Gazlay Family History
 

Family HistoryFamily History - Mary Swan


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 Mary Swan and two of her descendants down to the third generation.


First Generation
1. Mary Swan,1 born 29 November 1757 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut (parents not determined);1 died 29 March 1813.1 Mary married, 7 November 1775 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, John Randall1 (born 24 March 1754 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut, parents not determined;1 John died 7 October 18181).

Child of Mary Swan and John Randall:

+2i. Martha ‘Patty’ Randall, born 27 August 1790 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut; died 24 December 1817 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. Married James William Gazlay.

  1. The Early History of Chenango County, from The History of Chenango County, by James H. Smith, 1880. Available at chenangony.net (website). Under the history of Norwich is the family of John Randall, who arrived in Norwich in 1800 from Stonington, Connecticut, and was among the first settlers of Norwich. The book provides biographical and personal details of John, his wife, and 13 children, including his eighth child, Martha (Patty) Randall, who married James W. Gazley.
Second Generation
2. Martha ‘Patty’ Randall2 (Mary1), born 27 August 1790 in Stonington, New London County, Connecticut;1, 2 died 24 December 1817 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.1, 2, 3 Patty married, 8 December 1811 in Norwich, Chenango County, New York, James William Gazlay2, 3 (born 23 July 1784 in New York, New York, the son of James Gazlay and Huldah Carter;3, 4, 5, 6, 7 James died 8 June 1874 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio4, 7). Patty and James are buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.1, 4

James was born in 1874 in New York City, and he moved with his parents to Dutchess County, New York, in 1789. He attended common schools and pursued and academic course. James studied law in Poughkeepsie, New York, was admitted to the bar in 1809, and there he began his practice of law. In 1813, James moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued his law practice.8

Some of his writings on case law include the Report of the Case of Thomas Graham of Cincinnati published in 1821, and the Case of George P. Torrence, Acting as President Judge of the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Common Pleas of the State of Ohio, Considered, as Violative of the Constitution of the State, published in 1822.9

James was elected to the Eighteenth Congress (serving from 4 March 1823 to 3 March 1825) as a Representative from Hamilton County, Ohio, running as a Jackson Republican. In this election, his opponent was Army General (War of 1812), Congressman, Ohio State Senator, and future President William Henry Harrison, who lost, it is said, by only 500 votes. James failed in his bid for reelection in 1824.8

In 1826, James created, edited and published the liberal Western Tiller, a mostly agricultural publication, but also carrying “anti-ecclesiastical articles and poems…The Tiller opened its columns to any citizen who wished to criticize the aristocratic church polity of the Methodists, gloat over schisms in the Baptist church, or assail the hireling priests.” James sold the Tiller to Wm. J. Ferris in 1828.10

James wrote A Treatis on Horses in 1827, reflecting his scholarly interest in horses. In later years, James wrote “some long-winded poetic philosophizings and heavy-handed satires,” as well as other writings, on mostly social topics. These include: Short View of Social Elements and Relations of the United States, 1843; and Sketches of Life and Social Relations: With Other Poems, 1860. Following the civil war, he wrote the Reconstruction of the Southern States, 1865; Political Questions, 1866; Scraps for Laws of New Creation: One God, One Race, One Creed, and One Liberty, 1867; and Imagination, 1868.9, 10, 11

James has been described as, “…in many respects, an acute thinker and a vigorous journalist, and unconventional enough to criticize the mumbo-jumbo of the law. In opposition to his colleagues, who regarded ‘the truths and excellencies of religion and law’ as ‘equally indisputable,’ Gazlay attacked the wording of laws as degenerate and confused and advocated simpler phraseology.”10

A New York Times article, published, 16 December 1870, provides some additional biographical details of James Gazlay, several not found elsewhere:12


Lochy Ostrom’s Estate—Some Errors Corrected by “An Old Citizen” of Cincinnati.

To the Editor of the Cincinnati Commercial:

I notice, under head of special telegram from New-York, in your paper of today, an article in regard to the estate of Rachel Ostrom. It has many errors in it. I propose to correct a few of them.

It is true that James W. Gazlay in the fore part of the present century was engaged to be married to miss Rachel Ostrom, of Poughkeepsie, in the State of New-York. Mr. J. W. Gazlay desired to marry her and move West. The mother of Miss Ostrom would not go West, and Miss Ostrom would not leave her mother. J. W. Gazlay came West and located at Cincinnati, Ohio, and afterward went back to New-York, but could not induce Miss Ostrom to come to the West, and shortly afterward he married Martha Randall, of New-York, who came to this city with him. By that marriage J. W. Gazlay had one child —Hulda, married to Thornton A. Mills, a Presbyterian clergyman of this city.

