Mary Gazlay
Mary Gazlay4 (Joseph Gazlay,3 John Gazlay,2 John Gazlay1)
Parents
| Father | Joseph Gazlay (24 November 1771 - 29 June 1821) |
| Mother | Annie Marshall (10 April 1772 - 17 April 1841) |
Personal Information
| Record Created: 17 November 2012; Last Edited: 24 May 2022 |
| Person ID | 4460 |
| Name | Mary Gazlay |
| Gender | Female |
| Born | 1814 in Salt Point, Dutchess County, New York1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
| Married | 1831 to Alonzo D. Griffin9 |
| Married | 21 November 1842 to Henry M. Griffen9 |
| Died | 16 November 1895 in Douglass, Butler County, Kansas2, 9 |
| Buried | in Douglass Cemetery, Douglass, Butler County, Kansas2 |
Biography
Identification of Mary as a daughter of Joseph and Ann Gazlay is tentative, based on the listing of “Mary Griffen” as an executor of Ann Gazlay’s estate; and listing of Emma Griffin, “Dau. of Alonzo D., & Mary” buried in the same cemetery as Joseph and Ann Gazlay. Alonzo is also buried there, but Mary is buried with her second husband in Kansas.1
Mary’s obituary provides a summary of her life and character:
Obituary of Mrs. H. M. Griffin.
Mary Gazlay was born at Salt Point, Dutchess County, New York. Was married in 1831 to Alonzo D. Griffin, who passed away in 1841. There were two children by this marriage. Ruth Emma and Catherine. Ruth passed away at the age of 9, Catherine at the age of 35.
In 1942 [sic, 1842] she married Henry M. Griffin, and had she lived until Nov. 21st, they would have been married 53 years.
About five years after her second marriage she moved to Puetneyville [sic, Pultneyville], Wayne County, N. Y., where she resided until she came to Kansas in 1883, with her daughter, Mrs. E. B. Snell.
She had been in feeble health for the last five years, but her last illness was short being of only a week in duration. She was born into the spirit world at 8:40 a.m., Saturday morning, November 16, 1895, at the age of 82 years.
She was a spiritualist in belief, and passed away as she lived, rejoicing and happy in her faith, and in the thought that she was so soon to be with her loved ones who had passed to the other side. She was conscious to the last, and knew and talked to her children, almost to the moment of her translation.
She leaves a husband, daughter and two grand children, here, and two east, to keep her memory, “Not as dead, but as at rest.” To those who knew her, no words can add to, nor detract from the beauty of a life of 82 years of loving service, devotion, and self sacrifice to husband and children, and charity to those in whom she came in contact.
The book is closed, her life work is finished, but the influence of her life remains with us, written in characters that will never grow dim with age; written in kindly deeds and kindly words, that more than carried out the devine [sic] command.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
She was laid to rest Sunday afternoon. A large number of friends paid their last tribute of respect, as all that was mortal was returned from whence it came, “when the mists of time have rolled away,” may we all be united in the higher and better life upon which she has just entered.
[The obituary concludes with the lengthy poem, “I Still Live,” by Lizzie Doten.]
Person/Family
| Spouse 1 |  Alonzo D. Griffin |
| Born | 9 November 1809 |
| Married | 1831 to Mary Gazlay |
| Died | 13 October 1841 in Marshall Ground, Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County, New York |
| Children | of Mary Gazlay and Alonzo D. Griffin: |
| +1. | Catharine M. Griffin |
| Born | 19 November 1832 in New York |
| Married | 1850 to John M. Reynolds |
| Died | 1 December 1867 |
| 2. | Ruth Emma Griffin |
| Born | 13 May 1836 |
| Died | 20 July 1845 |
| Spouse 2 | Henry M. Griffen |
| Born | March 1818 in New York |
| Married | 21 November 1842 to Mary Gazlay |
| Died | 3 September 1901 |
| Children | of Mary Gazlay and Henry M. Griffen: |
| +1. | Henrietta B. ‘Etta’ Griffen |
| Born | 21 July 1844 in New York |
| Married | to William Craggs Munroe Dr. |
| Married | 22 December 1888 in Jackson County, Missouri to Robert Henry Snell |
| Died | 4 November 1918 in Los Angeles County, California |
Sources
- Notice of Probate, Albany, NY, Evening Journal, available at fultonhistory.com; c. April 1842, Ann Gazlay, deceased. The notice, first and foremost, is directed “especially to John Gazlay, of Pennsylvania, heir &c to Ann Gazlay, deceased...late of the town of Pleasant Valley, in the county of Dutchess.” Executors named are Ellathan [sic, Elnathan] Gazlay and Mary Griffen.
