Reverend David Jay

1765 - 1839  (73 years)

• Name	Reverend David Jay  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]
  Birth	28 May 1765	, Orange, NC   [13, 14]
  Gender	Male
  Birth	28 May 1765	, Orange, NC   [11, 12, 15, 16, 17]
  Death	11 Feb 1839	Nimblewill, Lumpkin County, Georgia, USA   [10, 11, 18, 19]
  Death	Aft 1842	, Henry, IA, USA
  Name	David Jay  [20, 21]
  Burial	Old Beulah Cemetery, Near Evergreen, AL
  Person ID	I11466	Ancestrees
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2026

  
  

  Father	William Jay, * I-M253 YDNA Haplogroup (NOT a son of John Jay and Anne Ordchard by BigY Haplogroup),   b. Abt 1711   d. 1772, Newberry, Newberry County, South Carolina, United States of America (Age 61 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Mother	Mary Elizabeth Vestal, *,   b. 1723, , Chester, PA d. 1818, New Burlington, Fulton, OH, USA (Age 95 years)
  Relationship	natural
  Marriage	Bef 1743	Virginia, Colonial America
  Family ID	F5158	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	Elizabeth Earp,   b. Abt 1781, , Fairfax, VA, USA d. 1850, , Lumpkin, GA, USA (Age 69 years)
  Marriage	14 Mar 1795	, Newberry, SC
  Children	1. Wesley Jay,   b. Abt 1810   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   2. Unknown Jay,   b. Aft 1800   d. 1910, Randolph County, Indiana (Age < 108 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   3. Mary Jay,   b. Abt 1799   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   4. Elizabeth Jay,   b. Abt 1807   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   5. Jane Jay,   b. Abt 1800   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   6. Ann Jay,   b. Abt 1809   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   7. Martha Jay,   b. Abt 1796, , Newberry District, SC d. Bef 1870, , Walker, GA, USA (Age < 73 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   8. David Jay,   b. 7 Oct 1812, , Warren, TN d. 5 Mar 1883, , Walker, GA (Age 70 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   9. Evan Jay,   b. 2 Jan 1811   d. 31 Dec 1861, Red Oak, Montgomery Co., Iowa (Age 50 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F3409	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2026

  
  

  Family 2	Ruth Wright,   b. 29 Jan 1770, Bush River, Newberry, South Carolina, United States
  Marriage	Aft 1783
  _MARRIED	N
  Children	1. William Jay,   b. 1789   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   2. Sarah Jay,   b. 1788   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   3. Rachel Jay,   b. Between 1785 and 1794   d. Yes, date unknown  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   4. John Jay,   b. 19 Jan 1784, , Newberry District, SC d. 3 Jun 1855, , Forsyth, GA (Age 71 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   5. Eunice Jay,   b. 1 Dec 1790, Newberry Dist.S.C d. 1901, Henry County, Iowa (Age 110 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F3410	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2026

  
  