After the death of Mr. Gazlay’s first wife he married Rebecca, daughter of Elmore Williams, by whom he had three children. One of them died in its infancy. William Elmore Gazlay, another child, died after age in Florida. Allen W. Gazlay, a child, is living and doing well in the western part of the city, and J. W. Gazlay is not dead yet, but is living with his son, and is in remarkably good health and preservation for a man of his age. J. W. Gazlay never was imprisoned for contempt of Court. He said at one time to the Court, then composed of three Judges, of which the father of our worthy Mayor was one of the number, that it was a Demerara team, composed of two mules and a jackass, which remark he made in the heat of an argument, and himself and the Judges were always personal friends, and it had nothing whatever to do with his election to Congress.

In about the year 1822, Wm. Henry Harrison was a candidate for Congress in the Cincinnati District; the mechanics and working men thought that Gen. Harrison was a representative of the Virginia aristocracy, known then as the F.F.V.’s, and desired to run a candidate of their own, and appointed a committee to select a candidate, of which Mr. Bromwell, then a wire-weaver, was the Chairman. Mr. Gazlay consented to run, without any expectation on his part of the part of the Committee that he would be elected. He declined to be a candidate a second time. He and Gen. Harrison were always warm personal and political friends, and in 1840 Mr. Gazlay canvassed two States for the election of Gen. Harrison to the Presidency.


The New York Times carried the following obituary for James W. Gazlay on 13 June 1874:13


An Old Citizen

—————

Obituary.

Ex-Congressman James W. Gazlay.

The Cincinnati Commercial announces the death of James W. Gazlay, who for more than sixty years has been a resident of that city. He was born in this City, July 23, 1784, and in 1823 was elected to the Eighteenth Congress, defeating Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison. But his fate as a popular man in his district was decided by his first important vote. Gen. Lafayette had arrived in the United States early in 1825, the guest of the nation. He was introduced to each House of Congress, and it was in the House of Representatives that the effective speech of reception was made by that eloquent speaker, Henry Clay. A joint committee reported a resolution of honor and remuneration to Lafayette for his distinguished services in the American Revolution. It proposed awarding him $200,000 and a township of land, to be selected from the unsold lands of the Government, under the direction of the President. Mr. Gazley rose and moved to strike out $200,000 and insert $100,000. Although Niles’ Register deemed the voting for the large sum right, it made a point to honor the “firmness” of those who voted in the negative when they failed to make the proposed amendment. Mr. Gazley’s negative vote cost him his seat, which was warmly contested, and Gen. Findlay, a popular man, succeeded by less than twenty-five votes. After his defeat for congress by Gen. Findlay he commenced the publication in Cincinnati of a weekly newspaper, the Western Tiller, the first number of which was on the 1st of August, 1826. He brought some enterprise to its conduct, and often illustrated it with wood engravings. The paper was continued by Wm. J. Ferris, who afterward became connected with the Cincinnati Gazette.


Child of Martha ‘Patty’ Randall and James William Gazlay:

+3i. Hulda M. Gazlay, born ca. 1815 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio; died 30 June 1845 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. Married Rev. Thornton A. Mills.