- Find a Grave (website). Douglass Cemetery, Douglass, Butler County, Kansas, Mary Griffen, born: 1814; died: 1895 (from record, which provides the name and link for her [second] husband). She shares her gravestone with her husband Henry M. Griffen, and her son-in-law, Dr. William Craggs Munroe (husband of Mary’s daughter Henrietta B. Griffen).
- U.S. Federal Census, 1850, New York, Wayne County, Williamson, Pages 303-304, family of Henry M. Griffin (32, NY, farmer); Mary Griffin (36, NY); Catharine M. Griffin (18, NY); Henrietta Griffin (6, NY); Wm. Gazelly (29, NY, farmer).
- U.S. Federal Census, 1860, New York, Wayne County, Town of Williamson, Page No. 31, Henry M. Griffin, 42, N.Y., tin smith; Mary Griffin, 46, N.Y.; Henrietta Griffin, 16, N.Y. Living next door is Henry and Mary’s daughter Catharine, her husband and child, living with their in-laws: John Reynolds, 56, N.Y., merchant; Mary P. Reynolds, 54, Conn.; John N. Reynolds, 31, N.Y., merchant; Catharine M. Reynolds, 27, N.Y.; Chas. H. Reynolds, 2, N.Y.
- U.S. Federal Census, 1870, New York, Wayne County, Williamson, Page No. 25, Henry Griffin, 52, New York, hardware merchant; Mary Griffin, 56, New York; Henrietta Griffin, 25, New York; William Munrow, 29, England, physician; Maggie Salter, 20, Holland, domestic servant. Living next door is Mary’s (deceased) daughter Catharine’s in-laws and her son Charles: John Reynolds, 66, New York, drygoods mcht; Mary Reynolds, 63, Connecticut; Maria Dunning, 17, New York, domestic servant; Mary Farwell, 50, New York, retired; Charles H. Reynolds, 12, New York.
- U.S. Federal Census, 1880, New York, Wayne County, Pultneyville, E.D. 193, Page No. 3C, Henry M. Griffin, 62, New York, hardware merchant; wife Mary Griffin, 66, New York; border David Lacy, 57, New York, tinsmith; servant Maggie Salter, 28, Holland, domestic servant; grand-son Franke Reynolds, 13, New York.
- U.S. Federal Census, 1880, New York, Monroe County, City of Rochester, E.D. 10, Page No. 17A, Wm. C. Munroe, 39, England, physician, surgeon; wife Henrietta B. Munroe, 35, N.Y.; son W H C G Munroe, 8, N.Y.; son Glen H. Munroe, 3, N.Y.; mother-in-law Mary Griffin, 66, N.Y.; plus 3 borders.
- Kansas State Census, 1895, Butler County, Douglass Township, Page No. 11, H. M. Griffin, 77, New York, farmer; wife Mary Griffin, 81, New York; Monroe Glenn [sic, Glenn Monroe], 18, New York.
- Obituary, Douglass Tribune, Douglass, Kansas (available at: kansashistoricalopencontent.newspapers.com), 22 November 1895, Mrs. H. M. Griffin (Mary Gazlay), died: 16 November 1895. The article provides vital and biographical details, including the names of her two husbands and three daughters.