The American progenitor of his family was Melchoir Hay, a native of Germany, whose father, on account of the disordered conditions in Scotland following the union under the English crown, led him to expatriate himself and remove to Germany, where he performed honorable military service. He married a German woman and they made their home at Zwei-Bruecken, Bavaria, where was born their son Melchoir, who with two brothers emigrated to America about 1738. Melchoir Hay settled where is now South Easton. In 1752 he assisted Parsons and Scull in laying out the town of Easton. In 1771 he bought land of Israel Morris, of Philadelphia, a twenty-six acre tract of land, and also, in the same year, a tract of three hundred and seventy-five acres from Peter Rush. This was a portion of a ten thousand acre tract derived from William Penn, and the transaction is noticeable from the fact that while much of the land purchased from the proprietaries was subject to quit-rents, Melchoir Hay, as shown by deed of August 9, 1771, became an owner in fee simple. This tract, which had the Lehigh river for its northern boundary, was sold by Hay in 1796 to Jacob Everley of Nazareth, who sold it to Henry Snyder, when it brought the sum of $2,133.33. The land was used for farming purposes until the completion of the Lehigh Canal. After the revolution Melchoir Hay sold his South Easton property and bought a large farm three miles west of Easton, a portion of which is still held by his lineal descendants. He was one of the most active and influential men of his day, and his honored name is perpetuated in Hay's Chapel and Hay's burying ground, which are on the ground donated by him. He was an ardent patriot during the Revolutionary struggle, one of the first and most efficient members of the committee of safety, and captain of the Williams township company. His patriotic spirit actuated his descendants, many of whom served gallantly in the war of 1812, the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion.