Dallas County AlArchives Biographies.....Gay, Simon April 21 1821 - living in 1893
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Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 19, 2004, 10:50 pm

Author: Brant & Fuller (1893)
   SIMON GAY was born in Sussex county, Va., April 21, 1821. In his youth he had
poor educational advantages. His parents were Wilton and Lucy (Nelmes) Gay, both
natives of Virginia. The former was of English ancestry and the latter of Irish.
At the age of nineteen years Simon Gay went to Richmond, Va., to learn his
trade, and entered the employ of the Tredegar Iron Works, where gained his first
experience as a machinist. After being in the employ of the Tredegar Iron Works
about seven years, he was for a short time, in the employ of Samson & Peas at
Richmond. He had now learned the art of gun and cannon making, and at the age of
thirty-three years was engaged as superintendent of the Bolona arsenal cannon
foundry, in Chesterfield county, Va., an establishment owned by Junius L.
Archer, then a very large government contractor for the manufacture of heavy
ordnance. Mr. Gay remained superintendent of the Bolona Iron works for a period
of five years, and he was then again employed at Richmond. In 1862, he removed
to Selma, Ala., accepted a position with McRay & Spear in their foundry, and
continued with them until they sold their foundry to the government of the
Confederate States. This was in 1863, and immediately the foundry was converted
into a manufactory of arms and equipments for both army and navy. Later the
works became known as the Selma Naval works. Mr. Gay was retained in the employ
of the Confederate States government because of his skill in gun making. He was
made superintendent of furnaces, of boring and finishing guns and cannons, and
held this position until the close of the war. His skill in mechanics and in gun
making was so well known that the United States government offered him special
inducements to enter its service, but his sentiments and hopes were with the
south and its people, and all such offers were declined. As a mechanic Mr. Gay
is a man of wide and practical knowledge. He has original ideas in both general
machinery and gunnery, which have proved of great utility. He was associated
with Mr. George Peacock, the founder, and others, in the introduction at the
Selma Naval Cannon foundry, in the melting of iron with pine knots, mentioned at
length in the sketch of Mr. Peacock, elsewhere in this work. Mr. Gay claims to
have been superintendent of furnaces of boring and of finishing guns and cannon
at that time, and from this it may be inferred that he had much to do with the
introduction of heating with pine knots, though he is far from claiming all the
honor to himself. For seventeen years after the war Mr. Gay remained in the
employ of the Alabama Central Railroad company, first as a machinist in the
shops at Selma, and from 1878 to 1881 he was master mechanic. In the latter year
he entered the employ of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad company
as master mechanic, remaining in such position until 1886, in which year he
became foreman of the round house for the same company at Selma, which position
he still holds. Mr. Gay is a highly respected citizen for his integrity of
purpose and sincerity, and now at the age of seventy-one he can look back over a
life well spent with a satisfaction that could not otherwise be felt. In 1845 he
was married to Miss Mary Andrew, of Chesterfield county, Va., by whom he had
seven sons and four daughters, of whom five sons and two daughters still survive.



Additional Comments:
from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 874-875
Published by
Brant & Fuller (1893)
Madison, WI

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