Abraham Lay and Sarah Grimes Lay:
Their Far Flung Descendants

By Charlie Marmaduke Leigh

LFGALine # 35

Charlie Leigh was born and raised in Fairfax County, Virginia. His father was a dairy farmer and his Mother was a teacher. Charlie is a Veteran of WWII and the Korean War. He remained stateside in WWII but served in Korea in 1950-1951. He left the Army in' 1954 in Bremerhaven Germany and went to work for the Army Post Engineers in Bremerhaven POE and Berlin.

He returned to the states in December 1957 and worked in various Civil Service positions until retirement in 1978.

Charlie and his family have resided mostly in Florida since 1958 except for 4 years in Atlanta Ga. Charlie and Helen have been married for over forty-six years. They have two daughters, six grandchildren, and five great grandchildren Charlie says that his main interest now is Leigh, Smith, and Oliver genealogy.  The rest is like the license plate dedicated to retired people the one that starts off "No Money, etc."

From the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, live the descendants of Abraham Lay and Sarah Grimes Lay.  Many have been identified, but others seem to have just disappeared.  It is hoped that this article will bring to the writer new contacts and information on all the descendants.

Abraham Lay, according to Southern Grace by Charmaine Lay Kohler, was born in Great Bromley Essex County, England about 1700. He was the son of Captain Abraham Lay and wife Abigail.  When Abraham was about 15 years old, his father, and his father’s ship, were lost at sea. Abigail was left impoverished.

Captain Charles Broadwater was a friend of Captain Abraham Lay He took young Abraham under his wing, took him on as cabin boy on his ship ROBERT AND JOHN, and sailed to America for a load of tobacco. The ship docked in the Northern Va. area where Captain Broadwater proceeded to marry a wealthy landowner, the widow of Army Major John West. Her holdings were in the area now known as Fairfax County, Va. but at that time was probably known as Northern Neck. This area later was called Prince William County then, Loudoun and eventually Fairfax County.

Captain Broadwater and Abraham went back to England with the tobacco and then returned to Virginia on the same ship as paying passengers, with Abraham being apprenticed to Broadwater as caulker for a period of seven years. After his apprenticeship was finished, he was given land and other benefits.  He also served Broadwater as overseer of part of the properties Broadwater had accumulated.  An early survey of the area showed extensive hold­ings by Broadwater, so Abraham gained valuable experience in farming.

Abraham married Sarah Grimes, about 15 years his junior. and they had a fruitful marriage. They had 11 children as follows:

1. Sylvanus (also known as Silas and Sylvester) married Jemina Cockrill, a member of a local family, which is still in the Fairiax County area. I am a descendant of and namesake of their son, Mar­maduke Cockrill Lay I will go into this line later.

2. Abraham Lay Jr.  I have no information on his decadency though I have heard, but not confirmed he married and went to Kentucky or vice versa. If anyone has info on him, please let me know.

3. Emanuel Lay married Sarah Schofield and had 9 children:

a) Zachariah, born about 1765. 

b) Millie (Also known as Allie) born about 1765 and married Joe Huguley.

c) Sally, her twin sister.

d) Elija, born about 1771.

e) Amos, born about 1773. John and Janice Odom of Ridgeland, Mississippi are active researchers of this line.

f)  Elisha, born about 1773.

g) Sampson, born about 1787.

h)  James born about 1789

i) John Vincent born about l791 and died about 1836 in Lawrence County, Tennessee.
Descendants of Emanuel and Sarah have been located in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina, North and South Carolina and Georgia. The descendants now living in the Northwest are many and their descendancy is well documented through the efforts and writing of Charmaine Lay Kohler in her book, SOUTHERN GRACE. Descendants of Millie (Allie) and Job Huguley are found in Texas and other parts or the south although they originally migrated from Virginia to West Point, Georgia.

4. Joseph Lay information is limited except that his wife was Margaret and apparently raised a boy who took the name Henry Lay.

5. Stephen Lay was born about 1748, married to Nancy Garrison (?). It seems that they moved to Kentucky where Nancy died in Union County. Two of  his children died in Missouri (Howard County and Iron County.)

6. Prudence Lay was born about 1746. She was married to John Ellzey and died about 1840. They apparently remained in Fairfax County, Virginia, where she died. Further information on this line can be obtained from Michael Ellzey, who is listed as a researcher of the Abraham Lay Line #35 and who is a direct descendant of Prudence.

7. Helena Lay married William Horseman, Sr. I have been in contact with Jackie Judah, whose husband, Russell, is a direct descendant of Helena. She and her husband live in South Padre Island, Texas.

