by Judge Bland Ballard. The President nominated him to the position again on December 1, 1879, and the United States Senate confirmed him nine days later. Hays died the next year on March 7, 1880 in Louisville, Kentucky.