Henry Gay

1664 - 1737  (73 years)

• Name	Henry Gay  [1]
  Birth	1664	, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	25 Apr 1737	, Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA   [1]
  Person ID	I46995	Master
  Last Modified	7 Dec 2022

  
  

  Family	Jane Lawrence,   b. 1664, , Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA d. 25 Apr 1737, , Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA (Age 73 years)
  Children	+ 1. William Gay, Sr,   b. 1705, Cobbs Plantation, Henrico, Virginia, USA d. 1 Mar 1749, , Chesterfield, Virginia, USA (Age 44 years)
  Family ID	F10685	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Dec 2022

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 1664 - , Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA Death - 25 Apr 1737 - , Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Henry made a will on 3 February 1735 in Isle of Wight Co., Virginia. Will of Henry Gay: I, Henry GAY of Isle of WIGHT county, being at present sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory, think fit to make this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following: First; I give unto my son Henry GAY five shillings Curr. money of VIRGINIA. 2nd; I give unto my son John GAY two shilings and six pence Curr. money of VIRGINIA. 3rd and 4th ; I give unto my three sons to wit, Thomas GAY, William GAY, Joshua GAY, all my land to be equally divided between them and their heirs and assigns forever, Excepting I give them all privilege to make use of timber in the swamp for their own use for ever but not to sell. I give unto my son Joshua GAY the Manor plantation that is the house werein I live with his equal share of the lands adjoining to the houses. 5th; I give unto my daughter Ann LAWRENCE two shillings and six pence Curr. money of VIRGINIA. 6th; All the remaining part of my estate whatsoever and all the rest to be equally divided between my four children Thomas, William and Joshua and my daughter Sarah BABB. 7th; I nominate and appoint my son Thomas to be my whole and sole executor to this my Last Will and Testament which I do own and ratify, revoking all other WILLS and Testaments formerly made by me. In witness, I hereof I have herewith set my hand and fixed my seal this 3rd day of February 1735. Henry GAY, X his mark. The bottom part listing the witnesses names is barely legible, appears to say James Denson, Joseph Denson but date of probate is not legible. On 6 Feb 1663, one James Long was granted a patent to land in Nansemond County in the Virginia tidewater, on a “headright” obtained for paying the passage of Henry Gay and eight others to the New World {Cavaliers and Pioneers, 1:492}. then on 22 Apr 1669 Henry Gay was himself granted four hundred acres in Nansemond County by patent {VA Patents 6:242}. There is record of the passage of three other GAYs to Virginia about the same time (George by 1654, Thomas by 1661, and Walter by 1673), but Henry is the only early GAY who seems to have purchased land. The vast majority of Virginia immigrants during this period were indentured servants, and at least a minority of those were able to save enough to later purchase their own small piece of land, but if Henry was an indentured servant, his story may be a particularly interesting one. There is a reported deed, dated 1 Feb 1688, in which “Henry H. Gay” of Isle of Wight County, VA, is selling land “formerly belonging to Ms Henry Gay”. The quotations come from a genealogical report posted by one Craig Rhodes, a descendant of Henry. Mr. Rhodes appears to assume that this is a son of the 1669 patentee selling his father’s land, and despite the difference in counties, it might well be the same land because much of Nansemond Co was transferred to Isle Of Wight in 1774. The reported name of the grantor does raise some doubt that the deed was read correctly, as middle names were exceedingly rare during this period. Evidently, the name of the former owner (“Ms Henry Gay”) was misread, but if the original was instead “Mr Henry Gay”, that would be of considerable interest, because it would mark this Henry as a recognized gentleman — a member of the social elite. The honorific, “Mr.”, in those days, was the equivalent of “Esq.” or “Gent.”, and to merit such recognition required more than the wealth a former indentured servant might have acquired through extraordinary hard work, talent, and luck; it also required evidence of higher education and gentlemanly bearing. It is worth noting, also, in this connection, that Henry’s patent of 400a was a fairly large holding, especially for a former indentured servant; it seems likely, therefore, that he was no such thing—at least if the deed does really make Henry a “Mr”, which remains to be seen. Be that as it may, according to Rhodes’s compilation, a second Henry left a will in Isle Of Wight Co in 1737, in which he names sons Henry, Thomas, William, Joshua, and John, so this GAY family was at any rate well established in that part of the world by then. The compiler’s line is then carried down to the present day with much additional primary records material. I should also mention that this compendium is published on the website “Electronic Scotland”, but neither the area in which the original Henry settled, nor the given names in his descendancy suggest that he was of Scottish descent. There are many GAYs who appear in the records of these tidewater counties, and later in counties to the west, and on down into the Carolinas and Georgia, but it’s likely that a fairly large proportion of these tidewater GAYs are descendants of these early Henrys, although few genealogists researching their GAY roots have been able to establish clear links to Henry’s line. Hopefully, further yDNA testing will be able to strengthen the sketchy paper trail evidence for this important family, and accomplish the desired link-ups. By deed dated 1 Feb 1688, Henry Gay, of Isle of Wight County conveyed to Lewis Brian "...the land and houses whereon Robert Lawrence now liveth..." said land "formerly belonging to Ms (Mr?) Henry Gay...". Henry Gay signed this deed by making his mark which was witnessed by Jno. Brian and James Doughtie, and this deed is recorded un the Clerk's Office of the Circuit Court of Isle of Wight County, Virginia in Deed Book 1 at Page 17.*2 On 1 May 1689, Henry Gay, son of Henry, made an agreement with Lewis Brian (Bryan) as follows: Lewis Brian of Nansemond stands indebted to Henry Gay of Isle of Wight, 1 Feb 1688-89. Conditions are that Lewis Brian will not molest Robert Lawrence where he now lives on land formerly belonging to Henry Gay, decd., from the main river up to Burnt House Branch. Henry Gay also stands indebted to Lewis Brian and promises to pay in Tobacco. Conditions are that Henry Gay will not molest Lewis Brian in possession of land adjacent to John Brian Sr." 1 May 1689, Witnesses: John Brian, James Daughter (17c-601)*1 On 10 Apr 1710 , Michael MacQuinley (McKenny) and Rose, his wife, conveyed to Henry Gay 150 acres, plus or minus, on the western branch of Nansemond River in Isle of Wight County. This deed recites that it is a part of 450 acres conveyed to John MacKenny on 20 Apr 1694, as aforesaid and excepts 200 acres which was conveyed to Capt. Richard Exum and 100 acres conveyed to Lewis Brian. This deed is recorded in the Isle of Wight Courthouse in Deed Book 2 at Page 157.*2

  
  

• Sources

  [S1162] Ancestry.com, Geneanet Community Trees Index, (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.).