The Fay Family: Moses Fay (born 1740)(OPF #39)
THE FAY FAMILY PAGE

GENEALOGIES
   
Moses Fay (1740 - 1819)
And his Descendants
  
John Fay
   
David Fay (4/23/1679-4/10/1738) son of John and Susannah Shattuck
   
Moses Fay (OPF #7) (10/7/1712 - after 1769) son of David and Sarah Larkin
   
Moses Fay (OPF #39) (5/5/1740 - 6/12/1819) son of Moses and Mary Pike
   
John Fay Giles (7/31/1782 - 4/28/1857) son of Moses and Elizabeth Giles
   
   
Overview of Descendants of Moses
Moses in Warwick, Massachusetts
The Evidence of the Vital Records
Detailed Descendancy Information
Collateral Lines
   
Rand McNally 1879, Vermont and New Hampshire
images copyright � 2003 by Cartography Associates
used with permission
   
(to see a closeup of the boxed areas, click here)
   
   
Descendants of Moses Fay (5/5/1740 - 6/12/1819)
Contributed by Howland Atwood, Susannah Zemke and David Lemon
  
THOUGHTS
Sometimes it happens that genealogical breakthroughs come in the most unexpected ways. This is one of those cases.

The quest for this branch of the family started with a note of inquiry from Susannah Zemke, asking about the "origins of John Fay & his wife, Sarah/Sally Whitney of Grantham, NH." Together Susannah and I, and then David Lemon, who was in touch with Susannah, attempted to find the links to place John directly in the line of descent from John of Marlborough. We could get as far as Orlin's cryptic comments on page 286 about "John Fay Giles." This, and the record of births and marriages for Warwick, MA, and Grantham, NH, made it clear that there WAS a connection between Moses and John Fay Giles. We were unable, however, to explain the "Giles" or to be absolutely sure that this John Fay Giles was the John Fay who was the head of the lines researched by Susannah and David.

In the meantime, I had been working on the line of Polly Fay and Lyman Hatch. One of their sons was named Charles Gunn Hatch, born 1826.

As a member of NEHGS, I receive Yankee Magazine each month and look at the genealogical entries just for fun. That particular month, I spotted an inquiry for information about "Charles Gunn Hatch, s/o Lyman Hatch and Polly Fay." Since I had all the information and was interested, I wrote to H. Atwood, who had posted the inquiry. He replied with further information about his own line. This began a correspondence which resulted in his sending me a large amount of genealogical material pertaining to the line of John Fay Giles, since it turned out that Howland Atwood was a descendant of John Fay Giles through his son John, while Susannah and David were connected through a daughter, Amanda. Howland was able to supply the explanation of the connection between John Fay Giles and Moses Fay, and further research into these lines has supported the explanation.
  
Elizabeth Giles was the niece of Elizabeth Learned (the daughter of Elizabeth's sister Jean or Jane). Elizabeth Giles was born in 1759, and was thus a young woman when her aunt became ill. The details of Elizabeth Learned Fay's illness are not known. What is known is that she died in Winchester, N.H., on January 13, 1786, in her 42nd year, and was buried there. Elizabeth Giles must have come to help her aunt during the time she was sick. Before Elizabeth Learned's death, however, a child was born to Elizabeth Giles on July 31, 1782, and given her last name, since she was not married, but was given the first names John Fay. After Elizabeth's death, Moses and Elizabeth Giles were married. Later documents include the name "John Fay Giles" (see Orlin and the records at Warwick). At his majority in 1803, John Fay Giles dropped the "Giles" and was known from then on as "John Fay."