• Photos

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  Documents

  WilliamJay.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Source C-611 gives a May 26, 1765 birth date for David Jay. David would have only been about 7 when his father bequeathed him 150 acres in his will. (C-169) During the Revolutionary War, according to family tradition, he was supposedly ben with the measles when Tories and Indians came to his home. His parents (only his mother was living at the time) rolled him in bed cloths and he crawled into a hollow log where he stayed all night to escape being killed. He is the David Jay who became a Methodist Minister and was ordained a Deacon by Bishop Georgia on Oct. 3, 1819 in Nashville. (There is a note in the Jay family index that says this is not this David as he was never Methodist, but this is disagreed with in sources like Margaret Jay's 1998 book, C-964, C-2141). A published account of the family submitted in 1948 sourced by the grandson of William and Mary Jay through an interview of William's son, John in the late 1790's or early 1800's lists all the children of William and Mary Jay in the same order as the Jay Family Index. It does not list sister, Sarah or Deborah to Reverend David Jay. It states that David was a jovial methodist preacher who was quite social with the young people. (C-839, 1017) He was married previously to Elizabeth Earp and one second hand source says this was Margaret Martha Brown. (C-1318, 1950) After being ordained a Deacon, he moved from Warren Co.?, TN to Lumpkin Co., Georgia, then Alabama. His will is transcribed as follows by Vince King in his book on the Georgia Jays. "Georgia, Lumpkin County====In the name of God Amen - I David Jay of the County of Lumpkin and State of Georgia being at present in my proper mind thanks be to God, calling to mind the mortality of man. Knowing it to be the destination for all men not to die - I do make and ordain this my last will and testament viz. principally and first of all I commend my soul into the hands of my great creator - Jesus Christ who gave it and my body to be decently buried and as touching such worldly estate - wherewith it hath pleased almighty God to bless me in this world with.....I give and bequeth the same in manner and form following viz.1st I do give and bequeth unto Elizabeth my dearly beloved wife all my estate whereof I die possessed of. To have and to hold the same during her natural life as her soul property and at death of my wife Elizabeth all that portion of land with the mill which I die possessed of on lot No. 249 Number Two hundred and forty nine in the fifth district and first Section of originally Cherokee now Lumpkin County, which I hold in reserve it being 20 Twenty acres more or less. I will that the same shall be equally divided between my daughters - viz. Martha Harris and Mary Charles and Jane Gamblin and Elizabeth Lusk and Anna Rutherford and it shall be soul property forever and after the death of my wife Elizabeth that my sons have one dollar each viz John Jay and Sarah Parris and William Jay and David Jay Jnr. and Wesley Jay and it is my will that they have one dollar and no more.2ndly and I do hereby make, ordain, constitute and appoint William B. Rutherford and Jane Gamblin Executors of this my last will and testament who are hereby empowered to pay off all my lawful debts and settle my accounts, but the rest shall all remain in my wife Elizabeth's hands during her natural life as aforesaid and at her death she shall have power to dispose of whatsoever personal or other estate not herein before mentioned as my seem good to her and I will that my executors shall duly fulfil and execute this my last will and testament and I do hereby disanull and utterly void all my former wills or bequethings done by me at this writing or by word of mouth, ratifying and conforming this and no other to be my last will and testament in writing where of I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 1st day of September 1838. David Jay Senr.Attested:Joseph W. GamblinWilliam S. WatersDavid Jay Jnr."(C-800, 830, 839, 964, EL) Listed 4th in father's will. He first moved to Warren Co., Ohio.(C-818) From 1822-1842, he and his brother's family lived in the Center Meeting in Northern Wayne Co., Indiana and finally settled in Henry Co., Iowa. (C-839) He might be tid Jay who had 1 son between 10-16, 1 between 16-26, himself from 26-45, 3 daughters under 10, 1 daughter from 10-16, and a wife or daughter from age 16-26 in the 1800 Newberry Co., SC Census records. (C-922)

  
  

• Sources

  [S251] Vickie Leimback to Linda Coate Dudick E-Mail letter dated Sept. 16, 1995 at VLeimback@aol.com In possession of Linda Coate Dudick at 648 Ulverston Dr., Gahanna, OH 43230 1995 (C-611). [S186] Eileen Davis and Judith Ireton, comps, Quaker Records of the Miami Valley of Ohio (McDowell Publications, 1980). [S118] Rev. Silas E. Lucas, Quakers in South Carolina. [S4] Ancestry Family Trees, (Name: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members.;), Ancestry Family Tree, 1,1030::0. [S223] Cassius Jay Jay Family Index Partially in L. Dudick Files (C-167). [S1924] John L. Hatcher to Pat Bagwell E-mail letter dated Aug. 29, 1996 that transcribes unknown author of entitled "Jay History" at jlhatcher@intellinet.com In Linda Coate Files.(C-813). [S224] Record, Tom, Gedcom and sources dated 1996. [S99] Vestal Family Group Sheet Type Lineage Received 1984 Preparer unknown very well sourced. [S2940] William Jay Sr. Will dated Nov. 23, 1772 On file at Charleston, SC. [S790] King, Vince, The North Georgia Jays (c2005). [S366] Ancestry.com, Global, Find a Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2012;). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69749359/david-jay [S335] Yates Publishing, U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations Inc; Location: Provo, UT, USA; Date: 2004;), Source number: 450.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: LCD. [S119] Ancestry.com, U.S., Family History Books, (Name: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.; Location: Lehi, UT, USA; Date: 2025;), Jay Family Index: the Descendants of William Jay (Born Harford County, Maryland, 1720) and Mary Vestal Jay. [S1315] Coats, Don, Ancestry World Tree Submission (www.ancestry.com). [S74] William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. [S254] Mrs. Oscar Markus, The Vestals of Pennsylvania, USA and Allied Families (1964, unpublished). [S2950] Pat Bagwell to Jay Family Discussion List E-mail letters dated Oct. 1996 at icezena@texas.net In Linda Coate files (C-845). [S2951] Jay, Wilson, EMail dated 2002 from wally@calweb.com. [S2952] Mike Southerland to Jay Family Discussion List Letter dated Aug. 28, 1996 at SpreadWord@aol.com In Linda Coate files (C-802). [S1266] William Jay, Testator Will, 1797. [S1263] William Jay's DAR Application by Laurie Christine Rasch.