The 1852 Pulaski Co KY record of deaths states that John Lay was son of David Lay, Sr.602

The family listing for John Lay, Sr. and Milly Durham Lay is taken partly from the 1850 census of Pulaski Co KY, Roll: M432_217, Page 110, Image 347.

1850 Census of Pulaski Co KY
Name Age
John Lay 55
Milly Lay 47
Elizabeth Lay 20
Susannah Lay 19
Eliza Lay 17
Jackson Lay 15
Isaac Lay 14
Thomas Lay 12
Andrew Lay 9
Frances Lay 6
James Lay 3

The following analysis is by Yvonne Lay Logue, daughter of Took Lay and granddaughter of Jackson Lay. Yvonne lives in Kentucky not far from Somerset and has a collection of records from the Pulaski Co. Courthouse.604

This I feel is the correct list of John & Milly Lay children:

Based on the 1850 Pulaski Co Census there were:

Elizabeth, Susannah, Eliza, Jackson, Isaac, Thomas, Andrew, Frances and James, in that age order, oldest to youngest.

In his Will dated March 1, 1852 (which I have a copy of), and he died before Nov. 15, 1852 he mentions the following kids:

William, Martin, Henry, Nancy (Hall), Susan (Tucker) [same as the above Susannah], Eliza (Tucker), Jackson, Isaac, Thomas Skiller, Amanda Jane and Silas Z.

I believe he had several others that may have run away and gotten married, therefore not in his Will, as he stipulates in his Will that if any one runs away to get married he/she be cut out of the Will. Or perhaps since they were older and well situation, just not mentioned in the Will. There are also those that died young and not in the Will or in a Census. The ones falling in any of those categories are:

John Lay, Elizabeth (married in 1847 @ 17 y.o.), Grace (died I believe between 1840 and 1850), Frances (mentioned above but died Sep 1859 @ 12 y.o of typhoid fever).

O.k. So, all in all, the list looks like this:

William, Martin, Silas Z., John, Henry, Nancy, Elizabeth, Susannah, Eliza, Jackson, Grace, Isaac T, Thomas Skiller, Andrew J. (died young?), Frances, Amanda Jane, and James. (17 of them)

I don't believe Mary, Catherine and William are John & Milly's children. There is only an 8-month span between his Will and his death, they are not mentioned in his Will. There was another Milly Lay around at this period of time, and I believe the Milly Lay in the 1860 census listed with James, Mary, Catherine and William was perhaps that Milly Lay as her age also differs from our Milly Lay by 8 years. I have seen others on the internet that include those 4. I know there is a James under John and Milly, but the age is off 2 years. Of course, I may be wrong in some of this myself. I don't profess to know all the answers. At some point in time I may go to Somerset and take one child at a time and research him/her.

I do have birthdates and other detailed info on a few of these like: Henry, Jackson, Thomas Skiller, and Isaac T. I am always open to new thoughts regarding these and don't mean to push any info I have except I do try to document what I have with Wills/Census/Marriage Cert, etc. But you know how this genealogy research is an ongoing thing and is very hard to document sometimes. But I am totally addicted and love to research in Lincoln and Pulaski Counties, always hoping to find just one little tidbit that fits into the puzzle.

See ya....Yvonne

The 1860 census of Pulaski Co KY lists a Milly Lay as follows:

Milly Lay, age 65, born Virginia
James 15, born Kentucky
Mary, 13
Catherine, 10
William, 8

Since John Lay Sr. died in 1852, these may be grand-children. There is a discrepancy between the age given in this census for Milly (b ca 1795) and that given in the 1850 census (b ca 1803). Alternatively, this may be a different Milly Lay.

Milly Lay is listed in the 1870 census of Somerset, Pulaski Co KY, age 71, b NC. Her listing is family 59, immediately following the family of George Carson and his wife Mary (age 38, b KY) and two houses away from the family of David Lay (age 46) and his wife Minnie. Listed in Milly Lay’s household is Silas F. Lay, age 24, b KY) and Mandy Hall, age 13, b KY.