CAPTAIN MARTIN GAY.
John Gay emigrated to America about 1630. He settled first at Watertown and was a grantee in the great Dividends and in Beaver Brook plowlands, owning forty acres. He was Freeman May 6, 1635 and a Selectman in 1654. He died March 4, 1688, and his wife Joanna died August 14, 1691. He had eleven children.
Nathaniel, third child of John Gay was born January 11, 1643. Was Freeman May 23, 1677, and Selectman in 1704 and other years. He married Lydia Lusher. He died Feb. 20, 1712. His wife died August 6th, 1774, aged ninety-two. He had ten children.
Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D. D., Minister of Hingham was born in 1696 graduated at Harvard University in 1714, and was ordained in 1718. He was a devoted loyalist, and died 1787, at the age of ninety, and in the sixty-ninth year of his ministry. Rev. Doctor Chauncy "pronounces him to have been one of the greatest and most valuable men in the country." His son, Martin Gay, was Captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was born at Hingham on the 29 December, 1726. He married first, 13 December, 1750, Mary Pinckney, by whom he had seven children. After her death he married Ruth Atkins, by her he had two children. He carried on the business of a brass founder, and copper smith, on Union Street, Boston. He was also deacon in the West Church in Lynde Street. On the thirtieth of April, 1775, shortly after the battle of Lexington, Deacon Gay, with Deacon Jones was requested to "take care of the plate, etc., belonging to this church, and Congregation." The church and congregation were at this time dispersed and the meeting house occupied as a barrack by the troops, and the pastor had gone to Nova Scotia. Mr. Gay was true to his trust, at the evacuation he took "the plate and linnen" to Nova Scotia and afterwards returned it, for long years after in 1793 the church voted him their thanks for "having taken care of the plate belonging to the church, while the town was in the hands of the British troops, and when it was evacuated." When the new church was built in 1805 he subscribed three hundred dollars towards it. From 1758 to 1774, he was yearly chosen one of the two Assay Masters, and for many years he was chosen one of the sixteen Firewards of the Town, in which office he had as associates John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Adino Paddock, he was chosen one of the twelve Wardens of the Town in 1771, and occupied many other offices of importance, which shows the esteem in which he was held by his fellow townsmen. In June, 1774, he signed the Address to Governor Hutchinson, and from that time, he was not elected to any town office, owing to his public avowal of Loyalist sentiments.
Mr. W. Allan Gay of West Hingham, a grandson of Martin Gay, has three letters written by the Captain, they have been published in the Collection of the Colonial Society of Mass., Vol. 3. They are interesting as they bring us almost into personal contact with people who were living in Boston more than a hundred years ago, and one of whom saw the Battle of Bunker Hill. The first was written by Captain Martin Gay to his brother Jotham, seven years his elder. He had been an officer in the French war of 1755 and had taken part in the expedition against Nova Scotia under Gen. John Winslow. He afterwards settled in the province he had helped to conquer from the French and at the date of the letter had been for more than ten years a resident of Cumberland, Nova Scotia. Within but three weeks after the battle, it gives one of the first authentic accounts published. The writer's loyalty to his "King and Country" is very apparent, as well as his detestation of all Rebels, and especially the "famous Doctor Warren." The letter in part is as follows: "The victory obtained by about two thousand regular troops commanded by General Howe, over a large body of the County Rebels, ('tis said about six thousand,) on the heights of Charlestown, on the 17ult, was a remarkable Action. It proves that nothing the enemies to Great Britain can do, will daunt the courage of British troops. The Rebels had entrenched themselves on the top of a high hill, with two cannon mounted in the Redoubt, besides several field pieces, on the hill, which is about a quarter of a mile from Charles River in approaching which, the troops had to break through stone walls, and other difficulties, which gave the enemy every advantage they could wish for. However, after a most violent hot fire, the brave soldiers forced the entrenchments to the joy of all the spectators, (myself being one) and others on this side of the river, who are friends to King and Country. Immediately on the King's troops appearing on the top of the Redoubt, the Rebels ran off in great confusion leaving their cannon, entrenching tools and a large number of their dead and wounded. The loss was great on both sides, the action lasted about an hour and a quarter. We have reason to lament the loss of so many valuable brave officers and men, of the King's Army who were killed on the field of battle, and since dead of the wounds they received. I have not seen any account of the transaction of that day made public by authority, therefore will not pretend to say which suffered most in the loss of men. Will mention one on the Rebel side, the famous Doctor Warren, who has for some years been a stirrer up of Rebellion, was killed in the action. Had some others of his disposition which I could name been there, and meet the same fate with him, it would have made the victory of that day the more glorious, though the Rebels meet with a shameful defeat, they still continue in their opposition, in fortifying hills and others places near this town. I am not apprehensive of their ever being able to take or destroy this town, but 'tis a melancholy consideration to be in this situation, which must in time prove fatal to this town and province, if not soon prevented by that almighty being, whose providence preserves and governs the world in all things."