  1. Cemetery Record, Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio (website); Gazley, Mrs. Martha, card no. 14754; died 24 Dec.1817; age 27; Sec. 54 Lot 92; removed from Family Methodist Grounds.
  2. The Early History of Chenango County, from The History of Chenango County, by James H. Smith, 1880. Available at chenangony.net (website). Under the history of Norwich is the family of John Randall, who arrived in Norwich in 1800 from Stonington, Connecticut, and was among the first settlers of Norwich. The book provides biographical and personal details of John, his wife, and 13 children, including his eighth child, Martha (Patty) Randall, who married James W. Gazley.
  3. Gazlay History, written by Spencer G. Kuhn, a grandchild of Theodore Gazlay; undated. This is a typewritten re-compilation of the earlier Genealogy of the Gazlay Family, compiled by Theodore Gazlay in 1890, including the 1852 statement of the family history by Reverend Sayers Gazlay, an elder brother of Theodore. This document re-formats the information in the 1890 work. For example, facts originally shown in list form, such as birth and death dates, are incorporated in the narrative of this later work. Two post-1890 sections are unique to this document: one with additional details about Theodore Gazlay’s family, with dates as late as 1951; and another on the Donaldson family, featuring Jean Gazlay Donaldson and her six marriages, with several dates in 1965.
  4. Cemetery Record, Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio (website); Gazlay, James W., card no. 26104; born 23 July, 1874 in N.Y. City; died June 8, 1874 in Cincinnati, Ohio; parents: Jas. & Huldah; Sec 54 Lot 92.
  5. U.S. Federal Census, 1850, Ohio, Hamilton County, Green Township, family of James W. Gazley (65, N.Y., farmer); Allen W. Gazley (20, Ohio, farmer); Susan Gazley (20, Ohio); Ann Gazley (50, N.Y.); Emma Kizar (9, Ohio); Sarah Simmons (13, England); Henry Kuntz (30, Germany, laborer); John Hanyon (35, Germany, laborer).
  6. U.S. Federal Census, 1870, Ohio, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Page No. 115, family of Allen W. Gazley (41, Ohio, real estate speculator); Susan Gazley (35, Ohio); Jas. W. Gazley (86, New York, w[idow]); Emma Kezir [sic, Kizer] (32, Ohio); Nellie Chamberlain (14, Ohio); Elijah Ruffin (22, Virginia, domestic servant); Mary Walch (31, Ireland, domestic servant); Jane Ray (20, Ohio, domestic servant); Susan Bush (23, Indiana, domestic servant).
  7. Genealogy of the Gazlay Family, collated by Theodore Gazlay, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1890; unpublished. Transcription available at Gazlay Family History (website).
  8. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Biography of James William Gazlay.
  9. Citations of these works (but not digitized copies or reviews) are available by searching Google Books (website).
  10. Cincinnati: Queen City of the West, 1819-1839, by Daniel Aaron, Ohio State University Press, 1992. Available at Google Books.
  11. Races of Mankind, with Travels in Grubland, by Cephas Broadluck [pseudonym for Allen W. Gazlay, son of James W. Gazlay].
  12. The New York Times, 16 December 1870: Lochy Ostrom’s Estate—Some Errors Corrected by “An Old Citizen” of Cincinnati.
  13. Obituary, The New York Times, 13 June 1874, James W. Gazlay
Third Generation
3. Hulda M. Gazlay3 (Martha ‘Patty’,2 Mary1), born ca. 1815 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio;1, 2 died 30 June 1845 in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.1, 2, 3 Hulda married, 12 September 1837 in Hamilton County, Ohio, Rev. Thornton A. Mills3, 7 (born September 1810 in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, parents not determined;4, 5 Thornton died 19 June 1867 in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey5, 6). Hulda is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.1

  1. Cemetery Record, Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio (website); Mills, Mrs. Hulda, card no. 31658; died 30 June 1845 in Cincinnati, Ohio; born in Cincinnati, Ohio; Lot Owner: Lane Seminary; Sec. 14, Lot A Sub A; Removed from Walnut Hills Cemetery Sep. or Oct. 1878.
  2. The Cincinnati Miscellany, Or, Antiquities of the West: And Pioneer History and General And Local Statistics, compiled from the Western General Advertiser, from April 1st 1845 to April 1st 1846, by Charles Cist. Volume II. Cincinnati: Robinson & Jones, 109 Main Street, 1846. Available at Google Books. Page 44, Deaths: On Monday, June 30th, Mrs. Hulda Gazlay Mills, wife of Rev. Thornton A. Mills, in the 30th year of her age.
  3. Gazlay History, written by Spencer G. Kuhn, a grandchild of Theodore Gazlay; undated. This is a typewritten re-compilation of the earlier Genealogy of the Gazlay Family, compiled by Theodore Gazlay in 1890, including the 1852 statement of the family history by Reverend Sayers Gazlay, an elder brother of Theodore. This document re-formats the information in the 1890 work. For example, facts originally shown in list form, such as birth and death dates, are incorporated in the narrative of this later work. Two post-1890 sections are unique to this document: one with additional details about Theodore Gazlay’s family, with dates as late as 1951; and another on the Donaldson family, featuring Jean Gazlay Donaldson and her six marriages, with several dates in 1965.
  4. U.S. Federal Census, 1850, Ohio, Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Page 53, Thornton A. Mills, (35, Ky., N.S.P. Clergyman).
  5. Presbyterian Reunion: A Memorial Volume, 1837-1881, New York: De Witt C. Lent & Company, 451 Broome Street, Chicago: Van Nortwick & Sparks. 1870. Available at Google Books. Page 243, biographical sketch of Rev. Dr. Thornton A. Mills.
  6. Obituary, The New York Times, 20 June 1867, Rev. Dr. Thornton A. Mills on 19 June 1867, in the ferry house at Hoboken, New Jersey.
  7. Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958, available at familysearch.org. Thornton A. Mills and Hulda M. Gazlay, 12 September 1837 in Hamilton County, Ohio.