Gay

Were the Gays one family?

A prosperous set of families with the surname Gay appear in Wilson County records within the first ten years of freedom. Were they one extended family? Unrelated families who adopted the same surname, perhaps from a former enslaver? (And if so, whom?)

Here’s what we know about them:

  • Anthony Gay

Anthony Gay and Catherine Speight registered their 22-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace on 25 August 1866.

On 9 August 1868, Spencer Gay, son of Anthony and Catherine Gay, married Adeline Barnes, daughter of Baalam and Jinny Barnes, in Wilson County.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: blacksmith Antney Gay, 44; wife Catherine, 40; and children Laura, 20, Thomas, 20, and Francis, 2 [adjacent to Spencer Gay’s household and one household away from Charles Gay’s.]

On 16 February 1871, for $250, Spencer Gay and his mother Catherine Gay sold R.J. and Sallie Taylor a three-quarter acre parcel of land near the fork of the old plank road and the Barefoot road [today’s Nash Street and South Pender Street.] The Gays had not registered a deed for the purchase of this land. See Deed Book 4, page 454.

On 30 April 1872, for $25, Anthony and Catherine Gay and Spencer and Adline Gay sold Esther McGowan a lot on the east side of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad on the old plank road. Deed Book 6, page 183.

Anthony Gay was still alive when Charles Gay was murdered in 1874, but died before 1880.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: widow Cathren Gay, 52; son Thomas, 28, laborer; daughter-in-law Julia, 27, laundress; boarder Anna Bone, 59; [grand]son Nelson, 6; and daughter Frances, 14 [next door to son Spencer’s widow Adeline Gay and family.]

Also: in the 1880 census of North Wilson township, Wilson County: Willie Gay, 32, hireling; wife Catherine, 30; and children Phillis, 12, Anthony, 10, Henrietta, 8, Nancy, 6, Catherine, 4, and John, 2. [Willie Gay was likely the son of Anthony and Catherine Gay.]

  • Charles Gay

Charles Gay and Emly Gay registered their three-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace on 9 August 1866.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Charles Gay, 35; wife Emma, 25; children Charles, 5, and Mary, 1; and lodgers Rich’d Harper, 20, and Haywood Watson, 17.

Charles Gay was murdered in 1874.

  • Emma Gay (or Artis or Byrum) Gay Rountree

See Charles Gay, above.

Emma Gay, sometimes referred to as Emily Gay, bought property as early as December 1874. See Deed Book 9, page 522.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Emma Gay, 35; children Charlie, 15, a steam-mill worker, Mary, 11, Etheldred, 8, and Willie, 6; plus a boarder Fannie Thompson, 19, cook.

On 4 February 1892, Henry C. Rountree, 44, married Emma Gay, 44, at the bride’s residence in Wilson. Presbyterian minister L.J. Melton performed the ceremony, and witnesses were Edward Pool, Mark Blount and S.H. Vick.

On 29 October 1902, Willie Gay, 27, son of Charles Gay and Emma Rountree, married Mary Johnson, 22, daughter of Edmund Johnson and Bertha Johnson, at Henry Johnson‘s. H.S. Phillips applied for the license, and Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of Cain Artis, Charles S. Thomas, and Robert E. Artis.

On 23 March 1906, William Gay, 33, son of Charles and Emma Gay, married Augustus McNeil, 30, daughter of Peter and Emily Patterson, in Wilson. Missionary Baptist minister Fred M. Davis performed the ceremony in the presence of J.E. Farmer, Robert Strickland, and Charlie Farmer.

Henry C. Rountree died 24 September 1916 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born in 1848 in  North Carolina to Jessie Artis and Becker Artis; was married; worked as a dealer in groceries; and was buried in Wilson. Emma Rountree was informant.

Emma Rountree died 25 June 1917 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was about 65 years old; was born in Greene County, N.C., to unidentified parents; was a widow; and was buried in Wilson County [probably, Vick Cemetery]. Lizzie Whitfield was informant.

Mary Strickland died 16 December 1936 in the Wilson County Home. Per her death certificate, she was 67 years old; was born in Wilson to Charley Gay and Emma Artis; was a widow; and was buried in Wilson. Will Gay was informant.

