In 1839, at age 22, Hayes married
Isaac Franklin, a wealthy, prominent 50-year-old slave trader and planter. He started fully concentrating on his plantations by 1841, mostly in Louisiana. The couple had four children together: Victoria (1840–1846), Adelicia (1842–1846), Julius Caesar (1844–1844), and Emma Franklin (1844–1855), none of whom survived early childhood. The widow Franklin became the wealthiest woman in Tennessee. Together, they built the
Belmont Mansion outside Nashville for use as a summer estate, complete with gardens and a zoo. They had six children; two daughters died young, Laura (1852–1855) and Corinne (1852–1855). The others made careers and families:
Joseph H. Acklen (1850–1938) became a politician and served as
U.S. Representative from Louisiana;
William Hayes Ackland (1855–1940) was an attorney, writer and art collector; Claude M. Acklen (1857–1920), and Pauline (1859–1931) married a Mr. Lockett. Acklen had leased and then sold the plantations in Louisiana in 1880. In 1901, the state bought four of them, including the one known as Angola. This became the nickname of the
Louisiana State Penitentiary that was developed on these lands, where prisoners worked the fields for commodity and sustenance crops. ==Death==