For just half a
century Joshua Guilford Gay was actively engaged in business in Ottawa, and
is now living retired, after an extremely busy, useful life. He has used his
means and influence to the lasting welfare of this, his chosen place of
abode, fostering local industries and improvements, and all that has gone
toward the upbuilding and prosperity of the community.
The Guilfords
and Gays were numbered among the early Pilgrims of New England, and many
distinguished representatives of both families have flourished in the United
States and have brought additional honor to the names they bore. The Gay
family was founded in the vicinity of Boston. Massachusetts, by one John
Gay, who was a native of England, and in each generation of his posterity
there was a John, named in his honor. Philip Thomas Guilford, our subject's
maternal ancestor, emigrated from England to this country in 1640. He
located in Virginia, where he died, and subsequently his widow and son
removed to Massachusetts and settled upon a strip of land on the seashore
which was later styled Guilford's Point. The son grew to manhood there and
several generations of his descendants were born, lived and died in the old
Bay state. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Simeon Guilford, who,
with five of his brothers, served through the Revolutionary war. He was one
of the guards in whose keeping the celebrated Major Andre was placed
subsequently to his capture. One of the Guilford brothers lived to attain
the extreme age of ninety-three years. Simeon Guilford married a Miss Hayden
and reared a large number of children.
The birth of Joshua Guilford Gay occurred in Pittsfield, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts, December 11, 1821. He is one of the six children of
Willard and Electa Gay, the others being Willard and Lemuel Bingham, who are
deceased; Rev. William Moore Gay, who is a Congregational minister, now
located in Georgetown. Massachusetts; Electa M., who is unmarried and is a
resident of Boston ; and Mrs. Catherine D. Hayden, whose husband, Henry
Hayden, died in 1896, since which time she has lived with her son at
Colorado Springs.
The boyhood of Joshua G. Gay was spent in his
native town, where he was a student in the public schools until he was
seventeen years old. His father was a carriage-maker by trade, and the youth
assisted him in his business for some time, later going to New Haven.
Connecticut, where he served an apprenticeship to the carriage-maker's
trade. In 1846 he came west, and for about one year worked at his calling in
Chicago. Then, coming to Ottawa, he entered into partnership with William
Palmer, who was engaged in the manufacture of wagons, and continued in
partnership with that worthy citizen for some three years. The ambitious
young man, having accumulated a little capital by economy and good
management, then opened a small shop of his own and commenced manufacturing
carriages and various kinds of light road wagons. He was alone until 1870,
and employed quite a force of men during the last years. The following
decade he was associated with Colonel B. S. Porter in business, that
gentleman retiring from the firm in 1880, when his interest was purchased by
Simeon G. Gay, who is the eldest son of our subject, and who for the past
two years has been the sole proprietor of the enterprise which was founded
nearly half a century ago by his esteemed father. The firm known as Gay &
Son, for seventeen years, built up an extensive and remunerative business
and a very desirable reputation for square dealing and for excellence of
vehicles turned out in its factory. The plant is equipped with the best
modern machinery, and high-grade work is invariably to be found in every
department of the factory.
The marriage of J. G. Gay and Miss Ann M.
Aldrich, of Warsaw. Illinois, was celebrated May 18, 1851. Her father, Mark
Aldrich, was a pioneer at Warsaw, which town he laid out in 1846. Years
afterward he went to California, and then to Arizona, where his death
occurred. Mrs. Ann Gay departed this life in 1868, and of the four sons born
to herself and husband two have entered the silent land, namely: Willard and
Frederick W. Simeon G. and Joseph W. are well known business men of Ottawa.
For his second wife Mr. Gay chose Mrs. Olive W. Ashley, of Springfield,
Massachusetts, their marriage taking place November 21, 1873; and a son and
daughter were born to them, namely: Nellie M., who died in infancy, and
Burton Albro, who is yet at home. By her former marriage, to Lester Ashley,
Mrs. Gay has one daughter, Mabel E., who is now the wife of Alfred Michell,
of Dallas, Texas.
In his political faith Mr. Gay is a stalwart
Republican. Coming from stanch old Puritan stock, he naturally adheres to
the Congregational denomination, to which his ancestors belonged, and for a
number of years he has officiated in the capacity of deacon in the Ottawa
church. All worthy religious and philanthropic enterprises find a friend and
assistant in him, and many a needy person has had cause to bless and
remember his name, though his deeds of helpfulness are quietly performed and
rarely known to the public.
Extracted 13 Jun 2019 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois, published in 1900, volume 2, pages 680-681.
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