Willie Gay died 25 May 1940 at the Veterans Administration hospital in Kecoughtan, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 February 1874 in Wilson, N.C., to Charles Gay and Emma Byrum, both of Greene County, N.C.; was divorced; was a veteran of the Spanish American War; was a railroad worker; and lived at 526 Smith Street, Wilson.

Dred Gay died 26 January 1950 in the Wilson County Home. Per his death certificate, he was born 1 January 1870 in Wilson County to Emma Gay; was a widower; and worked as a laborer.

  • Samuel, Albert, and Daniel Gay

Samuel, Albert, and Daniel Gay were the sons of Harriet Gay and Amos Thigpen (or Edmundson).

Sam Gay, son of Amos Thigpen and Harriet Gay, married Alice Bryant, daughter of Louisa Bryant, on 10 February 1870 in Wilson. P.E. Hines performed the ceremony.

On 20 January 1870, Daniel Gay, son of Amos Edmundson and Harriet Gay, married July Taylor, daughter of Alfred Robbins and Trecy Taylor, in Wilson.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: Samuel Gay, 24, wife Alice, 20, and brother Albert, 21.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Daniel Gay, 20, and wife Julia, 20.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm worker Samuel Gay, 27, wife Allice, 25, and children Blanch, 8, Louizah, 7, Edgar, 4, Charlie, 3, and Mamie, 1 month.

In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: south of the Plank Road, Daniel Gay, 28; wife Judie, 24; and daughters Mary, 9, and Creacy, 6.

Albert and Daniel Gay appear to have died before 1900.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Sam Gay, 54; wife Alice, 50; and children Charlie C., 23, Edgar B., 25, Lucy, 17, Samuel, 14, Albert and Beatrice, 10, and Lily, 4.

On 27 April 1904, John Stones, 30, of Wilson, married Mary Gay, 25, of Wilson, daughter of Daniel and Julia Gay, both deceased. A.D. Dawson applied for the license, and A.M.E. Zion minister H.C. Phillips performed the ceremony at the home of W.H. Kittrell in the presence of Kittrell, Mary Kittrell, and Charles Dawson.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Samuel Gay, 65, wife Alice, 55, and children Albert, 20, and Lilly, 15.

Samuel Gay died 1 February 1919 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per his death certificate: he was 73 years old, married to Allace Gay, resided at 620 Green Street, worked as tenant farmer for W.E. Warren, and was born in Wilson County. Charley Gay [his son] was informant.

Mary Stone died 19 November 1932 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 58 years old; was born in Wilson to Daniel Gay and Julia Gay; was a widow; worked as a cook; lived at 402 Viola Street; and was buried in Wilson [probably, Vick Cemetery.] Emma Davis, 418 East Green, was informant.

  • Candis Gay

Candis Gay and Jason Farmer registered their 22-year cohabitation with a Wilson County justice of the peace on 25 August 1866.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Jason Farmer, 33; wife Candis, 29; and children Florance, 9, Isiah, 6, and George 4.

In the 1880 census of North Wilson township, Wilson County: farmer Jason Farmer, 43; wife Candas, 43; and children Florrance, 17, Isaiah, 13, George W., 11, Jessee, 9, Jason, 6, Jennie, 4, and Mayland, 2,

Candis Gay Farmer died before 1891, when her husband remarried.

  • The possible enslaver(s)

In the 1860 slave schedule of Wilson County, Edgecombe County native William M. Gay reported enslaving 21 people — men and boys aged and women and girls aged .

But also in the 1860 slave schedule of Wilson township, Wilson County: Thomas Gay reported enslaving 8 people — six men and boys aged 1 to 24 and a woman and girl aged 7 and 28.

Simon Dildy’s crime and punishment.

I first posted about the murder of grocer and barkeep Charles Gay by Simon Dildy here. Recently, I discovered more newspaper articles about the crime and its aftermath.

Charles Gay and his wife Emma operated a “stand” near the corner of present-day East Nash and Pender Streets. Simon Dildy was Gay’s brother-in-law, but it’s not clear if he was Emma Gay’s brother or the husband of an unidentified sister of Gay. Dildy worked in Gay’s store.