On the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776, by the British troops, he accompanied them to Halifax. There went with him his son Martin, and his daughter Mary, who afterwards married Rev. William Black of Halifax, and also "his man London." He remained in Nova Scotia during the whole period of the war. Mrs. Ruth Gay, second wife of Martin Gay, whose maiden name as already stated was Atkins, remained in Boston during the war, probably with her father's family. Her father, Thomas Atkins, was a bricklayer by trade, and a well-to-do citizen, his real estate having been appraised at his death in 1785 at £1,696. He, with his eldest son, joined the revolutionists, but his second son, Gibbs Atkins, was a loyalist. So were families divided in those days.
The second letter was from his wife in Boston and was sent to him at Halifax. It is interesting as showing some of the devices reported to by the loyalists, their families and friends to save at least a portion of their estates for the original owners. The letter is as follows:
Boston, 24 June, 1786.
My Dear Mr. Gay:
My last of the 8th instant containing the melancholy account of the death of my father, I make no doubt you have received. In that I also informed you that the house was to be sold the 15 of this month which was done accordingly. Mr. Whalley chose to bid it of and Brother Timothy bought it at £380. He paid 129 Dollars Earnest money, the rest is to be paid in 6 weeks. I wish you could settle your affairs so as to come home before the time is up. Mr. Whalley has sent you the account of the sale properly authentic, and has directed them to be left at Mr. Pike's at Halifax. Do come home as soon as you can. Our friends unite with me in love to you and children. Father Gay has got quite well. Fanny is with me and desires her duty to you. Love to her Brothers and Sisters. Believe me to be your tender, affectionate Wife,
R. GAY.
The sale mentioned by Mrs. Gay took place under the Confiscation Act of 1777-1780. These estates were treated by the Probate Court as those of deceased persons. As Martin Gay's wife was not an absentee she was entitled to her third or dower right in her husband's estate. The Commissioners appointed by the Probate Court assigned to Mrs. Gay as "her third" "the two middle tenements of the house on Union Street, Boston, with the cellars chambers and upper rooms. Also the shop fronting Union Street and the land under same with the liberty to go through the great entry into the said shop, with the use and improvements of the yard, Well, Pump, and Privy." This division was made at her request as a shrewd means of retaining for herself and eventually for her husband, the whole of the property, for it would be difficult to sell or to lease the two ends of the house so divided, with the middle taken out. The result was that the remainder of the house was unsaleable and as stated in the letter was bought in by her brother Timothy Atkins. As Mrs. Gay by her right of dower had only a life estate on the property, it was necessary that she should require what is known as the "remainder" which was still vested in the Commonwealth. This was conveyed to her by Act of the Legislature, Feb. 7th, 1807, for the consideration $1,680. In 1809, the widow, Ruth Gay, and her son Ebenezer Gay, sold this property for fifteen thousand dollars.
The third letter is dated at London, 7 July, 1788. In it he says "I cannot pretend to say when my affairs will admit of my return to America. By a late act of parliament a final settlement will (it is sayed) be made with the Loyalists within a few months. I must wait with patience this important event, then prepare to leave this both wonderful and delightful kingdom, and return to my family and friends in my native country, though an Alien when in it."
He remained two years in England and returned to Boston in 1792, when he resumed his business as a coppersmith at his old stand in Union Street, and soon after entered into business relations with Mr. James Davis, a brass founder, then but twenty-two years of age, who had learned the trade from a Hessian, who like many of his countrymen were obliged to remain in the country when Congress violated the terms of the Saratoga Convention.[215] Mr. Gay subsequently sold the business to Mr. Davis, who incorporated it in 1828 under the name of the Revere Copper Company, Mr. Joseph Warren Revere being one of the incorporators.
Martin Gay died in 1809, and he was buried in the Granary Burial Ground. Samuel Gay was the eldest son of Martin Gay who graduated at Harvard in 1775. Owing to the disturbed state of the times, and the quarterings of the rebel troops in the College buildings, he did not take his degree at the College Commencement, which was not held this year. He became a permanent resident of New Brunswick, and was a member of the first House of Assembly organized in the Colony, and represented the County of Westmoreland several years. He was also a magistrate of that County, and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died at Fort Cumberland (where his father had a grant of land from the Crown) January 21, 1847 in the ninety-third year of his age.
Ebenezer Gay was the youngest son of Martin Gay, and can hardly be classed as a loyalist. He was a child when his father went to Halifax, and he remained in Boston with his mother during the war. He graduated at Harvard College in 1789, practiced law, and was a member of the State Senate, and resided at Hingham. Mr. Wickworth Allen Gay, the artist, is his son. Martin Gay the younger, was fifteen years of age when he accompanied his father to Halifax. Three years later he was accidentally shot by a friend while hunting near Windsor, Nova Scotia.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO MARTIN GAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To John Davis. Jan. 7, 1783; Lib. 136, fol. 228; Land in Boston, Winter St. S.. Samuel Dashwood E. and N.; Dr. Sylvester Gardner, an absentee, W.
To Timothy Atkins. Dec. 13. 1787; Lib. 161, fol. 240; Land and buildings in Boston. Union St. E.; Philip Freeman S.; E.; E. and S.; heirs of Benjamin Andrews W; N. and W.; Dorothy Carnes N. and W.; Jeremiah Bumstead N.; reserving that part of the premises set off to Ruth Gay, wife of said Martin Gay.