Hays (Moses Michael) is born in New York City.

The son of Dutch immigrants Judah and Rebecca (Michaels) Hays, Moses Michael Hays becomes a shipbuilder and privateer. He arrives in Boston in 1782, opens and office and warehouse on Long Wharf, gets involved in the China Trade, and reputed becomes the first permanent Jewish resident. One of the founders of the First National Bank of Boston, he becomes a philanthropist, socializes with Paul Revere, and has his portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart. Hays dies in 1805, and is buried in Newport, Rhode Island, because there is no Jewish cemetery in Boston at the time.