Hays (Family)

An American Jewish family from the early colonial days Judah Hays (1703-1764) immigrated to New York City from Holland; the family was Sephardic, descended from Jews who had left Spain and Portugal. Judah Hays was in shipping and retail; his son Moses Michael Hays (1739-1805) eventually settled in Boston and helped establish the New England Masonic movement and became a founder and the first depositor of the Massachusetts Bank.