8. Abigail Lay married Sanford Payne and their daughter Sally married Esiasis Horseman, son of Helena and William Horseman, Sr. Hence, Russell Judah is a double direct descendant of Abraham and Sarah Lay

9. Lidia Lay Married William Richards. That is the only information that I have on her.

10. Leana Lay married John Jenkins. No further information­ is available on her descendants.

11. Athesias Lay married Amos Jenkins and they had a son named Sylvanus. She later married Presley Self and there is no further information on their descendants. The Sylvanus Lay line is my line and I am familiar with many of his descendants. Not much is available on Sylvanus except he did get into some trouble with the law, having been convicted, along with Immanuel Lay and Samuel Jenkins of hog stealing and was sentenced to '25 lashes, well laid on.' However, they were allowed to pay $10 Virginia currency instead of the lashes, This is documented in records at Londoun County Courthouse. They were accused of the crime on May 11, 1762 and finally came to trial on May 12, 1763.

Sylvanus and Jemima had two children, Marmaduke Coctrill Lay, and Allathea Lay, who married Robert Williams.  The date and circumstance of Sylvanus's death is unknown but his personal estate was inventoried and appraised by Herman Chilton, William Chilton, and Joshua Evans on Dec 13, 1772 and ordered recorded Mar 23, 1773.  Shortly after this, the Leigh spelling of the name began to appear.

Marmaduke Cockrill Lay was mentioned in Abraham Lay's will as being the recipient of several slaves. Not much is known about the life of Marmaduke. He married Ann Richards and they bad the following children:

Samuel, who was a river boat captain, married Azema Gauthier.  An interesting note has it that he couldn't speak French (Cajun) and she couldn't speak English but they had 11 children.  Many of their descendants still live in the Louisiana area.  Samuel Leigh Perkins has Samuel Leigh's bible and resides in Natchitoches, La. He is an active researcher on the Leighs, and has shared much of his information with me.

Cassius was a veterinarian and settled in Arkansas.

It is said he was a bachelor until on his deathbed he married the lady who was taking care of him and she inherited whatever he had.  Ann, also known as Nan married John Powell. Mary, who married Ned Johnson.

Matilda who married A.D. Richards

Alfred, my great grandfather.

One of his slaves attacked and killed Marmaduke. They took exception to hiring slaves from a neighbor to help do some of the work.  Consequentially, Marmaduke was slammed on the head with a piece of wood. His widow later married Erastus Todd and moved to Michigan. She admired Lewis Cass, territorial Governor and later presidential candidate. Apparently, she influenced Alfred to name one of his sons for him. Hence, my grandfather was named Lewis Cass Leigh.

Alfred Leigh was born 1818 and married Mary Ashby Oliver 1846 in Washington, DC.  He died March 17, 1899 in Colvin Run, Fairfax County, Virginia and was buried at the Andrew Chapel Cemetery.  In addition to being a farmer, he had other professions during his lifetime. He was The first Postmaster, appointed July 3, 1849, to the Republican Mills Office. This, I understand was a Loudoun-Hampshire RR stop between a community called Hunters Mill and Herndon, Virginia. (Later called the Washington and Old Dom­inion RR) He served there until July 21, 1856, when he was elected justice of the County Court. His brother-in law, John Powell, succeeded him as postmaster.  The name for Republican Mills was changed to Thornton's Depot and later to Thornton's Station.
Alfred was a slaveholder, which probably contributed to his voting in either 1859 or 1861 for secession. There is no doubt he was imprisoned in the Old Federal Prison in Washington. There are two theories as to circumstances of his imprisonment.  The most popular and most logical was that he was turned in by another brother-in-law as being a Rebel sympathizer.

His mother got word that he was in ill health so she went to the White House and gained audience with Abraham Lincoln, who ordered him paroled.  It was said that Mary Todd Lincoln was a cousin to Erastus Todd, who possibly arranged the meeting. Records show that he was captured again, but was released after several months.  Other positions held by Alfred Leigh were member of the School Board in 1876 and member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1883-1884.

In his obituary in the Alexandria Gazette on March 17 1899, he was called Captain Alfred Leigh, though it is possible that this was an honorary title.

I am sorry that I have only limited information on the preceding generations, but I am hoping that by sharing what I do have, it will benefit other re­searchers. It is my hope that many researchers working and sharing together, will eventually fill in the numerous blanks on this family.

This page was made with Permission from Charlie Leigh.. cleigh@cfl.rr.com

Unanswered Prayers

Created 1/21/2000

FDM 2003