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Although the title of this website might suggest a single-name study, it is actually a collection of interconnected families (see Top Ten Surnames, right, which shows the number of people born with each surname). We are interested in both the male and female lines of ancestors, descendants, and their spouses.
First Day of Spring 2024 Update: added 228 and updated the records of 198 people, including over 59 newly identified descendants of our immigrant ancestor, John Gazlay. This update extended several ancestral lines and amended the records of a number of Gazlay/Gazley descendants.
Website now contains 15,176 people with 3,792 surnames.
For details on how to navigate the website, click on: Navigation.
Albert Lamont Spaeth (1866)
Melville A. Gazley (1867)
Clara Belle Stevenson (1872)
Thomas Fraser (1873)
Lillian Wilson (1873)
Gladys Erwin Burke (1893)
Edwin Morrison Wiley Norway (1909)
Frank Edward Chaney (1922)
Mary Alice Beebe (1931)
Leslie Joan DeVille (1948)
Donald Barry ‘Don’ Walker (1952)
Christopher John Schmitt (1958)
Barbara Jean Saladin (1958)
Troy Michael Wagner (1966)
Kristen Davies Muller (1970)
Breanna Alexis Smith (2000)
Our Gazlay Family, and Related Families
Our immigrant ancestor, John Gazlay, arrived from England about 1715. Despite considerable research (as documented in the English Origins of the Gazlay Family), his English family has not been positively identified. The surname has evolved in the United States into two spellings: Gazlay and Gazley. Our ambitious goal is to trace and document all of his descendants, male and female. We originally believed that John’s descendants numbered around 1,000, but that has proven to be an underestimate; as of 19 March 2024, our web database includes 3,447 of John Gazlay’s descendants. We are progressively adding branches and individuals to his family tree. Some branches are fairly well known and have considerable supporting documentation; with other branches, scarcely any information exists.
Besides John Gazlay’s descendants, other notable lines of research (e.g., families of several Gazlay spouses) we have included in this web site are the descendants (and some ancestors) of:
- Rev. Silas Constant (1750-1825), Congregational minister in Westchester County, New York, and the surrounding area, who kept an extensive journal of his preachings; and his wife Amy Lewis (1751-1805). Over 200 of their descendants are shown in our website, with a connection to the Gazlay family. An extensive Constant family history, Ancestors and Descendants of The Reverend Silas Constant, by Robert Lee Gazlay, is available as a .pdf download.
- David McGregor (1864-1944) and his wife Nellie Patterson (1868-1950) who emigrated from Dunfermline, Scotland, and settled in New Jersey. Over 80 of their descendants are shown in our website, with surnames including Mailler, Roby, Kiloh, and McGregor, with a connection to the Gazlay family.
- Nellie (née Patterson) McGregor’s brother John Philp Patterson (1873-1914) and his wife Ida May Hauch (1869-1955), from a family of ten Hauch children, and John and Ida’s three children and their spouses.
- The Voelker relatives of Josephine Caroline Voelker (1904-1923), first wife of William Passmore McGregor (1897-1976), son of David and Nellie McGregor, with a connection to the Gazlay family.
- Alexander Krupowski (1889-1969) and his wife Marcella ‘Mary’ Zacharowa (c.1900-1956) who emigrated from Polish Russia and settled in New London County, Connecticut. Their 47 descendants include surnames Willard, Chapel, and Krupowski, with a connection to the Gazlay family.
- The families of four Krupowski immigrants who are believed to be related to Alexander Krupowski:
- Antoinette Krupowski (born Antoinette Prekopska) (1882-1958), who married Stanley Scovish (born Stanislaw Skubisz) (1881-1949).
- Kostak Krupowski (1882-1962), who married Michelina Drozdowski (1884-1961).
- Stanley Krupowski (1888-1932), who apparently never married.
- Magdelena Krupowski (1896-1984), who married Victor Salton (1890-1970).
- Harris T. Chapel (1819-1901) and his Irish wife Margaret Adamson (1850-1946) who lived in New London County, Connecticut. Among their 107 descendants are surnames Clark, Coffey, and Chapel, with a connection to the Krupowski family.
- John H. Tefft (1844-1916) and his wives Ellen O. Boyens (1839-1936) and Janet Groves (1857-1924) who lived in Windham and New London Counties, Connecticut. Over 95 descendants are represented here, including surnames Tefft and Senay, with a connection to the Krupowski family.
- Maude Gertrude Bush (1893-1983), wife of Leo Cornwall Gazlay (1892-1956), and her Bush, Latimer, and Wood ancestors and relatives.
Previous Research
We are certainly not the first to document the history of our ancestral families. We have collected numerous papers, letters, notes, family histories, family trees and other documents handed down through the generations and written about various individuals and branches of our families.
The earliest Gazlay family history we have found is the unpublished Genealogy of the Gazlay Family, collated by Theodore Gazlay in 1890. His Genealogy documents the descendants of John Gazlay who emigrated from England about the year 1715. Much of the information in Theodore’s Genealogy comes from a statement in 1852 by his older brother, Rev. Sayrs Gazlay.
A few notable efforts have been undertaken to develop large Gazlay family trees. One relatively simple but elegant tree compiled by Francis Gazlay, titled “Henry Willis Gazlay 1854-1934 Ancestors & Descendants,” shows Henry’s direct ancestry traced back to the immigrant John Gazlay, and all of Henry’s descendants as of 1978. The tree includes about 100 names and the associated years of birth and death. A much more extensive family tree compiled by David Gazlay first in June 1984 shows about 700 descendants of the same immigrant John Gazlay, not including spouses and step children. David’s tree is in chart form, occupying a scroll measuring approximately 3' x 10' and includes the years of birth and death for most individuals. David’s August 2001 second edition, on a scroll of 3' x 14', added approximately 200 names. Fran and David’s work greatly augmented my research into the Gazlay family history, and I am deeply indebted to both of them as well as to all of the other authors, compilers, and contributors for their hard work.
We have found very few published or informally compiled family histories that are specifically written about, or include in any substantial way, the lines of our other primary families. There are, for example, many extensive McGregor and Patterson family histories but none connect with our ancestors. We have, however, found publications for other families that include a few of the ancestors on our family tree related by marriage. One noteable example is the fine work by Francis Bacon Trowbridge, The Champion Genealogy, History of the Descendants of Henry Champion of Saybrook and Lyme, Connecticut, which includes Mary Champion, her husband Jacob Gazlay, their three children including Dr. Henry Champion Gazlay, and Dr. Gazlay’s three children and six grandchildren who were born before 1891 when the book was published.