Wilmington Journal, 14 March 1874.

Franklin Courier, 20 March 1874.

Dildy was convicted of murder in Wilson Superior Court and sentenced to death. His attorney appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court on procedural grounds.

Wilmington Morning Star, 26 September 1874.

Goldsboro Messenger, 28 September 1874.

The North Carolina Supreme Court granted Dildy a new trial, citing error in the trial judge’s rulings on the admissibility of certain evidence.

Goldsboro Messenger, 22 March 1875.

The file in State v. Dildy, 72 N.C. 325 (1875) is found at http://www.familysearch.org. It is a trove of detail about Reconstruction-era Wilson.

The grand jury pool included five black men — Amos Bynum, Orren Batts, Calvin Barnes, Howell Darden, and Hilliard Ellis — and Darden and Ellis were on the panel that indicted Dildy. Dildy was represented at trial by Hugh F. Murray and Harry G. Conner, and Ned Barnes and Green Lassiter sat on the jury that convicted him.

Aaron Skinner‘s testimony was included in the record forwarded to the Supreme Court. Skinner appears in the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County, as a 37 year-old carpenter. (By 1880, he had moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, but was in Virginia by the late 1880s.)

On direct examination, Skinner said he was at Charles Gay’s shop the night of the homicide between midnight and 2:00 A.M. with Spellman Moore, Gay, Simon Dildy, and another man. Skinner left to go to Moore’s house about forty yards away, but turned back when he heard arguing. Gay said, “If anybody treats me as you have done, I will take up a stick and beat them down or whip them or kill them.” Skinner then saw Gay walking toward his own house, and Dildy walking in the opposite direction toward Anthony Gay‘s house. Skinner then went to Moore’s house. About ten minutes later, Dildy came to Moore’s house and called Skinner to come out. Dildy was holding a double-barreled shotgun he had gotten from Anthony Gay. Skinner said, “What are you going to do with that?” Dildy responded, “Shoot Charles Gay.” Skinner and Dildy walked toward Gay’s house, and Skinner said, “You ain’t going to do it.” Dildy responded, “I’ll be dog-goned if I ain’t going to do it if he troubles me.” Skinner said, “Stop. I won’t go with you any further if you carry that gun for if Charles sees you with it, he’ll blame me as much as you.”Skinner told Skinner that it Skinner wouldn’t speak to Gay, and and his wife could have Skinner’s house for the night. Dildy agreed and asked Skinner to go to Gay and ask Dildy’s wife to come out. Skinner’s wife came out for four to five minutes. Gay said, “Dog gone it. They may come in. I ain’t going to trouble them.” Dildy’s wife went back to the house, and Gay came out: “Simon! Simon! Is that you? Come here!” Skinner barely had time to turn around before the gun blasted. Skinner ran to Gay, who was leaning against the fence, and they both fell onto a woodpile. Skinner carried Gay into the house, where he died within a few hours. Only about ten minutes elapsed between him leaving Gay’s shop and Gay being shot.

On cross-examination, Skinner asserted that when he first arrived at the shop, Gay was behind the counter “threatening and quarreling about shop affairs.” Dildy was standing outside the bar or counter, saying nothing. Skinner offered to let Dildy and his wife stay at his house because earlier — at about 8 or 9 o’clock — he had heard Gay say, “This here fellow Simon has been wasting my things, and I’m going to get him out of here or kill him out.” Dildy had been clerking for Gay, and Dildy and his wife had lived in the Gays’ house. Skinner noticed buckshot in a fence post that had come from the direction of Anthony Gay’s house. The woodpile was comprised of a billet of oak sticks and pine logs too large to be used as weapons and was about thirty-five feet from Gay’s front door in a corner of the lot to the left of the gate. Gay had been standing atop it. The front gate was about twenty feet from the front door. Skinner had been standing at the gate. When Skinner saw Gay inside the house, Gay “was as mad as I ever saw him; and I’ve seen him as mad as a man ought ever to be.” Gay was “a large and powerful man and, when provoked, a violent and dangerous one.” Gay weighed about 175 pounds, and Dildy about 140. Gay had no weapons on him except a pistol in his pocket, which was not cocked. When Gay had called out, “Simon! Simon!,” he had spoken in a sharp and angry tone.

