John Breese Hay (January 8, 1834 â June 29, 1916) was an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Illinois.
John B. Hay was born in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois on January 8, 1834. He received a common school education, worked on a farm, and as a printer, after which he studied law.
He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and commenced practice in Belleville. He served as prosecuting attorney for the twenty-fourth judicial district of Illinois from1860-1868. He served as a delegate to the Republican State convention in 1860. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War in the 130th Illinois Infantry Regiment.
Hay was elected as a Republican to the Forty-first and Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1869 â March 3, 1873). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1872 to the Forty-third Congress and for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress. He resumed the practice of law in Belleville, and served as postmaster there from 1881 to 1885. He served as judge of St. Clair County Court from 1886-1900. He served as mayor of Belleville from 1901 to 1905, when he resigned, after being re-elected county judge, and served until 1914. He died at his son's home in Chicago on June 29, 1916. He was interred in Green Mount Cemetery.