William Franklin Gay was the son of George Ewing Gay(1833-1896) and Mary Miranda Henton Barbee (1839-1926).

Their children were:
Thomas Napolean Gay February 15, 1858
William Franklin Gay February 15, 1858
George M.S. Gay September 30, 1865
Virginia Ann Gay February 22, 1860
Leilah G Gay January 31, 1865
Beulah A Gay August 31, 1867
Thomas Edward Gay January 17, 1878
Ellie E Gay March 31, 1871
C.E. Gay September 11, 1874
Pearl Gay August 18, 1876
Earnest Lois Gay August 7, 1878
Genoa Gay December 24, 1880
Sam Houston Gay December 20, 1882

George Ewing Gay was the son of Thomas Gay (1805-1839) and Eleanor HOPE. She was subsequently married to Luke Roberts.
Thomas Gay and his brother, James, both had settlements named for them - "Gay Hill", in both Washington and Fayette Counties.

GAY HILL, TEXAS (Washington County). Gay Hill is on Farm Road 390 twelve miles northwest of Brenham in the rolling hills of northern Washington County. The town was an educational and religious center on the La Bahía Road in early Texas. Rev. Hugh Wilson established the second Presbyterian church in Texas there in 1839. Presbyterians from throughout the republic met in the community, then known as Chriesman Settlement, to organize the Brazos Presbytery in 1840. By 1840 the Republic of Texas established a post office in the new town under the name Gay Hill, after the owners of the town store, Thomas Gay (1805-1839) and William Carroll Jackson Hill.
The beautiful forested hills and healthy climate attracted prominent early Texans, including residents Horatio Chriesman, R. E. B. Baylor, John Sayles, and Dr. George C. Red.
Horticulturist Thomas Affleck's Glenblythe Plantation was located in the Gay Hill vicinity. Old Gay Hill served as the supply point of a moderately prosperous agricultural area. In 1854 a Masonic lodge was founded there.
Between 1853 and 1888 Rev. James W. Miller operated Live Oak Female Seminary in Gay Hill.
By 1860 the town had flour and lumber mills and a population of 280. After the Civil War a cotton gin augmented the town's prosperity; retail establishments continued to thrive. The Masonic lodge and Presbyterian and Baptist churches were active. During the 1870s the town had a Grange and a Democratic Club. The Republican party remained strong among Gay Hill's black residents, despite Greenback party efforts.
When the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway extended to the Gay Hill vicinity in 1881, residents moved the town to its present location, two miles west of the original site. The former location is sometimes called Old Gay Hill.
Gay Hill's population was 120 in 1890. By 1900 Germans were the dominant ethnic group. The town became a distribution center by the early twentieth century. Cotton buying and ginning sustained this station on the Santa Fe through the Great Depression.
By 1936 Gay Hill had an estimated population of 250 and ten businesses. The nearby Sun oilfield, which opened in 1928, and its pipeline enabled the town to maintain a variety of retail and commercial establishments through the early post-World War II era. The decline of cotton and rise of ranching in the area hastened the town's demise as a distribution center and supply point.
The population declined to 200 by 1958, and businesses decreased to five.
The last store closed in 1971, when many residents had moved to Brenham. In 1993 the estimated population was 145, and the community had no businesses; its economy depended on ranching. It had two churches, a cemetery, and lodge hall.

GAY HILL, TEXAS (Fayette County). Gay Hill is on State Highway 71 six miles southeast of La Grange in eastern Fayette County. The settlement was named for James Gay, whose brother Thomas had established a Gay Hill community in Washington County. The Gay Hill in Fayette County grew around a plantation established during the days of the Republic of Texas.
The original community stretched along a low ridge that rose sharply to 370 feet above the broad Colorado River floodplain, which produced excellent crops of cotton and corn. Beginning in the 1960s the area excelled in producing grain, pecans, and improved pasture for cattle and horses. In 1986 the extended community included three cemeteries, St. Matthew's Church, and homes for twelve families.

1860 U.S. Census
William Gay
1858 Birth Texas
1860 Residence [Blank], Burleson, Texas, United States
1860 Age 2
Gender Male
State Texas
Place Burleson, Texas
Page 54 Family No. 350
Household
G E Gay (age 26)
M Gay (age 21)
Thomas Gay (age 3)
William Gay (age 2)
Virginia Gay

1870 U.S. Census
William E Gay
Gender: Male
1858 Birth Texas, United States
1870 Residence Texas
Age 12
Gender Male
Race White
State Texas
Page 25 Roll 1870 Film Number 12
Household
George E Gay (age 35)
Mary H Gay (age 32)
Thomas W Gay (age 14)
William E Gay (age 12)
Virginia H Gay (age 10)
Bula Gay (age 2)
Thadeus E Gay

GAY, WM F (1900 U.S. Census)
TEXAS , BURLESON, 1-PCT
Age: 42, Male, Race: WHITE, Born: TX
Series: T623 Roll: 1615 Page: 28

1900 U.S. Census
Wm F Gay
Gender: Male
1858 Birth Texas
1900 Residence Burleson, Texas
1900 Age 42
Race White
Marital Status Married
Marriage Est. Year 1881
Enumeration District (ED) 0038 Page 7 Family No. 128
Ethnicity American
Household
Head Wm F Gay (age 42)
Wife Eola Gay (age 40)
Son Gary E Gay (age 16)
Son Herb H Gay (age 14)
Son Rex Gay (age 11)
Daughter Goldy Gay (age 9)
Daughter Alma Gay (age 7)