George Kirby Gay (August 15, 1810 – October 7, 1882) was an English sailor and later settler in the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

. He was a member of the

Willamette Cattle Company The Willamette Cattle Company was formed in 1837 by pioneers in the Willamette Valley of present-day Oregon, United States. The company was formed with the express purpose of purchasing cattle in Mexican California. Nearly 750 head of cattle and ...

that brought livestock to Oregon and built the first brick house in the United States west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. Gay also participated in the

Champoeg Meetings The Champoeg Meetings were the first attempts at formal governance by European-American and French Canadian pioneers in the Oregon Country on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. Between 1841 and 1843, a series of public councils was held ...

that created a

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

in what would become the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Early years

George Gay was born in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, on August 15, 1810. He became an apprentice sailor at the age of eleven and traveled much of the world and came to the United States.Corning, Howard M. (1956) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''.

Binfords & Mort Publishing Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in t ...

, p. 97.Lang, Herbert O. (1885
''History of the Willamette Valley, Being a Description of the Valley and Its Resources, with an Account of Its Discovery and Settlement by White Men, and Its Subsequent History Together with Personal Reminiscences of Its Early Pioneers''.
G.H. Himes, Book and Job Printer, pp. 595-596. As a sailor, his last trip was aboard the whaleship ''Kitty'', which he left at

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, in 1833 where he joined up with fur trapper

Ewing Young Ewing Young (1799-February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. ...

. Lyman, Horace S. (1903) ''History of Oregon: The Growth of an American State''. North Pacific Publishing Society, New York. Vol. III. p. 218. Gay went with Young to trap fur bearing animals to the north.

Oregon

In 1835, George Gay returned to the

with a party led by

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

and included

William J. Bailey William J. Bailey (January 13, 1807 – February 5, 1876) was a British-born physician who migrated to the United States, where he became a pioneer and politician in the Oregon Country, particularly the Willamette Valley. Bailey participated in the ...

. Two years later he joined Young again and invested in the

. Gay and the others traveled to California by boat to purchase cattle and then overland back to the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

. During the trip back, on September 14 they crossed the

Shasta River The Shasta River is a tributary of the Klamath River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed 9 March 2011 in northern California in the United States. It dr ...

and soon after

and Gay shot a "friendly" native boy in what was considered revenge for attacks on previous trips through the area. The group finished the journey in October 1837 with around 630 head of cattle. Gay became wealthy due to his investment in the enterprise. Gay then claimed some land along the

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

near

Wheatland, Oregon Wheatland is an unincorporated community in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. It is near the Willamette River where the Wheatland Ferry takes traffic across the river into Marion County. Its elevation is ; it is in the Pacific Time Zone. ...

, and started farming. In 1841, he began building a home at the site, and when completed in 1842 it was the first brick house in the region. The bricks were fired on the property and used to build the walls and two fireplaces on the high structure. Gay’s home was wide by long. In 1843, he was selected to serve on a committee at the First Wolf Meeting, part of the series of

held to discuss forming a government in the Oregon Country. On May 2, 1843, Gay voted with the prevailing party at the last of the Champoeg Meetings. The 52-50 vote established the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, a ...

that would last until the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

's government superseded it in 1849. Gay’s home would serve as one of the markers of the boundaries within the government. The south wall of his house marked the boundary line between the Yamhill and Champooick districts, and though the house is no longer standing, the location of that wall currently marks the line between Yamhill and

Polk Polk may refer to: People * James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States * Polk (name), other people with the name Places *Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois * Polk, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Polk, Missouri ...

counties. In 1848, he went south to the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

and mined for a time before returning to Oregon.

Later years

Upon returning to Oregon, Gay was considered one of the wealthiest people in what had become the Oregon Territory. He was married on four occasions and fathered nine children. The children, Mary Ann, Joseph Witcum, John Kirby, Alfred, Paul George, William Edouard, Adaline Bellay, Louisa and Henri St. Clair were all the children of first wife, Louisa Gay. He married Louisa Hare, Mary Manson, Mary Condon and Mary Ann Rubidow.Flora, Stephenie
Emigrants to Oregon Prior To 1839.
Oregon Pioneers. Retrieved on December 12, 2007. Rubidow was born Marie Anne Toupin in 1826, and married Gay on February 11, 1867.
www.museum.bmi.net. Retrieved on December 12, 2007. George Kirby Gay lost his fortune and died poor on October 7, 1882, at the age of 72 and was buried on his property near Wheatland, Oregon.Scott, Leslie M. (1924) ''History of the Oregon Country''. The Riverside Press, Cambridge. Vol. II. p. 227. A granite and bronze marker placed by the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

on the Yamhill-Polk County line on

Oregon Route 221 Oregon Route 221 is an Oregon state highway which runs between the city of Salem, Oregon and the city of Dayton, Oregon, roughly along the western shore of the Willamette River. It is known as the Salem-Dayton Highway No. 150 (see Oregon highway ...

commemorates the location of Gay's home and gravesite and his involvement in the Champoeg Meetings.

References

External links

Picture of GayOregon Historic Photograph Collections: Gay house
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, George 1810 births 1882 deaths American fur traders Champoeg Meetings Oregon pioneers People from Yamhill County, Oregon English emigrants to the United States

Early years

Oregon

Later years

See also

References

External links