Pioneers of Marion County by Wm. Wm. M. Donnel, 1872

Hezekiah Gay

Hezekiah Gay was a bachelor, and is well remembered for his eccentricities. For some time after his settlement in the township, he lived by himself in a rude shanty near the present site of Bennington, and was much occupied with speculative ideas of manufacturing machinery to be operated by the water power of the Des Moines river. Full of his plans of constructing an immense woolen factory, he was often seen with a miniature trough filled with water, taking the level of the river, to ascertain what height he should build his dam to have sufficient power. But there was other power needed than water, and this Hezekiah had not, either in purse or in credit; so the water power was never brought into service. He then became interested in a shingle machine; and this involved him to an extent that subjected the property to an execution. About this time Hezekiah was seen on his way to "Tool's Point," (now Monroe,) to procure a rope as he stated to a neighbor, to serve as a belt for his machine. This was the last seen of him in Perry, and to this day his whereabouts is unknown.