Jesse Jay
It was in the year 1849 that Denny Jay settled in Grant County, and from then until now there have been found men of the name living worthily in and about the county, carrying on the name, which is one of the old southern origin, and generally conducting themselves in a manner becoming and praiseworthy. They have filled useful places in the civic life of their various communities, and have built homes that have reflected credit upon themselves and their progeny. They have come to be property holders, all generations having tilled the soil to excellent advantage, and best of all, they have been citizens of a high type from first to last.
Jesse Jay,. representing the second generation of the family in Grant County, has been no exception to the general rule of the family. He is the grandson of Jesse Jay, born in South Carolina and the scion of a stanch old southern family of Quakers. More than a hundred years ago he was wedded in the Quaker Church of his native community and with his bride set out for the north in search of a new home in a new land. They settled in Miami County, Ohio, at a time when the country was in a wholly unimproved and almost uncivilized state, located on a wilderness farm, and there passed their remaining days. He died at a fine old age, in 1840.
Of Jesse Jay's children, Denny Jay was the youngest, and he became the father of Jesse Jay of this review. He was born in Miami County, Ohio, in 1808, soon after the arrival of the parents in the north, at a time prior to the incorporation of the state as such, and it should be mentioned here that his parents were among the leaders in the organization of the Friends Church in Ohio. Denny Jay was reared in Miami County, farm life being his portion, and there in young manhood he married Mary, the daughter of Elisha Jones. Of the latter it should be said that he was born and reared in South Carolina, and there was married; that he came early in life to Miami County, Ohio, where his daughter, Mary, was born in 1807, and that they passed the remainder of their lives in Miami County, well known as farming people and as fine old Quakers.
It was in 1849 that Denny Jay, accompanied by his wife and their five children, came to Indiana and settled on a 200 acre farm along the Mississinewa River in Mill Township. They paid for their land $17.00 per acre in gold, and it is a notable fact that they carried the golden coins in a bag that had its resting place under the seat of the buggy in which they made the long and tedious trip. The farm today is one of the ideally located ones in the district, and part is owned and occupied by Jesse Jay. In that early day Mr. Jay found a ready market for his every product, and they prospered there as long as they lived. The father died in 1870 and his widow survived him for three years. She was one year older than her husband, having been born in 1807. Mr. and Mrs. Jay were early members of the Back Creek Quarterly Meeting Association, and he was for some years and Elder in the Church. Politically, Mr. Jay was in early life a Whig, but later he became a Republican with the birth of the new party, and he voted for John C. Fremont.
Of their five sons and five daughters, nine grew to years of maturity. All married but three of the nine. Three of the nine are yet living, -Jesse Jay of this review; a brother, Lambert B., for the past thirty-two years a resident of Kansas and now about sixty-one years of age; and Mrs. Cynthia Anne Winslow, aged eighty-two years. One brother, David, a graduate of the law department at Ann Arbor, Michigan, died at the untimely age of twenty-five years, though most of the others reached middle age before they passed on.
Jesse Jay was born on February 17, 1840, in Miami County, Ohio, and he was nine years old when the family came to Grant County. Barring three years, he has spent the entire time here since the family migration thither in 1849. He was reared on the home farm which now his property, or at least eighty-five acres of it is his, his place being one of the fine ones of the township, lying along the Marion and Jonesboro Pike, and being admirably located for convenience and a pleasant outlook. Fine and commodious buildings grace the place, and his is one of the best kept and most productive farms in the township, according to common repute.
Mr. Jay was married in Fairmount on February 16, 1865, to Miss Susan Winslow, born near Fairmount Village on August 2, 1846, and a daughter of Jesse Winslow, a representative of the old and honored Winslow family, already mentioned more or less fully in the history of the Winslow family appearing elsewhere in this work.
Mr. and Mrs. Jay have four children, concerning whom the following brief facts are set forth:
-
Lawrence, the eldest, is employed by the United States Glass Company at Gas City; he married Miss Louise Richardson and they have two children, Erasta and Jessie, who live at home.
-
Adelpha, the wife of L. R. Gift, a druggist of Converse, Indiana, is the mother of six children: Wendel, Weldon, Juanita, Mary A., Robert and Elizabeth. The older children have received college educations, and the younger ones will doubtless share in the same privileges as they reach the proper age.
-
Mary became the wife of Albert Kiser, who is employed in the tire department of the Indiana Rubber Plant; they make their home with Mr. and Mrs. Jay and have one daughter, Fay Sue.
-
Watson D. is now Assistant Cashier of the Jonesboro State Bank, and he is one of the most progressive young business men of the town. He, like his brothers and sister, was given a splendid education, and is proving himself a capable man in matters of finance, having in charge the entire business of the Jonesboro institution with which he is connected, including loans, etc. He is making excellent progress in his work, and will doubtless be heard from in fields higher up in the future. He is unmarried and makes his home with his parents.
The parents and their sons and daughter are members of the Quaker Church, and Mr. Jay and his sons are stanch Republicans and citizens of the most approved type. Their place in popular confidence and esteem is no uncertain one, and they enjoy the friendship of a large circle of genuine friends in and about Jonesboro.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.