WAS LYDIA GAY A LUSHER?

In my post about my ancestor Nathaniel Gay,  his wife is referred to as Lydia Lusher by the author of the book John Gay of Dedham, Massachusetts: And Some of His Descendants. He tentatively identified her as a daughter of Eleazer Lusher. The book had been published in 1879. Yet in the entry for John Gay on page 40 in The Great Migration, Lydia's maiden name is given as Starr.

So which was it?

 I searched Googlebooks and eventually found an answer in the Dedham Historical Register Vol 2. It was in an article entitled "Lusher Wills" written (ironically) by Frederick Lewis Gay, who'd written the Gay genealogy book twelve years earlier. Here's the part of the article that gives the explanation for the confusion:

 "...Maj. Eleazer Lusher left no descendants to continue his name ; and an examination of his will and that of his wife disproves the supposition, mentioned in the Register (p. 90) for July, that his blood was inherited by the children of Nathaniel and Lydia Gay. Nathaniel Gay named one of his children Lusher, and the name has appeared in successive generations of his posterity down to the present day. This repeated use of Lusher as a Christian name in the Gay family doubtless gave rise to the belief that the maiden name of Lydia Gay, mother of the first Lusher Gay, was Lusher, and that she was a daughter of Eleazer Lusher, one of the foremost men of Dedham in the early days of the town. The wife of Nathaniel Gay was Lydia Starr, niece of Mary, wife of Eleazer Lusher. From the light shed by one of the items of Major Lusher's will it will be seen that he had been regarded by Lydia Starr as standing in loco parentis, and it seems quite natural that she should have named one of her children for him from a sense of gratitude for the favors she had received during his life and later under his will.-pp131-132

Dedham Historical Register, Volume 2 , Dedham Historical Society, Dedham, Ma 1891.

So sometime after writing his earlier book, Frederick Lewis Gay must have started researching the Lusher family and discovered his error while reading Eleazer Gay's will, proving once again the value of probate files to genealogical research!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2016 WEEK 21: NATHANIEL GAY OF DEDHAM, MA.

The subject for week 21 of 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is my 8x great grandfather Nathaniel Gay.
 Here's his biography in Frederick Lewis Gay's family genealogy:

3. Nathaniel2 (John1), b. Jan. 11, 1G43; admitted freeman, May 23, 1677; selectman, 1704 and other years. His father left to him a tract of land near Medfield, and confirmed a gift of lands in "Pecumtuck alies Derefeild in Hamshier." His wife was Lydia Lusher (dau. of Eleazer Lusher?). His will, dated Feb. 16, 1712, and proved March 20, 1712, appoints his wife Lydia and sons Nathaniel and Lusher executors. In it he says: "Whereas I have been att considerable expense in bringing up rny son Ebenezer Gay fitt for, and in placeing him at Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, where he now remains, I do appoint that ye charge of his further continuing there until the takeing of his first degree shall be payd and discharged out of my estate, which shall be reckoned and accounted unto him as his full share of my estate." His estate was valued in the inventory at £227 19s. 6d. He died Feb. 20, 1712. His wife Lydia died Aug. 6, 1744, aged 92. They had:
i. Benjamin, b. May 3, 1675; d. Aug. 1, 1675.
ii. Nathaniel, b. April 17, 1676; d. May 1, 1676.
iii. Mary, b. March 30, 1677; m. Jabez Pond, Jan. 11, 1699.
iv. Lydia, b. Aug. 12, 1679; m. Thomas Eaton, Oct. 5, 1697.
9. v. Nathaniel, b. April 2, 1682; d. May 25, 1750.
10. vi. Lusher, b. Sept. 26, 1685; d. Oct. 18, 1769.
vii. Joanna, b. Sept. 3, 1688; m. Ephraim Wilson, Dec. 19, 1706.
11. viii. Benjamin, b. April 20, 1691. ix. Abigail, b. Feb. 15, 169-1.
12. x. Ebenezer, b. Aug. 15, 1696; d. March 18, 1787.
p-4
John Gay of Dedham, Massachusetts: And Some of His Descendants  DAVID CLAPP & SON, PRINTERS. Boston, Ma. 1879


I get a kick out of the spelling of  "Derefeild in Hamshier" (Deerfield in Hampshire{county}) as well
as seeing it's original Native American name.

But this entry raises a question about the maiden name of Nathaniel's wife Lydia, which is given here as Lusher. That's not the information I had, so I wondered if what I had was wrong.

The answer will be in my next post.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2016 WEEK 20: JOHN GAY OF DEDHAM, MA.

Samuel Dana, my 7x great grandfather, married Abigail Gay. Her line goes back to immigrant
ancestor John Gay, my 9x great grandfather.

Distant cousin Frederick Lewis Gay wrote a Gay family genealogy which begins with this
short sketch of our mutual ancestor:

 1. John1 Gay emigrated to America about 1630. He settled first at Watertown, and was a grantee in the Great Dividends and in the Beaver Brook plowlands, owning altogether forty acres. He was admitted freeman May 6, 1635. With others of Watertown he was one of the founders of the plantation at Dedham, his name appearing on the petition for incorporation Sept. 6, 1636, and among the original proprietors of lands. He was one of the selectmen, 1654. He died March 4, 1688. Joanna, his wife, died Aug. 14, 1691. She is said in family tradition to have been widow Baldwicke before her marriage to John Gay. His will in the Suffolk records, dated Dec. 18, 1686, was proved Dec. 17, 1689, his wife Joanna and son John being the executors. His estate was valued in the inventory at £91 os. 8d. His children were:

2. i. Samuel, b. March 10, 1639; d. April 15, 1718. 

    ii. Hezekiah, b. July 3, 1640: d. Nov. 28, 1669. 

3. iii. Nathaniel, b. Jan. 11, 1643; d. Feb. 20, 1712.

    iv. Joanna, b. March 23, 1645; married, first, Nathaniel Whiting, Jr.; married, second, John Ware, of Wrentham, Jan. 1680.

4. v. Eliezer, b. June 25, 1647; d. April 13, 1726. (Wrongly called Ebenezer by Savage.) 

    vi. Abiel, b. April 23, 1649; married Daniel Hawes, Feb. 23, 1677. 

    vii. Judith (called Judah in her father's will), b. April 23, 1649 (twin) ;
    married John Fuller, Feb 8, 1672.

5. viii. John, b. May 6, 1651; d. Nov. 19, 1731.

6. ix. Jonathan, b. Aug. 1, 1653.

    x. Hannah, b. Oct. 16, 1656; d. Feb. 26, 1660. 
.
    xi. Elizabeth, date and place of birth unknown; married Richard Martin. 1660 (see Keg. ante, vol. xix. 168) ; not mentioned in her father's will. -page 3

John Gay of Dedham, Massachusetts: And Some of His Descendants  DAVID CLAPP & SON, PRINTERS. Boston, Ma. 1879


Since that was written it's been determined that John's wife Joanna was the widow of a John Borden
of Watertown, Ma. when she and John were married and that she had at least one child by him.

I'm descended from Nathaniel Gay, John's second son, and I'll discuss him in the next 52 Ancestors
entry.