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Surnames: Gay, Boswell, Herbert, Reed
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
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Message Board Post:
Past and Present of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Illustrated, Vol. II, pp. 776-777
B. F. Bowen and Company, Publishers, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1909
JOHN W. GAY
The mention of this name carries the local historian back to the period of struggle, when
a might army of sturdy pioneers were engaged in conquering the West. The search of the
genealogical tree takes us to England, where we find JOHN GAY migrating to the United
States prior to the Revolutionary war, establishing a home in Pennsylvania an dying in
Ohio at the remarkable age of one hundred and three years. His son, JACOB, born in
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, followed the tide of emigration to Ohio, married AMY
HERBERT, a native of New Jersey and daughter of THOMAS HERBERT, on of the first settlers
of Ohio. JACOB GAY died in 1848, at the age of fifty-seven years, and his wife died in
1867. SAMUEL GAY, his only son, was one of five children, all long since deceased. He
was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, October 28, 1812, emigrated to Indiana in youth and
became one of the early settlers of Tippecanoe County. He came here with his parents in
1834, when his father bou!
ght three hundred acres of partly improved land in Wayne Township. The old people are
buried in Sherry Cemetery, nearby the homestead. SAMUEL GAY grew up like all other
pioneer farm boys with little time for schooling, but much for hard work. On October 11,
1837, he married ELIZA, daughter of WILLIAM and NANCY REED, of Ross County, Ohio, and by
this union were seven children: JOHN W. and EMELINE, who lives with him; JOSEPHINE, wife
of ALONZO BOSWELL, of Wayne Township; SEYMOUR; JAMES MADISON, of Wayne Township; SANFORD,
of Oklahoma, and SAMUEL, also of Wayne Township. The father of this family became an
extensive landowner, as he added to his father's original purchase until he had some
seven hundred acres. He was a very liberal man, always ready to contribute to public
enterprises and to help his fellow man in distress. Though a staunch Whig and Republican,
he would never accept office, his heart being set on agricultural pursuits. He belonged
to no orders and showed!
little disposition to join any organization that required him to be away from home. He
died in September 1902 after completing his ninetieth year. His wife, who has always been
a devout Methodist survives him and reached the end of her eighty-ninth year on July 1,
1909. He is buried in Sherry Cemetery, which contains the bones of several generations of
the family.
JOHN W. GAY, the eldest son of SAMUEL, was born in Wayne Township, Tippecanoe County,
Indiana, October 14, 1840. He went through all the rough experiences of a pioneer boy on
an Indiana farm, which consisted of hard licks from morning until night, few amusements
and only such education as could be picked up by short winter attendance in the poor
schools of those days. He grew up on a farm, learned all about farming and in the end
owned a farm of his own, which he managed with skill and industry. He has long been one
of the largest landowners in Wayne Township, at one time having one thousand acres, which,
however, have been reduced to nine hundred. He is highly respected, as, indeed, are his
brothers and sisters and all the connection of GAYS, who stand for the oldest and best the
county has to show in agricultural developments, their lives being the connecting link
between the pioneer past and the progressive present.