Person:William Jay (2)

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/h/a/c/Leon--R-Hachat/BOOK-0001/0011-0006.html#CHILD11 ___________________________________________________________________William Jay received a patent from the Colony on 3 October 1734 for a tract of Vanmeter/Hite land containing 100 acres located "below Daniel Burnetts line, below the falls of Evats Run, (on Shenandoah near Charleston)" (Virginia Land patent Book 15, p. 319.) (Tract 128, Map 3). Jay probably did not live on this land. He sold the tract to Thomas Sept. 5, 1748 executed deed to Thos. Rutherford for 50 pounds on 5 September 1748, as recorded by the Fairfax Company. (signed Wm. Jay of Parish of Fairfax) (Frederick County, VA, Deed Book 1, p. 425.) Jost Hite sold this same tract of land to Rutherford for 22 pounds on 5 March 1746 stating in the deed that Jay had sold it to Hite in Orange County. However, there are no records of Hite's purchase of this land from Jay in Orange County records. Apparently, Jost Hite was an opportunist, taking advantage of Jay who was east of the Blue Ridge, but he appears to have been somewhat fair in that he sold the land for less than half of Jay's price." Source: Pioneers of Old Frederick County, Virginia by Cecil O'Dell, (1995), p. 98-99.

William Jay rented 100 acres of land in Frederick County, VA in 1746. ("Abstracts of Wills, Inventories, and Administrations Accounts of Frederick County, VA" Compiled by J. Estelle Stewart King (1961), p. 107.)

"The Bulletin" states he moved to North Carolina in 1748 followed in 1751 by the mother and brothers of Mary Vestal Jay. He is shown about 1757 as a surveyor's helper.

A "William Jay & son" were on the 1755 tax list of Orange County, North Carolina (The North Carolinean, Vol. 1-2, 1955-56, p. 107).

May 6, 1756: Was issued 395 acres of land in Orange County, N.C. on NE side N. fork of Flat River. (Grant 170, Book 14, p. 432, Land Grant Records of N.C., Vol. 1).

Also listed as bondsman in Orange Cnty Ct. Min., December 1756, March, 1759; June 1759.

Orange County Court Minutes, 1752-1766, Court of November 12, 1765 states: "Robert Harlin (Hillard, later) brought into Court by John Allen Tharp his Security, acquitted. Accused of stealing a horse from Wm. Jay, Sr."

In 1771 signed petition (with 2 sons) to have Caswell County set off from Orange Co., N.C., Col. Records, N.C. Vol. 9, p. 90.

He was married "out of meeting" in 1743; his wife Mary did not "acknowledge the error" until after his death and just prior to removal to South Carolina M.M., where she asked for her letter in 1772 from Hopewell MM at Winchester, VA. (The Bulletin by CMJ).

William Jay made a will 23 Nov. 1772 Berkley Co., SC. (typewritten copy on file at Charleston S.C.; copy of original handwritten will can be found at S.C. Dept. of Arch. and Hist. in Columbia, S.C. Book "TT", p. 22-23). Dedimus issued to John Caldwell Esqr. to prove the Will of Wm. Jay Decd. & qualify the Exors therein named. July 30th. 1773 (Probate Records of South Carolina, Volume 2, p. 75). Probated August 31, 1773 Berkley Co., SC. "KNOW all men by these Presents that I William Jay of Berkley County and district of 96 and Province of South Carolina . . . do constitute and appoint this my last will and Testament as followeth: First, I give unto my son John one certain tract of land containing two hundred acres, situate and being in the County and Province aforesaid joining the Plantation whereon I now live to him and his heirs and assigns forever to dispose of as him or them thinks fit -- Secondly I give unto my son David two tracts of land one of one hundred acres and the other containing fifty acres on which I now live and cultivate in the County and Province aforesaid the aforesaid 100 acres deeded by Robert Bull according to said Bulls bond to me; the said fifty being conveyed to me by David Mote to him and his heirs and assigns, provided nevertheless that my beloved life Mary Jay to have peaceable possession and livelihood upon said one hundred acres of land during her life and all the rest and residue of my goods and chattels and personal estate after payment of my debts and funeral expenses to my beloved wife Mary Jay whom I leave my Sold Executris of this my last Will and Testament. In Witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seal this twenty third of November in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy two. William Jay (his mark)

NB the above mentioned one hundred and fifty acres of land left to David Jay in case he should decease before he is of age then the land to be divided among my three daughters viz Mary Rachel and Lydia in equal parts after my wife's decease and also I leave my son John Executor along with my wife wittness my hand the day and year above written." William Jay (his mark) Sealed Published and declared by the above named William jay as and for his last will and Testament in the presence of us. Wm. Wright Enos Elleman Thomas Pugh

Proved by virtue of a Dedimus from the Honorable Wm Bull Esqr. Lieut. Gov. to John Caldwell 31st Aug. 1773. At same time qualified Mary Jay Exrix."

NOTE: For more information regarding land originally owned by William Jay, see NOTES for David Jay (son of William Jay, Jr.).

NOTE: THERE ARE THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT WILLIAM AND MARY MAY HAVE HAD TWO OTHER DAUGHTERS, DEBORAH AND SARAH. I've included some information here with respect to those two individuals, but have not included them as actual children of William and Mary Jay at this time.

