Edward James Gay (1816-1889)

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Edward J. Gay (February 3, 1816 – May 30, 1889) was a financier and member of United States Congress. He was born at Liberty, Bedford County, Virginia, in the United States. Gay is grandfather of Edward James Gay, who also served in the U.S. Congress.

[edit] Early history

His family moved to Illinois in 1820, and four years later to St. Louis, Missouri. For several years he studied under a private teacher in Belleville, Illinois; attended Augusta College in Kentucky in 1833-34; returned to St. Louis, and was engaged in commercial affairs from 1839 to 1860. Although having no formal education in business, Gay was a deep student of industrial and political economy from early manhood on. From St. Louis he moved to Louisiana where he became interested in manufacturing and planting. He was prominently connected with the erection of the Merchant's Exchange Building in St. Louis., and was the first president of the Louisiana Sugar Exchange of New Orleans. Gay was originally opposed to secession, but once the American Civil War broke out, stood firmly behind the Southern Confederacy.

[edit] Political career

Although not inclined towards politics, in 1884 his friends and associates convinced him to run for Congress. Gay defeated William Pitt Kellogg, the last survivor of carpet baggerism in Louisiana, becoming a member of the 49th Congress as a Democrat. He was re-elected to the 50th and 51st Congresses and died at his home, the St. Louis Plantation, on May 30, 1889 while still in office. Gay is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis.