Augustus Jay (1665 - 1751)

Born 23 Mar 1665 in La Rochelle, Aunis, France

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Maria (Bayard) Jay — married 28 Oct 1697 in Dutch Church, New York, New York

Descendants

Died 10 Mar 1751 at age 85 in New Rochelle, Westchester County, Province of New York

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Biography

Augustus Jay was born on 23 March1665. He was the son of Pierre Jay, b: 1640, a successful French Huguenot (Reformed Protestant Christian) merchant in La Rochelle, Province of Aunis, Poitou, France. His mother was Judith (Francois) Jay, b: 1639. ^{[1] [2]}

In 1685 Augustus and his family fled France, moving to Bristol, England, because of their fear of religious persecution. In 1685 French King Louis XIV revoked the "Edict of Nantes," promulgated by his great-grandfather, King Henry IV, which gave protection to Huguenot Protestants in France.

The following year, in 1686, Augustus returned to La Rochelle briefly on one of his father's boats to help settle his family's business affairs. He had to be smuggled back out by a half Catholic/half Huguenot Aunt on board a ship that sailed to Charleston, South Carolina, an English colony, to escape his being put to death. Unauthorized Huguenot emigration was punishable by death at the time under French law.

In 1690 Augustus Jay settled in Manhattan, New York City, definitively under English rule since 1673, after the English defeated had its earlier Dutch rulers in 1664. Where he settled was a former Dutch area located on the southern tip of Manhattan island, officially New York City and County, part of the English Province of New York. Many Huguenot refugees had settled in New York City, welcomed by its Reformed Protestant Dutch administration, since the early 1600s.

On 28 October 1697, in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York (Manhattan), Augustus Jan married Anna Maria Bayard, b: 6 Mar 1670 in Nieuw Amsterdam (aka New York). She was of Huguenot ancestry although her forebears had been living in the Netherlands since the late 1500s. Her grandmother had been a sister of Pieter Stuyvesant, the notable last Dutch Governor of Nieuw Nederland before it was taken by the English in 1664.

The couple had at least the following 4 children:

1. Judith Jay, b: 29 Aug 1698 in New York City, New York Province
2. Marie Jay, b: 31 Aug 1700 in New York City, New York Province
3. Francoise (Frances) Jay, b: 26 Feb 1702 in New York City, NY
4. Pierre Jay, b: 30 Nov 1704 in New York City, New York Province

Augustus Jay passed away on 15 March 1751 at his home in New Rochelle, Westchester County, English Province of New York. He was 85 years old. His wife had predeceased him. She passed away on 26 February 1726 in New Rochelle, Westchester, New York, at 56 years old.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ https://jsdubois28.com/
2. ↑ Augustus Jay on Geni.com
3. ↑ Anna Maria Bayard on Genea.net

• https://jsdubois28.com/

• John Jay: Founding Father, by Walter Stage, pg. 1749.

• Augustus Jay (1665-1751) NY Historical Society

• Genealogical Records (Jay Family), pp. 114+ Includes birth information for Augustus and son, Pierre Jay.