Located in an area known as the "Pine Barrens" because the branches of the dense, virgin pine trees interlaced so tightly that they almost blocked the sun's rays and prevented the growth of ground vegetation, Colquitt County was formed from Thomas and Lowndes Counties in 1856. The county was named for Walter T. Colquitt, a Methodist minister, Georgia's most successful criminal lawyer, and a state senator. The 1860 Federal Census listed 1,360 residents in the county's 547.5 square miles. Set up as a buffer zone between the Seminole Indians of Florida and the Lower Creeks of Georgia, the area was considered by some members of the Georgia Assembly as "practically useless" and not worthy of state expenditures for road construction. From this inauspicious beginning, Colquitt County has grown to be a leader in agricultural, industrial, military, municipal, educational, historic, and artistic endeavors. Colquitt County continues to be a leader in all aspects of community life, from the early days of logging, naval stores, farming, and livestock production, to modern advances in education, manufacturing, agriculture, and the arts.

This book includes two different sections. SECTION ONE is the family ancestry and descendency of Zarobable Gay. The SECTION TWO is the family ancestry and descendency of Simon Gay. Both of these family lines settled in Colquitt County, Georgia Wills, Cemetery Records, Census Records, books, land deeds, military records, church records, etc. were used to write this book. Many hours of labor, were required to complete this data. Library research, microfilm records, reading many books, so much more. A must have item for the GAYRE or GAY family member.

Their songs insist that the arrival of the railroad and the appearance of the tiny depot often created such hope that it inspired the construction of the architectural extravaganzas that were the courthouses of the era. In these buildings the distorted myth of the Old South collided head-on with the equally deformed myth of the New South."

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