GAY Family of South Stoke and Combe Hay

[Nanny McPhee]

Hello again

My question has now been answered regarding the missing ancestors.  After reading up about the charnel house I have now realised what the stone, laid on the ground, marked 'entrance to vault' meant when  I was visiting an ancestral village a couple of weeks ago, it is laid just outside the Porch door of the Church of St Sarran, at Bedwellty, Monmouthshire.  Thanks so much for that!  I did try to put a photo of it here but am not that clever with images....yet!

Nanny McPhee

[SamiW]

Hi Paul
I know you started this thread a while ago, but I've been travelling and only just had a chance to catch up with all the Chat.
May I ask if you have info on more current Gays in Combe Hay?  My Great Grandfather, Frank Gay b. 1849, was born in Combe Hay -  and I think his mother Caroline (Garland) b. 1824.  His father, Moses, and Moses' father, Paul, both seemed to be masons in Bath, but as the family was in Combe Hay mid-1800s, I was just wondering if they moved to Bath from there.
Any light to shed?!
Best
Sami

[Rubbish]

HI,
I am afraid I have no info on more recent Gays. What I do know is that the Gays of Combe Hay are not related to the Gays of South Stoke in the 17 century and 18 century.
Sorry I could not be of help.

Paul

[pz40]

Hi Paul and Steve (and Nanny)

I've already been in touch with Steve about the Midsomer Norton Gay family - but hadn't realised that your interest clearly extends far beyond this one line of research.

Hope you won't mind if I chip into this thread!  I am researching the Gay family in the Bath area of Somerset in the 16th and 17th centuries.  Somewhere amongst them I'm trying to discover my true ancestral line (match to Somerset Gay family recently confirmed by DNA).  Very confusing! 

At present I'm trying to sort out any links between Richard of Claverton/Richard of Haycombe and the Gay family in South Stoke.  And then there are also references to the Gay family in Combe Hay (who Paul knows are not linked to those in South Stoke).  Then there is an as yet unidentified Robert Gay of Nettlecombe, born in about 1601, who claimed to have a brother with an estate in the Bath area.  Not forgetting the Gay family in Lyncombe and Widcombe from the early 1500s - John Gay, with a wife Joan and son Thomas (lease 1531), Thomas with sons William and Richard (lease 1565) - then John Gay with sons Henry and Benedict (lease in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I).

Plenty of information - but how to sort it all out?  Can you help please? Or can I help you?

PZ40 and fellow old Bristolian - in the more general sense!

[pz40]

HI,
I am afraid I have no info on more recent Gays. What I do know is that the Gays of Combe Hay are not related to the Gays of South Stoke in the 17 century and 18 century.
Sorry I could not be of help.

Paul

Please can you tell us what evidence you have discovered that the Gays of South Stoke and Combe Hay were not related in the 17th and 18th century?

[Geoff]

I noticed your looking into the GAY family of Combe Hay.
If I can help in any way just let me know as I  have the transcripts for Combe Hay Marriages from 1539 to 1836.
Periods missing from transcripts are from March 1640 up to 1664,  April 1731 Jan 1737, Feb 1737 to May 1740
There is also a period where the Banns have been added as well, 1754-1774.

Cheers
Geoff

[pz40]

Thanks Geoff

Very good of you to reply - much appreciated.

It's evidence of any connections between the Gay families in the various parishes around Bath in the 1500s and 1600s that I'm researching.  At the moment I can't link the Gay family in Combe Hay to any of the other branches.  I think the earliest record for the Combe Hay family is the marriage of John Gay and Isabella Kelston in 1559 - but I'm not sure if there was anyone called Gay in Combe Hay before that date - or whether John Gay came from another Manor in the Bath area.  So it's just the origin of the first John Gay in Combe Hay that I need help with!

Many thanks
PZ40