This thread has certainly mushroomed, if threads can mushroom! I noticed Harry's original post yesterday, but as I didn't recognise the names Alexander Gay and Isabella Anderson, I didn't intervene. Now there are 4 pages of fascinating research to read, and a shipwreck into the bargain.
I certainly know the names of Alexander Gay and Lucy Ramsay. Alexander died in 1864, aged 81, in "the Big House" by the Shore. I wonder if that is the old 3-storey 17th c. Customs House, which by the 19th c. housed several fisher families. When my Peebles grandparents in Crail were first married they lived on the top storey. Alexander's parents were Thomas Gay, fisherman, and Christian Brown.
His wife Lucy Ramsay died in 1866, aged 80. She was the daughter of Alexander Ramsay, seaman, and Christian Burns.
Alexander Gay and Lucy Ramsay were the parents of Helen Gay who married George Clark in Crail in 1857; Agnes Gay who married George Barclay of Cellardyke; and Christian Gay who married Captain David Gellatly of Anstruther, a merchant seaman who at one time was master of the steamer "Xantho" which plied between Anstruther and Edinburgh. There are probably other children of Alexander and Lucy but these are the ones I've just managed to find in my notes. I'll have a look to see if I have any more information on this Gay/Ramsay family.
Harry (another one!)
