ROBERT B. GAY of Clark County Kentucky
History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens, ed. &
comp. by Hon. Nelson Case. Pub. by Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill.
1901
ROBERT B. GAY, who owns and conducts a fine farm in Mount Pleasant township,
Labette county, Kansas, is a resident of the city of Altamont, where he has
lived since 1883. He has been very successful in a business way, and is one
of the foremost citizens of the town. Mr. Gay was born in Clark county,
Kentucky, December 11, 1834, and is a son of John and Rebecca (Bratton) Gay.
John Gay was born in Virginia, and was a boy when he moved to Clark county,
Kentucky, with his father, James Gay. There he was reared and schooled and
followed farming for several years. He married Rebecca Bratton, and in 1837
they removed to Boone county, Missouri, where he died. They reared the
following children: Ann D. (Youger), deceased; Sarah J. (Vaghn), of Monroe
county, Missouri; Robert B.; Lucinda (Newman), Margaret (Christman), David
and William, deceased; and Nancy (Shock), of Boone county, Missouri. John Gay
was a Democrat, in politics.
Religiously, he was a member of the Church of
Christ, and was an active church worker. Robert B. Gay received his mental
training in the schools of Boone county, Missouri, and there engaged in
agricultural pursuits until 1883. In that year he moved to Altamont, Labette
county, Kansas, and has since made his residence in that city. He purchased a
farm near Altamont, in Mount Pleasant township, which he has been occupied in
cultivating. The farm is well improved, equipped with good substantial
buildings, and has been very productive.
In politics, Mr. Gay is a prominent
Democrat and an active worker for party success. He has served in the city
council and was mayor of the city in 1890. December 25, 1861, Mr. Gay was
joined in matrimony with Miss L. F. Christman, who died in 1869, leaving two
children: John R., of St. Louis, Missouri; and English A., of Centralia,
Missouri. In 1883, the subject of this sketch was wedded to his second wife,
Mrs. E. F. (Coons) Morning. Religiously, he favors the Church of Christ.