Henry Johnston testified that he was one of the party that had gone out to arrest Dildy. They had found him about twelve miles from Wilson. As they approached, they pulled their sidearms, but did not point them at him. They did not tell him why they were there, and he did not appear alarmed. When asked what he was doing, Dildy said, “Just walking about.” One man then said, “What made you kill Charles Gay?” Dildy’s attorney objected, but Dildy was ordered to respond and said, “Is he dead?” Johnston replied, “You ought to know he’s dead when you killed him.” Counsel objected again, asserting that Dildy had been coerced by his captors. The judge again overruled him. According to Johnston, Dildy then confessed to shooting Gay, claiming that he had meant to shoot him in the legs, not kill him. Counsel for the defendant renewed its objection to the admission of Dildy’s confession.

The Supreme Court opened its decision with “We should never ruthlessly invade the sanctuary of the prisoners own breast for evidence to convict him with” and quickly determined that Dildy had confessed involuntarily when cornered and questioned by three armed men. Dildy was granted a new trial.

Dildy’s counsel reached a plea agreement — guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a ten-year sentence.

Wilmington Morning Star, 8 May 1875.

Seven years later, Governor Thomas J. Jarvis pardoned Simon Dildy.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 30 April 1882.

In January 1886, a Raleigh newspaper reported that Dildy had been convicted of affray (public fighting or brawling) there.

Then this:

Richmond Dispatch, 29 January 1887.

This is confusing. Did Dildy literally escape from prison or metaphorically, via pardon? Was the capture for an escape years earlier, or for nearly killing his wife? The News and Observer‘s brief coverage is more straightforward.

News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 19 January 1887.

I have not been able to find a name for Simon Dildy’s wife or anything further about Dildy.

Boys injured in explosion.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 20 February 1932.

——

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 623 Green, Annie B. Gay, 30, a laundress; husband Albert, 40, a bellboy; mother-in-law Alic, 73; and children Albert Jr., 14, Jessie, 11, Hal, 8, Samual, 6, Mirrian, 4, and Ralph, 2. The house was valued at $8000.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 623 Green, Albert Gay, 24, truck driver for retail furniture store; and his siblings Harrell [Harold], 19, Samuel, 17, Annie M., 14, and Ralph, 12; plus lodgers Mrs. Julia Russell, 40, and her son, Albert, 22.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 623 Green, taxi driver Albert Gay, 34; wife Doris, 35, city hall maid; brothers Harold, 29, school teacher at county school, and Ralph, 21; uncle Jessie Holden, 54, brickmason, and aunt Beatrice Holden, 49, cook in school lunchroom.

Detective Gay, former Buffalo Soldier, killed in the line of duty.

Charles Francis Gay Jr., a detective with the Philadelphia Police Department, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a murder suspect on Christmas Eve 1925. Gay was born in Wilson or in Philadelphia just after his Wilson-born parents, Charles and Lucy Mitchell Powell Gay, migrated north.

Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 December 1925.

Pittsburgh Courier, 2 January 1926.

Lancaster New Era, 4 October 1926.

Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 January 1927.

Nolly was executed by electric chair in September 1927.

——

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farm laborer Charles Gay, 35, wife Emma, 25, children Charles, 5, and Mary, 1, and two farm laborers Rich’d Harper, 20, and Haywood Watson, 17.

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Susan Mitchell, 35, and children Anna, 17, George, 12, Lucy, 9, Louisa, 7, Edwin, 4, and Joseph, 4.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Emma Gay, 35; children Charlie, 15, a steam-mill worker, Mary, 11, Etheldred, 8, and Willie, 6; plus a boarder Fannie Thompson, 19, cook.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, washerwoman Susan Mitchell, 47, with children Lucy, 19, and Louiza, 15, both house servants, Eddy, 12, and Joseph, 9.

On 18 October 1880, Lucy Mitchell, 19, married Mashal Powell, 18, at Susan Mitchell’s house, witnesses were Small Blunt, Mary Blunt, and Susan Mitchell.

In the 1900 census of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA: driver Charles Gay, 36, wife Lucy, 37, children Nellie, 11, and Charles, 7, and brother William Gay, 26, all born in NC.

Charles Gay died 22 December 1908 at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his death certificate, he was 44 years old; was born in North Carolina; was single [sic]; worked as a laborer; his regular residence was at Iseminger Street; and he was buried in Merion Cemetery. W.P. Allmond was informant.

Lucy Gay died 13 June 1912 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per her death certificate, she was a widow; was born 20 May 1872 in North Carolina to father [first name not given] Mitchell and an unnamed mother; resided at 1229 Quarry Street rear, Philadelphia; and was buried in Eden Cemetery.

In 1917, Charles Gay registered for the World War I draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Per his registration card, he was born 13 April 1893 in Philadelphia; lived at 146 North Isenminger Street, Philadelphia; worked as an ink mixer(?) for Ault Wiborg Company; and was single.

Pennsylvania World War I Veterans Service and Compensation Files 1917-1919, 1934-1948, http://www.ancestry.com.

In the 1920 census of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: at 146 Iseminger Street, Clarence Gross, 40, pool room proprietor; wife Nellie, 30, born in North Carolina; brother-in-law Charles Gay, 26, city police officer; brother Fred Gross, 35, automobile porter; and roomer Joseph Bargon, 36, hotel bootblack.

Charles F. Gay died 25 December 1925 at Hahnemann Hospital, Philadelphia, of “Gun shot wound Homicide.” Per his death certificate, he was 33 years old; was born in Pennsylvania to Chas. Gay and Lucy Mitchell, both of North Carolina; worked as a police officer; lived at 1326 Brown Street; and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. Mrs. Nellie Gross was informant.

U.S. World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918, http://www.ancestry.com.

Nellie Gay Workwell applied for a military headstone for her brother in 1937. The application reveals that Gay had been a sergeant in Company C of the 813rd Pioneer Infantry, who were among World War I’s famed Buffalo Soldiers.

U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans 1861-1865, http://www.ancestry.com.

There will not be another damned card played.

On 24 April 1903, the Wilson County coroner held an inquest over the body of John Gay, concluding that he had been shot by Morris Tucker.

Lillie Tucker testified that she was lying on the bed when Morris Tucker “picked up the lamp put it on the mantel piece and commenced shooting” after asking Gay if he did not believe he would shoot him. After being hit twice, Gay tried to throw a brick at Tucker, but he was too weak.

Banks Blow testified that John Gay, Louis Stratton, and Turner Thorne were “turning skin,” or gambling at Nellie’s when he arrived. John White, Morris Tucker, and Lillie Tucker were also present. Morris interrupted the game by taking the cards, and Gay protested. Dennis Brooks entered as Blow began to leave. Morris picked up the lamp, pulled out a gun, and threatened to kill Gay. Banks went out into the bar room to tend to the pool table. Ten minutes later, he heard a gunshot. Morris came into the barroom with a gun, which James Branch took from him. Morris said he had shot Gay, who had been bothering him for six months. He then left.

Nellie Lee testified that the incident happened at her house. She entered at the back door and witnessed Morris shoot at Gay six times. Everyone ran out of the room. “Sunday before last,” Lee and Lillie Tucker had seen Morris Tucker and John Gay gambling in the woods and heard Morris threaten, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop snatching my money.”

Lillie Tucker further testified that she had warned Nellie Lee not to allow the “boys” to gamble. After Morris won a hand, John Gay picked up the cards and said “This deck was stripped.” Morris replied that if they did not use that deck, “there would not be another damned card played that night.”

James Branch testified that he saw Morris Tucker at Dennis Brooks’ barroom about an hour and a half before the shooting and then immediately after. He had taken the gun from from Tucker, who picked up some pool balls and left, crossing the railroad. Louis Stratton later came in to retrieve the gun.

Dennis Brooks testified that Paul Dixon tried to pawn Morris Tucker’s watch. Brooks went to Nellie Lee’s house to find out if Tucker had sent him the watch. He found Tucker and Gay in a bedroom arguing over cards. Brooks told them to stop the foolishness.

