GAY FAMILY - CRAIL AND BEYOND

[hdw]

That certainly is. Harry above was wondering if the reference to 'the big house' on Alexander Snr's death cert in 1864 referred to there.

Monica

Yes, I haven't seen it called "the big house" before, but it's certainly the biggest house by the shore. A lot of the Gay family lived in the Shoregate or thereabouts. Opposite no.35, the Customs House, is no.36, formerly the home of my 2 x gt.grandmother Marjory Myles (Mrs. Andrew Taylor).
Taylor is an old name in Crail, and one of the men lost in the  1765 tragedy which was commemorated in a ceremony at the harbour last year was a Taylor.
Harry

[hdw]

Here is a bit more about the Gays of Crail. You will know most of this already, Harry, but it may be of interest to others too.

Thomas Gay and Christian Brown were the parents of
William Gay who married Ann Paterson, and
Alexander Gay who married Lucy Ramsay.

Wm. Gay and Ann Paterson had sons called William Gay and James Gay who married the sisters Margaret Spence and Jessie Spence respectively. They were the daughters of George Spence, labourer, and Janet Wilson, of Crail. If my researches are correct, George was a brother of my 3 x great-grandmother Penelope "Penny" Spence who married William Dewar, labourer. The Spence family originated in Kingsbarns.

Wm. Gay who married Mgt. Spence in 1847 was a seaman on the "Indiana". When he died in 1881 aged 61 his death-certificate says he was a mate in the Merchant Service. The informant was his son James Gay, who gave an address in Belfast. James had a brother called George Spence Gay who married Mary Rollo in 1876.

Alexander Gay who married Isabella Anderson was master of the "Amethyst" of Arbroath. Why he sailed out of Arbroath I don't know.

Gay was also, and still is, a common name in Pittenweem, a few miles to the west of Crail, but I don't think the Pittenweem and Crail Gays were related. I have a theory that the surname is a shortened version of Rumgay, a name which becomes less common in the East Neuk just as Gay becomes more common. Similarly, I believe that the Pittenweem surname of Butters is an abbreviated form of the rare surname Buttercase.

Harry

[BW252]

Harry

thanks again for all the info.   Yes I did have most of it but not the other Spence sister - very interesting.    As you will have seen I made a tremendous mistake in picking the wrong Alexander!   I believe I did this in my early days of research and have since learned my lesson.    George Anderson Gay was certainly a revelation in what he achieved but for all his greatness I still cannot find his death.

Harry

[MonicaL]

  George was certainly successful and a substantial philanthropist.

...the Hospital (at Hartford) received over $6 million from the late George Anderson Gay and...
www.harthosp.org/portals/1/images/8/providingspring2001.pdf

Monica

Added:

NEWS
Museum, Hospital, Seminary Get $18m
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR; Courant Staff Writer Courant Staff Writer Owen McNally contributed to this story., May 1, 2001
Way back in 1937, George A. Gay celebrated his 85th birthday with a grand gesture to five Hartford charities. "With a clear mind and a good memory, health for my age good, I have much to be thankful to God for, and I am," he wrote. In gratitude, he gave away $20,000. Now, 60 or so years after Gay's death, his estate has left three of the city's best-known institutions sums that make the $20,000 look like chump change. Hartford Seminary, Hartford Hospital and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art have each received $6.2 million in the past year from a trust left by Gay, deliverable only after the last of his heirs had died.
http://articles.courant.com/keyword/art-collector/recent/2

[BW252]

Many Thanks  to Monica, William and Harry for all this wonderful information which enabled me to sort out my mistake and more.

Off on holiday to Jersey now, hopefully take my mind off the research for a week at least!

thanks again

Harry

[hdw]

We had a holiday in Jersey a few years ago. Well, we tried to. Just an hour after dropping off our bags at the hotel my wife fell over in a restaurant and broke her ankle, and we spent the next few days in our hotel waiting for a flight back to Edinburgh. I've sometimes suggested having another attempt at a holiday in Jersey, but for some reason she doesn't seem too keen!

Harry

[MonicaL]

I can understand your wife's reluctance  as beautiful as Jersey is!

Harry, enjoy your week there 

Monica

[BW252]

Back from Jersey and into the fray again!     James Gay who married Jessie Spence seems to be elusive.    I think I have them in 1851 in Crail where he is shown as a Spirit retailer.    However on the OPR BCs for William Thomas 1849 and Janet Anne Wilson 1850 he is shown as a seaman.    I just cannot find them after 1851 at all.

[hdw]

It was quite common for a fisherman in the East Neuk ports to become a publican, variously described as a spirit dealer, vintner, beer dealer or whatever. Often the wife ran the business if the man was away.
I share your puzzlement about the fate of James Gay. His wife, now a widow, married her 2nd husband James Bowman in 1857. She was a vintner, he was a fish-curer, but joined her in the booze business.
Janet/Jessie Bowman or Gay or Spence died in 1892, aged 70. In my last post I got my generations mixed up. If I've got it right, Jessie's father George Spence was a brother of my 4 x great-grandmother Penelope "Penny" Spence who married William Dewar, so Jessie Spence was a cousin of my 3 x great-grandmother Ann Dewar who married Robert Peebles.

Harry