(7 June 1807-2 Nov. 1876) clergyman. (date of birth May 1804 also found) Born in Charlottenburgh Township, GC, probably at Gleana-feoir (for this place, see article for his father). Parents: Captain John Hay and his wife Mary McDonald. Capt. John Hay was a Presbyterian; his wife was a Roman Catholic. George Hay was prepared for the priesthood at Bishop Macdonell’s seminary at St. Raphael’s and at the seminary of St-Sulpice, Montreal. He was ordained priest, Aug. 1832. As a young priest, he served in the mission of L’Assumption, which was at Sandwich, Ont., and later he served at Kingston. For the impressive period of 40 years, from 1836 to 1876, he was parish priest of St. Andrew’s, at the village of St. Andrew’s (St. Andrew’s West), near Cornwall. During his pastorate the present large and magnificent church of St. Andrew’s was built. Work began on it in 1857, and by 1860 it was complete except for the steeple. (The bell tower and steeple were completed about 1879 to 1890.) The church was consecrated in July 1864. Fr Hay gave, as a gift, the grand altar of the church. Fr Hay was also involved in the building of St. Mary’s church, Williamstown. He established a convent at St. Andrew’s in 1848. After a few years, however, the sisters left St. Andrew’s. Fr Hay is said to have been deeply troubled by the failure to maintain a permanent convent at St. Andrew’s. He was vicar general of the diocese of Kingston and had the title of Very Rev. Dean. He is buried in the crypt under the church at St. Andrew’s, and there is a tablet to his memory in the church. According to W. J. Macdonell, “Nature had furnished Father Hay with an extra little finger on each hand, which were [sic] amputated prior to his ordination.” A letter owned by F. D. McLennan, written to Fr Hay by George S. Jarvis, 12 Nov. 1838, asking for military assistance to repel the American invaders, was printed in 1938. (full text, Standard Freeholder 11 Nov. 1938) The papers of Fr Hay have been acquired by the Ontario Archives. There is valuable material for GC social as well as religious and personal history in this rich collection.

Obituary, Cornwall Observer, repr. Sinnsearchd 191-192 * Villeneuve, 159, 164-166, 178, 184 * Flynn, 371 & index * Pringle 235 * History of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church Williamstown (1997) 21 (portrait) * The Story of St. Andrews West as Recorded on the Index Cards of Edwin McDonald, ed. Duncan (Darby) MacDonald (1987) 56, 57 * report (“D.M.J.”) on the consecration of the Church at St. Andrew’s, True Witness 22 July 1864 * church picnic at St. Andrew’s, TW 24 Sept. 1869 * MacGillivray & Ross 671 * W. J. Macdonell, Reminiscences of Bishop Macdonell (1888) 24-25