SARAH JAY: Sarah is more likely to be a SISTER of William Jay. The following information from John Fox, Winston Salem NC via email dated 1/22/02: "John and Sarah were contemporaries in age with William and his wife Mary. Although I cannot definitively say what their relationship was, it is more likely that Sarah and William were brother and sister. . . John Satterfield was not the only Satterfield who came at the time that William Jay did to North Carolina. John had a brother, James, who shared in a grant of land that William got fro the State of North Carolina. . . According to Deeds of Register for Orange County, William Jay on 9 March 1756 recceived an Earl of Granville land grant for 395 acres. He proceeded to deed 50 acres to John Satterfield;l fifty acres fo James Satterfield on that same day. It was not clear if he "gave" them the land or if there was an exchange of money. . ."

Sarah Jay is believed to have married John Isaac Satterfield (1730-1802). John Satterfield died in Person Co., NC. James Jay's (s/o William and Mary Vestal Jay) will was witnessed by Isaac Satterfield, Jean Satterfield.

"We know John was married to Sarah and her maiden name was Jay as verified in a book published in 1889 by Goodspeed Publishing Co., entitled "History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, Sebastian Counties, Arkansas." She was not in her father's will. She is however, highly likely to be a child of William Jay as her father deeded land to her husband the same time he received a patent of land in NC. They had travelled with William Jay to Caswell County, NC, and lived in the same places, all supporting the belief that Sarah is a daughter of WIlliam." (Dudick Web Site, "Descendants of William Jay: First Generation")

DEBORAH JAY: "James McCool, Jr. was born on the 12 day 12th month, 1747, and died in 1804 in Frederick County. He married Deborah Jay, d/o William and Mary (Vestal) Jay about 1768. James McCool was disowned in 1772 by the Quakers for profane singing and dancing and offering to lay wagers. Apprently, his wife Deborah and her children remained in good standing with the church. In 1773, James bought land at Bush River, District 96, South Carolina, and in 1777 he sold it before returning to Virginia. . . " ( "Settlement and Some First Families of Back Creek Valley", p. 188.)

ANCESTRY: The ancestry of William Jay is not proven. I have entered the lineage most accepted by Jay genealogists and that believed by Cassius Milton Jay.

Another theory is from the VESTAL JAY NOTES by Percy Pemberton Brown. It states: "William Jay had been born in 1720 in Hartford Co. Md. His father, Joseph Jay, had been born in N. Jersey, and lived for a time at Borderingtown in that state before moving to Maryland. Joseph's father, John Jay, was a planter of Barbadoes. He purchased land in Monmouth County, East Jersey from Robert Story in 1671 and WIlliam Shakerly in 1672. He visited Rhode Island on business in 1672, met George Fox, founder of the Quaker society, who was then visiting the colonies. Jay went with him on the trip to Md., and later came to N. Jersey. He is mentioned several times in Salem Co. (NJ)." George Fox, Quaker founder, lists this John Jay as "a Friend, pretty, rich planter of Barbadoes...and his large family" in his journal of his settlement of the northeast."

A biography on Henry Jay, ggrandson of William Jay, appears on pp. 817-818 of "History of Wayne Co., IN" (1884) Vol. II. This source states that his paternal grandfather, John Jay, Sr. (son of William Jay and Mary Vestal), "was of Welsh descent, being a son of one of three brothers (William) who came from Wales. Two of the brothers settled in the east, one of whom was the father of John Jay, of Revolutionary fame, and one, the father of John Jay, Sr., settled in Virginia where John Sr., was born and reared, but subsequently removed to South Carolina . . ." If the "John Jay of Revolutionary fame" is intended to refer to John Jay, the Statesman from New York, this statement is incorrect. I add this reference as a possible theory as to the parentage of William Jay due to the correctness of other names, dates and places it contains.

"JAY, William; b. abt. 1720 near Winchester, Va.; m 1743 Mary Vestal, dau of William and Elizabeth (Mercer) Vestal. The Vestal family came to Va. from Chester Co, Pa., William Jay removed to S. Car., soon after 1760, and died in Berkeley Co, prior to 1773; the widow Mary, came to Ohio with her ch." (Lindsay M. Brien, "A Genealogical Index of Pioneers in the Miami Valley, Ohio" (1970), p. 87).

Other records to note:

A marriage between William Jay and Sarah Wilder, December 6, 1705, at All Hallow's Parish, Maryland. (Sources: "Anne Arundel County Church Records of the 17th and 18th Centuries" by F. Edward Wright, p. 22; and "Maryland Marriage, 1634-1777" compiled by Robert Barnes, p. 96.)

A Josiah Jay was assessed 17 pounds in East Conestoga Assessment, 1722-23. (Lancaster County (PA) Historical Society, Volume XX, 1916).

More About WILLIAM JAY, SR.: Fact 7: 03 Oct 1734, Received patent for 100 acres of land on Shenandoah6 Fact 8: 1748, Moved to North Carolina7 Fact 11: 06 May 1756, Was issued grant of 395 acres of land on NE side N fork of Flat Fiver8