Gazlay Family History
 

Family HistoryFamily History - Charlotte Luther


Key:1.“+” before a child’s name indicates the child has their own entry in the next generation.
 2.“born xxxx” indicates the child is under 18 years of age so the birth date is not shown.
This family history features Charlotte Luther and her immediate family.



First Generation
1. Charlotte Luther,1 born ca. 1813 (parents not determined);1 died 11 September 1841 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York.1, 2 Charlotte married, 19 December 1838 in Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County, New York, Arvin Haight Gazlay4, 5 (born 25 September 1815 in Esperence, Schoharie County, New York, the son of John Furman Gazlay and Polly Haight;3 Arvin died 5 November 1849 in Mormon Island, California Gold Fields, California3, 4). Charlotte is buried in Ballston Spa Village Cemetery, Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New York.1

Arvin was a harness maker. His harness and trunks store on Broadway, Saratoga, New York, was twice destroyed by fire, along with several other shops, on 22 November 1844 and again on 27 August 1846.6

On 14 March 1848, Arvin was granted Letters Patent No. 5476 for an improvement in harness saddles, specifically, “The manner of constructing harness saddles, in making the jockey skirts and saddle of metal cast in one piece.”7

Arvin’s name is listed as A. H. Gazley among the passengers on the ship Elizabeth Ellen, sailing from New York to San Francisco on 16 February 1849. His descendants understand that he died the same year at Mormon Island, an early gold mining community located on the south forks of American River, about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento.8, 9

Arvin’s widow Charlotte was appointed his administratrix, and in September 1850 she assigned title to his patent to Nathaniel Wright. Five years later, Nathaniel sold the patent to O. B. North & Co., New Britain, Connecticut, and they had the patent reissued in their own name as RE No. 408 on 28 October 1856. In July 1857, North & Co. made an unsuccessful attempt to defend Gazlay’s patent in court against an alleged patent infringement. It was found that the defendants had filed a separate patent that, although it duplicated Gazlay’s and another of North’s patents, was used in the making of harness saddles with the knowledge of the two patent holders, and they did not immediately challenge the defendant’s patent.7


  1. Cemetery Inscriptions, Ballston Spa Village Cemetery, Saratoga NYGENWEB (website), Saratoga, New York. Gazlay, Charlotte, died 11 September 1841, age 28y, wife of Arvin H. Gazlay.
  2. The Late Daniel D. Benedict’s Diary. From the Saratoga Sentinel. Published in The Saratogian, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Thursday, June 2, 1881. Available at www.fultonhistory.com. September 11, Died, in this village, Charoltte, wife of Arvin H. Gazlay, aged 28 years. [A. H. Gazlay was partner of D. Snyder, selling harness, trunks, etc.].
  3. Gazlay Family Tree, available at ancestry.com; owner: Charles Lee Gazlay. Although this online family tree is unsourced, public records and other sources provide confirmation of many of the event dates and places presented in this family tree, with few conflicts. Therefore, the information in this family tree is considered highly reliable.
  4. Gazlay Family Notes, undated and unpublished. This photocopy of five pages of hand-written notes start with what is believed to be the same 1852 interview of Sayrs Gazlay by his brother Theodore that is transcribed elsewhere. The remaining pages focus on the branch of the family that includes John Arvin Gazlay (1846-1911). Some dates in this photocopy differ from other sources. Transcription available at Gazlay Family History (website).
  5. Gazlay Family Tree, by David Paul Gazlay. First edition published June 1984. Second edition published August 2001. This extensive Gazlay family tree provides birth and death years (but not exact dates) for Gazlay descendants, and names (only) of spouses. No sources are cited, but the compiler is known to have collected information from numerous documents and Gazlay descendants. Names, dates, and relationships should be compared to other source citations.
  6. Reminiscences of Saratoga, compiled by Cornelius E. Durkee, pages 11-12. Reprinted from The Saratogian, 1927-28.
  7. Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Second Circuit. By Samuel Blatchford, Judge. Volume IV. New York: Baker, Voorhis & Company, 66 Nassau Street, 1868. Digitized copy available at Google Books.
  8. The Argonauts of California, By a Pioneer, C. W. Haskins, 1890 (Second Half of Book) Available at Rootsweb.com.
  9. New York Herald, New York City, New York, February 18, 1849. Available at sfgenealogy.com.