Paul GAY in Bath

[SamiW]

I don't know if anyone can help, but I'm trying to find out more about one of my ancestors, Paul Gay.
I think I found him in the 1841 census, living in Bath with Elizabeth Gay (hopefully his wife).  He appears on his son's marriage certificate in 1842, profession 'Mason'.  And I found a marriage in 1813 on Family Search of a Paul Gay to Elizabeth Vagg in St. James, Bath.
Apart from these entries, I cannot find a trace of a birth registration, the birth registration of his son, Moses, or any other siblings.  I am traveling to Bath this summer to see what else I can find out, but in the meantime would like some more facts to work with.  Are there any lists of Masons working in the Bath area?  (When googling, all I get are Freemasons!)  Anyone have any ideas where I could look for birth registrations?
In hope
Sami

[avm228]

Hello Sami

If Moses Gay was old enough to marry in 1842 then he will have been born long before civil registration began in 1837 - so there won't be a birth registration for him, let alone for his father Paul.

For these dates you will need to be looking for baptisms if anything.  Do you have approximate birthdates for each of them based on census entries (bearing in mind that the ages of those over 15 were mostly rounded down to the nearest 5 years in the 1841 census)?

Anna

[avm228]

IGI at www.familysearch.org has a submitted baptism entry for a Mary GAY, d/o Paul GAY and Elizabeth VAGG, 30 Mar 1817 at Priston, Somerset.  As always you should be wary of submitted entries due to their inherent unreliability, but they can provide a starting point for research.

Possible death for Paul shortly after the 1841 census, from www.freebmd.org.uk:

Death, Jun qtr 1841

Paul GAY

Bath 11 14

[jusnoneed]

Hi, found the following ones which may fit in with your hunt.

Baptisms -
George Gay 13 Feb 1820 parents Paul and Elizabeth. No church name just Baptist Church.
Mary Gay 30 Mar 1817 parents Paul and Elizabeth. St Peter, Englishcombe (near Bath)
Moses Gay 20 Aug 1815 parents Paul and Elizabeth. St Peter, Englishcombe.

Burials at same church
Elizabeth Gay aged 49. 26 Feb 1832
Paul Gay aged 50. 27 June 1841


Another burial for an Elizabeth Gay March 1838 Bath (no church named Free BMD)

Marriages -
Moses Gay m Caroline Garland June 1842 Bath (Free BMD)
Moses Gay m ?  Dec 1854 Keynsham (Free BMD)

Deaths -
Moses June 1847 Keynsham (Free BMD)
Moses March 1853 Bath      (Free BMD)
   

[DRH123]

Hi Sami,

The two most useful sites for research in the Bath area are

BathBMD  -  http://www.bathbmd.org.uk/index.php

and FreeREG - http://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl

BathBMD is a complete index to BMD registrations in the Bath and North-East Somerset area, 1837 to recent. It has the advantage over FreeBMD and other indexes that it gives the mother's maiden name for births, the exact partner for marriages (not just a choice of two or four) and the age at death. Paul Gay's death is recorded as

Bath Death indexes for the years: 1841
Surname   Forename(s)   Age   Sub-District   Registers At   Reference
GAY          Paul                   50    Abbey             Bath                   ABB/4/031


FreeREG is an index to parish registers. It covers the whole country but is much better for some counties than others. Somerset is one of the best, which is fortunate as it is one of the worst covered by the IGI.  If you enter Paul Gay, choose Somerset and Baptisms and leave the date blank you get all the entries where the child or the father was called Paul.  Switching to marriages gives one each for Paul and a son.  FreeREG doesn't have complete coverage of the Bath area, but it looks likely that these are all for the right family. (Although Gay is quite a common surname in the area.)

You can also get access to transcriptions of the local parish registers by joining the various Somerset Hundreds Yahoo groups.  Bath comes under the Bath Forum group

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/bathforumhundred/

Englishcombe is in the Wellow Hundred

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/wellow/

These groups are closely but informally linked to the FreeREG project, but occasionally one will cover a register that the other doesn't.

HTH
David

[SamiW]

Thank you all for your interest.

Anna - Paul Gay was born around 1790 - 1
Moses was born around 1815 - 16

AVM - Thanks for info about Mary Gay being baptised in Priston - another village to check!

Jusnoneed - Yes, Moses married Caroline Garland, and could have died in 1853, as they had 3 children born 1843, 1848 & 1849.

David - many thanksfor the suggested sites, and advice about groups to join.  At least I now have other avenues to explore......

Any other ideas or suggestions gratefully received
Best
Sami