——

  • John Gay — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: plumber James Curly, 24, and John Gay, 20, servant.
  • Morris Tucker — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Morris Tucker, 20,  “tobacco transfers,” and wife Maggie, 21, tobacco stemmer. Morris Tucker died 22 August 1914 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 8 June 1876 to Jacob Tucker and Jane Townsend; was single; and was buried in Wilson [probably Vick Cemetery.]
  • Lillie Tucker — in the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, Randall Irvin, 36, lumber mill laborer; wife Victoria, 38, laundress; and children Minnie, 16, Charles, 10, Beatrice, 8, Sylvester, 7, Eva, 4, and Beulah, 1; and mother-in-law Lillie Tucker, 65, widow.
  • Banks Blow
  • Nellie Lee — curiously, I have found no trace of Nellie Lee in Wilson.
  • Louis Stratton — on 22 June 1904, Louis Stratton, 24, of Wilson, married Vina Mercer, 18, of Wilson, daughter of Adline Mercer, in Wilson. Free Will Baptist minister W.H. Neal performed the ceremony in the presence of C.M. Brooks, Lenah Wooten, and Addie Mercer.
  • Turner Thorne
  • John White — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: teamster John White, 26, and wife Jane, 20.
  • Dennis Brooks — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: 35 year-old Georgia-born merchant Dennis Brooks, wife Mary, 27, and daughter Aleo[illegible], 8, shared a household with Jordan Taylor, 50, and wife Matilda, 40. [Brooks testified in a number of inquests, including James Hunt‘s and George Williford‘s.]
  • James Branch — in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: tobacco packer James Branch, 28; wife Jane C., 31, cook; and stepsons Casso C., 12, house servant, and Caborn Tyson, 8.
  • Paul Dixon — in the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Spring Street, Luceil Howard, 20, and lodgers Lue Rountree, 35, and Paul Dixon, 27, all tobacco factory laborers.

Coroner’s Records, Miscellaneous Records, Wilson County Records, North Carolina State Archives.

State vs. Spencer Gay.

To stave off responsibility for caring for poor women and their children, unwed mothers were regularly brought before justices of the peace to answer sharp questions about their circumstances.

On 4 September 1868, Ann Ruff admitted to Wilson County justice of the peace F.W. Taylor that she had given birth out of wedlock, and the child’s father was Spencer Gay. Taylor ordered that Gay be arrested and taken to a justice to answer Ruff’s charge.

The next day, Gay appeared before Taylor with his father Anthony Gay and James W. Davis and posted a two hundred-dollar bond to guarantee his appearance in court.

——

  • Spencer Gay

On 9 August 1868, Spencer Gay, son of Anthony and Catherine Gay, married Adeline Barnes, daughter of Baalam and Jinny Barnes, in Wilson County.

In the 1870 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: farm laborer Spellman Moore, 24; wife Jane, 22; children William, 2, and Walter, 1 month; Adeline Gay, 20; and husband Spencer Gay, 20, farm laborer.

Spencer Gay is listed in the 1880 mortality schedule for Wilson, Wilson County, having died of consumption in February. He was a brick yard laborer.

  • Ann Ruff

On 4 October 1884, William Dailey, 45, married Ann Ruff, 31, in Wilson.

In memoriam: SP4 Harold Cornell Gay (1951-1970).

SP4 Harold Cornell Gay of Wilson died 20 October 1970 in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. He is memorialized on panel 6W at line 11 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Jim Evans posted this memorial to Gay at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s Wall of Faces: “From 03 Aug to 14 Aug 1970, I was temporarily transferred from the 91st Evac Hospital in Chu Lai, to the medical aid station at Kham Duc until the new battalion surgeon arrived. There I met Harold Gay, a medic on the medivac helicopter crew stationed at Kham Duc. Harold was a gentle man who conveyed the sense that he provided medical care for his fellow soldiers from the depths of his heart. At Kham Duc I took several photographs of him. One portrait in black and white shows him looking pensively toward me. He asked me to send him this photo which I did; however, a letter from the Department of the Army on 04 Nov 1970, stated, ‘I regret to inform you that Specialist Gay died on 20 Oct 1970…. I am truly sorry that it was not possible to have delivered this mail [including the photograph] to him.’

