Nobles County MN Archives Biographies.....Jay, George 1851 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com October 21, 2006, 10:38 pm

Author: Arthur P. Rose (1908)

  GEORGE JAY. Among the pioneer settlers of Nobles county is George Jay, of

Ransom township, who took his homestead there in 1872. Mr. Jay was born in

Herefordshire, England, April 20, 1851, the son of Thomas and Sophia (Weager)

Jay, both deceased.



  Mr. Jay was raised on his father's farm in England and in his native country

he was educated. He came to the United States in 1870, his parents coming one

year later. He located at Columbus, Ohio, where for two years he was an employe

of the street railway company. He served as conductor and driver during the

greater part of the time, but during the last six months was foreman.



  Seeing the advertisement of the National Colony company in the National

Agriculturist, Mr. Jay and his parents decided to join the colony and trust

their fortunes in the new country, the advantages of which were so handsomely

pictured. They made the trip from Columbus by team and arrived in Worthington on

the 9th or 10th day of May, 1872. On the second day after their arrival the Jays

went to look at land in Ransom township. Father and son each selected an

eighty-acre tract on the southeast quarter of section four and went to Jackson

to make their filings. They returned, broke out about twelve acres of prairie

land, and on May 17 commenced planting corn.



  During the unhappy times of the seventies Mr. Jay endured many hardships,

losing several crops during the grasshopper scourge. In order to make a living

during these perilous times he engaged in trapping, which occupation he followed

several years. During the severe blizzard of January, 1873, Mr. Jay had a narrow

escape from losing his life in the storm. Becoming lost while out with the oxen,

he reached safety only by seizing one of the oxen by the tail and following the

sagacious animal, which piloted him to safety. In the early eighties Mr. Jay

left the county and spent three years in Dexter, Iowa, where he engaged in

farming and running a coal shaft. Except that absence and three years'

(1894-1897), which he spent in the village of Rushmore, Mr. Jay has lived on his

original homestead ever since his arrival in 1872.



  Mr. Jay was married at Bigelow Nov. 14, 1903, to Miranda Brooks, a native of

North Carolina.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from:



AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF NOBLES COUNTY

MINNESOTA

BY

ARTHUR P. ROSE



NORTHERN HISTORY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA 

PUBLISHERS

1908



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