January 15, 2008 - James M. Shay

I made a mistake earlier, the Potter County Biographical Sketches of Civil War Veterans was dated 1895 not 1898. It was the 30th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. That is where some of my info on William Heath, Jane Shay and Jane's parents came from. It even listed Jane's father as being a veteran who served in the 50th MO Inf. I have attached info on the Shay family and land records which can give us a clue on where the family homestead was located. Our Shay family were the only family with the last name Shay in Scott County, MO in the 1860's...therefore I have the right people.

Scott County historical society sent me an email this past weekend stating that Margaret Shay, wife of James Shay was buried in Miller Cemetery - South of Blodgett, MO in Sandy Woods, Scott County. Her grave stone says b. Aug 3, 1844 - d. Jan 12, 1868. They told me that this cemetery is in disrepair and it is in a location off a road that gets little use...many of the stones have faded or disappeared all together. James Shay's stone seems to be one of the missing ones. They are making a thorough search of cemetery records for him though. Hopefully I will hear back from them soon and hopefully they recorded Miller Cemetery's burial records before the stones faded.

I hope this is of some help.

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Thank you for the documents. I've shared your emails with my sister who in turn has shared them with her son. We are all very excited about this information.

I will indeed forward the HA Seeley Family Reunion info to you as soon as I get the date/place for the next one. For years it was held on the 3rd Sunday but this was then changed to the 2nd Saturday. The upcoming reunion is to be held in July but they are having difficulty finding a state park.

I've been appointed the family historian for the family reunion but I haven't done much research and/or work on it for several months. Your info has renewed my interest.

My uncle, Robert Seeley, has been doing a lot of research on the Katherine Heath side - he will be most pleased to get this info too!

Most of my family research is in storage; however, I do have some data/pictures on one of my computers. I'm also in the process of putting a photo album together of the Family Reunion. As soon as I have a draft done - I will forward the link to you.

Again, thank you for this information.