“However, his death was old news, since I was working in the Emergency Room of the 91st Evac Hospital, when he was brought in. I pronounced him dead along with 12 other men killed when 2 helicopters collided. Harold Gay had volunteered for this mission.

“Harold’s portrait continues to gaze pensively at me in my home. Although our friendship was brief, my heart aches at his loss and so many others. I regret that it was not possible to share this portrait with his family since I did not have their address. Also given the circumstances in 1970, it was hard to know whether his photograph would be welcome or a cause for even greater grief.”

wkillian@smjuhsd.org posted this description of Gay’s final flight: “On October 20, 1970, a U.S. Army helicopter UH-1D ‘dust off’ air ambulance (tail number 66-16617) from the 54th Medical Detachment, was involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Army helicopter OH-6A (tail number 69-16023) from B Company, 123rd Aviation Battalion, resulting in the loss of life of seven U.S. personnel. The OH-6A was part of an Aero Scout team from Company B, 123rd Aviation Battalion, consisting of one UH-1H ‘slick’ transport helicopter, one AH-1G Cobra attack aircraft, and one OH-6A light observation helicopter from Chu Lai Army Airfield for the purpose of conducting a first-light visual reconnaissance of the area to the south and west of Chu Lai known as the Rocket Pocket. On this particular morning, the Aero Scout team attempted to commence their reconnaissance in the northern portion of the Rocket Pocket. They were, however, unable to proceed with this course of action because artillery was being fired into that area. After determining that they could not enter the area, the team lead directed his team to proceed to the southern portion of the Rocket Pocket and commenced their reconnaissance in that area, working generally east to west. At this time, the team members observed yellow smoke being popped continuously to the southeast. The team lead contacted ground personnel in the area to see if they required any assistance. The ground personnel replied in the negative, that a dust-off (medical evacuation by helicopter) was in progress. At approximately 0700 hours, the UH-1H dust off aircraft under the control of the 54th Medical Detachment, call sign Dust Off 88, departed from Chu Lai Army Airfield on a mission to pick up two urgent U.S. casualties. The two injured soldiers, SP4 Alexander Campbell Jr. and PFC Larry W. Kilgore, both infantrymen from C Company, 4th Battalion, 3rd Infantry, 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, were wounded while retrieving an explosive device when the device accidently detonated. The Aero Scout team observed the dustoff aircraft and watched it touchdown in the landing zone. The Aero Scout team then turned back to the north continuing their reconnaissance and working their way back towards Chu Lai. Shortly thereafter, the team leader observed the dust off aircraft heading north-northeast approximately 300 to 400 meters south of the OH-6A at low level and moving fast. At this point the team leader advised the OH-6A of the approaching dust off aircraft and the OH-6A pilot rogered the message. The team leader later stated that almost simultaneously with this transmission the UH-1H and OH-6A collided, with the UH-1H on a northerly heading and the OH-6A on a northwesterly heading. The collision occurred in a valley into which the UH-1H had entered coming around a hill to his right and the OH-6A had entered flying west up the valley with the hill on his left. There were no survivors from the dust off aircraft. The OH-6A crew suffered one fatality with two injured. The lost crew members of the air ambulance included aircraft commander CW2 Terence A. Handly, co-pilot 1LT Kenneth M. Schlie, crew chief SP4 Thomas R. Weiss, and medic SP4 Harold C. Gay. The lost passengers were the injured SP4 Campbell and CPL Kilgore, plus an unnamed Vietnamese national. The fatality from the OH-6A was crew chief SP4 Gary R. Cady. The pilot and gunner on the aircraft survived with injuries. Kilgore, one of the dust off patients, was posthumously promoted to corporal. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and vhpa.org]”

——

Harold C. Gay was born 14 February 1951 in Wilson to Harold E. Gay, himself an Army sergeant during World War II, and Matteele Floyd Gay (later Robinson). We have seen the family home of his paternal grandparents Albert and Annie Bell Jacobs Gay here and met his maternal grandfather Ambrose Floyd here. He began high school at C.H. Darden, but transferred to quasi-integrated Ralph L. Fike High School under “freedom of choice” and graduated in 1969. He was 19 years old when he died. Harold Gay’s funeral service took place at Saint Alphonsus Catholic Church, and he is buried in Rest Haven Cemetery.

