The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 968 

REUBEN HAY.

Reuben Hay owns and occupies a ranch of forty acres two and a half miles
northeast of Sunnyside. This property has been in his possession since 1912,
but he did not take up his abode thereon until 1914. His birth occurred in
Gallia county, Ohio, November 4, 1863, his parents being Hamilton and Elizabeth
(Shaw) Hay, both of whom were natives of Gallia county. The father was a son of
Reuben and Margaret (Aleshire) Hay, who were natives of eastern Virginia and
became pioneer settlers of Ohio, taking up their abode in Gallia county in 1817.
The maternal grandparents were Ward and Jenny (Ward) Shaw, who also became
pioneer residents of the Buckeye state. Hamilton Hay was a farmer by occupation
and devoted his entire life to that pursuit. During the period of the Civil war
he served as a member of the Home Guards. Both he and his wife passed away in
Ohio, the latter on the 3d of September, 1873, while the former survived until
1898. They were prominent and well known farming people of that locality,
enjoying the high respect of all who knew them.

Reuben Hay, whose name introduces this record, acquired a public school
education in Ohio and also attended the normal school for a few terms. He then
took up the profession of teaching, which he followed from 1884 until 1917. He
taught in the schools of Ohio until 1901 and then made his way to Seattle,
Washington. For a year he was a teacher at Enumclaw, Washington, and for three
and a half years was principal of the schools at Preston, this state. He was
then appointed principal of the Parental school at Tacoma, where he remained for
seven and a half years, and in 1914 he removed to Sunnyside, teaching at Waneta
as principal of the school there for three years. In 1914 he settled upon his
ranch which he has purchased in 1912, becoming owner of a tract of forty acres
pleasantly located two and a half miles northeast of Sunnyside. Upon this place
he raises hay and corn, also sugar beets and conducts a small dairy.

On the 25th of August, 1889, Mr. Hay was married to Miss Effie Larrimer, who was
born in Chambersburg, Gallia county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Nancy
(Ross) Larrimer. The record of their children is a most interesting one.
Raymond, the eldest son, born March 3, 1891, enlisted in the Two Hundred and
Eleventh Regiment of the Canadian army in 1916 and that he might render active
service to the world in the effort to prevent militarism from becoming the
dominant power. He saw active service throughout the entire struggle from the
time of his enlistment until the armistice was signed and was wounded at
Passchendaele, Belgium, on the 6th of August, 1917. For six months he was in a
hospital in England and after he had somewhat recovered remained in that
country, taking care of the sick and wounded and replacement soldiers. He became
a sergeant and was active in recruiting work. He went to Europe on the Olympic
and returned on the same boat, receiving an honorable discharge on the 28th of
January, 1919. By trade he is a machinist. Charles, the second son, born
February 11, 1893, has been farming the home place since it was purchased by his
father. Larry, born March 6, 1896, enlisted in Company C of the Second
Washington Regiment, One Hundred and Sixty-first United States Infantry, on the
27th of March, 1917, and later was in the Ninth Infantry Regulars. He left Long
Island on the 13th of December, 1917, and went into action in June, 1918. He was
gassed on the 3d of July, 1918, and after being sent back to his regiment at
Soissons was hit by eleven pieces of shrapnel, being severely wounded and sent
to the hospital. Recovering, however, he returned to active service and was all
through the campaign of 1918 until again badly wounded on the 3d of October,
1918, by a shell. He had been advanced to the rank of corporal. Emery, born
October 23, 1898, enlisted in March, 1916, in the Two Hundred and Eleventh
Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, and reached France in December of that year,
he was also made a corporal and has been at the front throughout the whole war.
He has been engaged in railway construction, spending most of the time in No
Man's Land. Teddy the next of the family, is deceased. George died in infancy.
Clayton, born May 10, 1909, completes the family.

Mr. Hay is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America and in politics
maintains an independent course. He is interested in all those activities which
have to do with the welfare and progress of his community and the state at
large, and his progressive citizenship and interest in democracy are indicated
in his giving to the cause three stalwart sons whose heroic service constitutes
a most brilliant page upon the fancily history.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.