GAY, Edward James, Congress, LA (1816-1889)

GAY, Edward James, (grandfather of Edward James Gay [1878-1952]), a Representative from Louisiana; born in Liberty, Bedford County, Va., February 3, 1816; moved with his parents to Illinois in 1820, and thence to St. Louis, Mo., in 1824; spent several years under a private instructor in Belleville, Ill., and attended Augusta College, Kentucky, in 1833 and 1834; engaged in commercial affairs in St. Louis 1838-1860; moved to Louisiana and engaged in commercial manufacturing, and agricultural pursuits; first president of the Louisiana Sugar Exchange in New Orleans; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses and served from March 4, 1885, until his death on his St. Louis plantation, Iberville Parish, La., May 30, 1889; interment in Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present