Note
The portrait of her father was commissioned by Adelicia Acklen and hung at Belmont Mansion until her death. It is a companion portrait to that of his wife, Sarah Hightower Hayes. The painting descended through the Acklen family till it returned to Belmont Mansion.Note
The subject was born May 21, 1783, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, to Joel and Mary Hayes. He studied law before moving to Nashville in 1808. Hayes married Sarah Clements Hightower on February 3, 1812, in Williamson County, Tennessee and the pair had 8 children, Richard H. Hayes, Joel A. Hayes, Adelicia Hayes, Laura Hayes, Oliver Hayes, Henry Martyn Hayes, and Corinna Hayes. He became an ordained Presbyterian minister and a Mason. Hayes was heavily involved in the Nashville Female Academy and the Tennessee State Lyceum as well as a charter member of the Tennessee Historical Society. He died on November 1, 1858.