Edward James Gay (February 3, 1816 – May 30, 1889) was a financier and member of

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. He was born at

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Bedford County, Virginia Bedford County is a United States county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is the town of Bedford, which was an independent city from 1968 until rejoining the county in 2013. Bedford County was c ...

, in the United States. Gay and his wife Lavinia Hynes were the grandparents of U.S. Senator Edward James Gay.

Early history

His family moved to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 1820, then four years later to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. For several years he studied under a private teacher in

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city and the county seat of St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The p ...

; he attended Augusta College in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

from 1833–34 and returned to St. Louis, where he was engaged in commercial affairs from 1839 to 1860. Although he had no formal business education, Gay was a dedicated student of industrial and political economy from early adulthood. From St. Louis he moved to

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he became interested in manufacturing and planting. He was prominently connected with the erection of the Merchants Exchange Building in St. Louis, and he was the first president of the Louisiana Sugar Exchange of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

. Gay was originally opposed to secession from the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, but once the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

began, he stood firmly behind the

Southern Confederacy The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

Political career

Although not inclined towards politics, Gay was persuaded in 1884 by his friends and associates to run for a seat in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. He defeated

William Pitt Kellogg William Pitt Kellogg (December 8, 1830 – August 10, 1918) was an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States), Republican Party politician who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from 1868 to 1872 and from 1877 to 18 ...

, the last survivor of

carpetbagging In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical term used by White Southerners, Southerners to describe opportunistic Northern United States, Northerners who came to the Southern United States, Southern states after th ...

in Louisiana, in the election and became a member of the 49th Congress as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. He was re-elected to the 50th and 51st Congresses. Gay died at his home, the Saint Louis Plantation in

Iberville Parish Iberville Parish (french: Paroisse d'Iberville) is a List of parishes in Louisiana, parish located south of Baton Rouge in the U.S. state of Louisiana, formed in 1807. The parish seat is Plaquemine, Louisiana, Plaquemine. At the 2010 U.S. census, ...

, on May 30, 1889, while still in office. He was buried at

Bellefontaine Cemetery Bellefontaine Cemetery is a nonprofit, non-denominational cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1849 as a rural cemetery, Bellefontaine is home to a number of architecturally significant monuments and mausoleums such as the ...

. His

St. Louis Plantation The St. Louis Plantation is a Plantations in the American South, Southern plantation with a historic Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion located in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. Built in 1858, the mansion was a ...

was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975.

References

External links

1816 births 1889 deaths Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana 19th-century American politicians Burials at Bellefontaine Cemetery Augusta College (Kentucky) alumni {{Louisiana-politician-stub

Early history

Political career

See also

References

External links