The obituary of Willie Gay.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 May 1940.

Willie Gay‘s headstone is one of only two military markers found in Odd Fellows Cemetery — and the only one that is definitely it the head of a grave. Gay was a Spanish-American War veteran.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2023.

The travails of the Third N.C. Infantry.

In response to President William McKinley’s call for volunteers upon the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the 3rd Battalion of North Carolina Volunteers mustered in on 12 May 1898 at Fort Macon, North Carolina. Seven companies, including Corporal Willie Gay‘s Company I, joined the original three in July, forming the 3rd North Carolina Regiment. Though the 3rd N.C. was alerted to prepare to ship out to Cuba, the war ended before they saw action in battle. The Regiment moved west to Knoxville, Tennessee, in September 1898, where its disillusioned members wrote the plaintive letter below to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger. In November, the 3rd was sent to Macon, Georgia — where two Wilson County men were involved in a fatal altercation — then mustered out in January 1899.

Willie Gay’s grave is marked by the only Spanish-American War headstone I have found in Wilson County for an African-American soldier. However, 3rd N.C. veteran Turner H. Utley was also buried in this cemetery.

The following letter is reported to have been sent to Secretary of War Alger by members of this regiment. The names of those who signed the letter were not given to The Journal and Tribune reporter with the copy of the letter.

Third North Carolina Regiment 
(All companies) Sept. 23, 1898,

To the Secretary of War:

Dear Sir:–We the undersigned many soldiers, heard that you had been instructed that we wanted to stay in service as garrison duty, but my dear sir, we are now pleading with mercy and deny any such report as there had been reported and we feel that our superior officers has treated us wrong to hold us in service without we knowing anything about it.

We the undersigned did not join the service for garrison duty. We only sacrificed our lives and left our homes simply for the honor of our flag and the destruction of our country and families as the war was going on at that time, but now the war is over and we do feel that we might be mustered out of service because we are getting letters from our families every day or two stating the suffering condition, and oh my God, the way that we are treated. We have to drill harder than any other regiment on the grounds and after drilling so hard, we have to work so hard. We have to cut ditches, sink holes and fill up gullies, put in water pipes. We, the 3rd N.C. regiment soldiers has not had but one pair of pants, one coat, two undershirts, one top shirt. We are in a box fit. Our food is not fit to eat, and oh my dear sir, we are bound up in a little place about 400 feet long 3 feet wide. Just think of the confinement we are under just because we volunteered freely to fight for our country.

We the undersigned many soldiers did not volunteer for garrison duty and we do not think that our honorable government will take the advantage of willing and faithful men who came to the rescue of the flag, stars and stripes. We have a great deal more to tell you but we can not express ourselves like it ought to be done.

Down at Fort Macon we was misled. The question was asked who wanted to stay in the service and go to the front if necessary, called upon them to raise hands, but the question never was asked if we wanted to do garrison duty. If they had of asked that question we never would have been in Knoxville today. Why don’t you know as a good thinking man that we don’t want to leave our wives and families to go on garrison duty. Why if so you would have had more applications in the white house than the mail box would have helt.

You know that these officers is getting a very good salary and they would go in three miles of hell after that dollar, but we who are brave men did not come for the sake of that $15.60, but we gloried in the flag and come to hold it up by the balls and shells. So as we did not get a chance to do so we hope that you will consider this matter. Look it over, give us the judgment of justice and if you do we will go home to our families who are in a suffering condition, so we will not write any more.

We the undersigned await your earliest reply. Many soldiers of the Third North  Carolina regiment. We want to go home. 

Journal and Tribune (Knoxville, Tennessee), 5 October 1898.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2023.

Bring me a bicycle and some nuts and apples.

Wilson Daily Times, 3 December 1924.

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Albert Gay, whose letter to Santa was published in 1924, was the son of Albert S. Gay Sr. and Annie Bell Jacobs Gay. At that time, his brothers were Jesse, Harold, and baby Samuel. (Albert Jr. apparently received the bicycle he wished for — seven months later, he broke three ribs when he and his bike collided with an automobile.)