My question is who sorted these? Thomas landed in Virginia 1622, James arrived Virginia 1623, 1st William settled in Virginia 1630 and 2nd William, aged 20, arrived in 1635. I have found William Gay Sr and William Gay Jr. Half of these trees have the father dead 2 years before the son was born.
One of these many William Gays from Virginia was married to Elizabeth Bolling, Elizabeth Adams, Frances Trent, and Margaret Walkup. I am having some major problems with the merging of these as the William Gay who married Margaret Walkup in 1757 could NOT have given birth to every Gay in Kentucky and Virginia.
I can understand some adjusting to birth years within 1-3 yrs but marriage records from the state can't be adjusted. Some of the records are more than 30 years adjusted. The average generation turn over during colonial times was 20-30 yrs, ergo 3-4 generations every 100 years. Most of the trees I have found here are jumping generations and adjusting dates to make them fit. Men in colonial times rarely lived past 50. It was not uncommon for a man to have married several times, wives were killed by indians and child birth.
We all copy from each other, it doesn't help when one person starts "adjusting" hoping to get a fact. The only fact in my line of the Gay family is: Henry Kirkham married Mary Gay. She was the daughter of John Gay. This is the fact written on the marriage Bond from Kentucky. I know from records that John was married to Sarah Lockridge.
Again...remembering how people named their children...I know John is the son of James, this fact from Kentucky historical records. My problem is this, the record states that James was the son of James not of William. Was James Sr the son of William? Does anyone have ACTUAL dates?
Thank you for any help, Lynn