Joanna (Hooker) Gay (abt. 1612 - 1691)

Born about 12 Apr 1612 in Lenham, Kent, England

Ancestors

Wife of John Borden — married 16 Feb 1629 in Lenham, Kent, England

Wife of John Gay — married about 1638 in Dedham, Massachusetts Bay Colony [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 14 Aug 1691 at about age 79 in Dedham, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Jillaine Smith [send private message], Mark Clarke [send private message], and Puritan Great Migration Project WikiTree [send private message]

Joanna (Hooker) Gay migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Origins

She was Johane Hooker, d/o Robert Hooker and Margaret Topley, christened 12 April 1612 Lenham, Kent, England, who married first John Borden (not Balduck or Balden) 16 Feb 1629, Lenham, Kent, England and had Matthew, 1629 and Elizabeth in 1632^[1]; Elizabeth married second John Gay in Dedham, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America in 1638^[2]; Widow Joane (Hooker Border) Gay died in Dedham on 14 August 1691 ^[3]

John Borden appears on the shipping list of the Elizabeth & Ann bound for New England, aged 28 years, with a wife Joan, aged 23 years, a son Matthew, aged 8 years, and a daughter Elizabeth, aged 3 years, and they had a certificate of conformity, dated 12 May 1635, from the minister of Benenden, Kent, England.

Research by Robert C. Anderson^[4] claims she was widow of John Borden, citing these:

• second entry of the Dedham Town registry of births, which reads: "1635 John, the son of John Balden and Joana his wife, was borne the 24th of the 4th mo."
• In the Dedham church records, kept by the Reverend John Allin, there are related items: "John Balducke the son of our sister Gay by hir first husband was baptized the 8th day of the 16th month 1639"; followed immediately by "Samuel Gay son of our sister Gay by hir 2d husband was baptizedthe same day."
• In English records, Balden was an occasional alternative spelling for Borden, but nowhere does the surname Balducke appear. This strange name can be partially explained by Allin's notorious inability to record names accurately; for example, in the same set of records he referred to Mr. Richard Mather of Dorchester as "Mr. Madden."
• A close inspection of the Dedham records. The first entry in the register of births is for a daughter of John Dwight, born in July 1635, followed by the Balden birth, two births in 1637, and several in 1638. For 1637 and later, the year of birth is written before the first birth recorded for that year in bold numerals and only once; but the year 1635 is written twice, before the Dwight entry and before the Balden entry. This last observation, when combined with the recording of the July Dwight birth before the June Balden birth, suggests that the Balden birth should have been entered for 1636, betwen the 1635 and 1637 entries.
• Will of Hezekiah Gay, second son of John Gay of Dedham. Hezekiah died in 1669, age 29, and left a nuncupative will; in this instrument, among the bequests to his brothers and sisters, he gives some clothing to "my brother John Bord." ... need, they are hardest to begotten there."

[Other evidence included in the Register article, leading to Anderson's conclusion:]

"This indicates that a John Bord, or Borden, grew up in the family of John Gay and was regarded as a brother by John Gay's children; this John Bord(en) was still alive in 1669, but was living at a distance from Dedham. Could this not be the John Borden of Lyme?...

"Let us return to Elizabeth, who was three when the Borden family arrived in New England. She had apparently grown up in the Gay household in Dedham like her brother. The first strong reference to her occurs in 1660, in the Boston marriage records of that year: "Richard Martine and Elizabeth Gay of Dedham daughter of John Gay were married at Salem." They made their home in Boston where they had seven children betweeen 1661 and 1672. Richard Martin died in 1672, before the birth of the last child... and Elizabeth died in early 1673. Her estate was administered by Samuel Gay of Dedham, son of John, and in 1683 he and his brother Nathaniel, were appointed guardians for three of the surviving Martin children.

"From these records Elizabeth would appear to be a daughter of John Gay. But there are some unusual facts to be evaluated first. John and Joanna Gay had ten children-- from Samuel in 1639 to Hannah in 1656-- whose births and baptisms are recorded in the Dedham town records, but Elizabeth's records are missing. Also some of Elizabeth (Gay) Martin's children were still alive in 1686 when John Gay made his will but he made no provision for these children, while he remembered all other surviving children.

