John B. Hay

John Breese Hay (January 8, 1834 – June 29, 1916) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

John B. Hay was born in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois on January 8, 1834.^[1] He received a common school education, worked on a farm, and as a printer, after which he studied law.^[1]

He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Belleville. He served as prosecuting attorney for the twenty-fourth judicial district of Illinois from1860-1868. He served as a delegate to the Republican State convention in 1860. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War in the 130th Illinois Infantry Regiment.

Hay was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1873). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress and for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress. He resumed the practice of law in Belleville, and served as postmaster there from 1881 to 1885. He served as judge of St. Clair County Court from 1886-1900. He served as mayor of Belleville from 1901 to 1905, when he resigned, after been re-elected county judge, and served until 1914. He died at his son's home in Chicago on June 29, 1916.^[2] He was interred in Green Mount Cemetery.

• United States Congress. "John B. Hay (id: H000383)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• John B. Hay at Find a Grave

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress