Ann Williams Bay

Ann (Hannah) Williams was born in August 1747. She was the daughter of Albany innkeepers Thomas and Maria Van Hoesen Williams.

In December 1768, she married newcomer and Maryland native John Bay at St. Peter's Anglican church. The union produced five children including two physicians and an attorney. However, their names were absent from a list of church members dated 1771.

The Bays first made their home in Albany where John Bay taught school and sought to establish a legal practice.

By the late 1770s, they had re-located to Claverack where Bay practiced law and went on to serve several terms in the state Assembly before his death in 1818.

Ann Williams Bay died in 1845. According to traditional sources, she had lived nearly a hundred-and-two years.

Sources: The life of Ann Williams Bay is CAP biography number 6289. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.