"Is this Elizabeth Gay of Dedham the Elizabeth Borden who emigrated from Kent County in 1635 with her parents John and Joanna? On her mother's second marriage, Elizabeth had apparently assumed the name Gay. Curiously, a Richard Martin, age 12, is shown on the roster of the Elizabeth and Anne in 1635.

"Elizabeth Martin and her children were not mentioned in John Gay's will but the widow Joanna in her will, written in 1688, gave bequests to granddaughters Joanna Borden and Elizabeth Bacon. Neither of these was a child of the ten proven children of John and Joanna Gay. Richard and Elizabeth Martin had a daughter Elizabeth born 15 Apr 1665; and Dedham records have the marriage of Daniel Bacon and Elizabeth Martin on 21 April 1685. John and Hannah Borden of Lyme had a daughter Joanna, baptized 5 August 1677, who may be the same Joanna Borden who married Nathaniel Basett of Windham, Connecticut on 10 Dec 1695. The only other Joanna Borden was the wife of Richard Borden of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, but she died 25 Jul 1688, and could not have been a granddaughter of John and Joanna Gay.

Further research conducted by Eldon Gay and communicated to Joanne Hunt between 2006 and 2008:

"I was able to locate in the Bishop transcripts for Lenham the marriage and baptism of Johanna. The marriage record showed that John Borden was from Cranbrook which is where his brother Richard was living at that time. The transcript of the marriage record omitted that important information. I am hoping that I can find the birth of Mathew in a village near Lenham which I am awaiting the film of the parish records. The problem I have run into is many of the records are missing years or are unreadable being over 400 years old. Mathew's age is key in linking the family together. It was notable to find any information in the Benenden records of which they were listed as receiving permission to leave for America' email from Eldon Gay 16 aug 2008

NOTE THAT LENHAM, Headcorn, Cranbrook and Benenden are all just a short distance from each other.

Email from Eldon Gay 21 Sept 2006:

I was able to find the baptism records for Matthew and Elizabeth Borden. Mathew was baptized in Boughton Malherbe 24 Feb 1629/30. This is a village near Lenham in Kent. Elizabeth was baptized in Lenham 15 Feb 1631/32. The records only show the name of John Borden and they spelled it correctly. The archbishops records also contained the marriage records confirming the spelling. Since all the family's ages match up with the ship records I think we have at last put the family together before they left England. Many of the years in the old records were missing or due to the condition were unreadable sowe were very lucky to find them all. "

Life in New England

From (printed/published) Dedham Church Records^[5]:

___ Gay, ye wife of John Gay was received with good satisfaction to ye church ye 25th of ye 5 month [1639].

John Balducke ye sone of our sister Gay by hir first husband was baptised ye 8th day of the 6th month.

Samuel Gay son of our sister Gay by hir 2d husband was baptised ye same day."

Burial:

Place: Old Village Cemetery, Dedham, Norfolk, Massachusetts

Legacy

TAG 14:38 lists a possible set of probate records for her:

1. 1891. Gay, Joanna, Dedham. 1691. Will: 8:55; Probate 8:56.

Sources

1. ↑ IGI records
2. ↑ 1638 Marriage for Joanna (Hooker) Borden in “U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, Ancestry.com, database online [subscription] https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7836/records/125973
3. ↑ 1691 Death for Joanna Gay in "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FH8K-RYF : 20 May 2022), Joane Gay, 14 Aug 1691; citing Death, Dedham, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009369.
4. ↑ NEHGS, 1976, vol. 130; pp 35-39
5. ↑ "Church and Cemetery Records of Dedham, Mass." (online at NEHGS)

See also:

• Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern MA
• Virkus, Frederick A., ed., The Compendium of American Genealogy, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1968;
• Gay, Eldon Wilson & Child, Christopher Challender.Joanna Hooker, Wife of John¹ Borden and John¹ Gay, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2010) Vol. 164, WN 654, Page 117.