Guide to the Gayley Family Papers
Open for research.
Samuel Maxwell Gayley was born in Ireland in 1802. He came to America in 1823. In 1828 he was licensed by the Reformed Presbytery of Philadelphia. He left the Reformed Church in 1833, becoming a member of New Castle Presbytery and accepting a call to Rockland Presbyterian Church, near Wilmington, DE. In addition to his pastoral duties, Gayley served as principal of the Wilmington Classical Institute. He died in 1862.
His nephew, Samuel Rankin Gayley, was also born in Ireland, in 1828. He arrived in America at the age of nineteen and joined his uncle in Wilmington, accepting a teaching position at the Classical Institute. He studied at Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1856 the Board of Foreign Missions assigned him to China. He sailed in October of that year, and died on the field in 1862.
The collection includes a commonplace book, essays and sermon notes of the elder Gayley, and two journals kept by the younger. There are also a few photographs of both men.
The journal in Folder 10 states that it is a continuation. The first part of this journal has apparently not survived.
SERIES 1: SAMUEL MAXWELL GAYLEY, 1821-1850
SERIES 2: SAMUEL RANKIN GAYLEY, 1856
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: December 1992
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 331 | |
| SERIES 1: SAMUEL MAXWELL GAYLEY, 1821-1850 | |||
| 1 | 2 | Commonplace Book, 1821-25 | |
| 1 | 3 | Essays, 1826-28, undated | |
| 1 | 4 | Rockland Church--Call to Gayley, 1833 | |
| 1 | 5 | Sermon Outlines and Notes, 1838-40 | |
| 1 | 6 | Wilmington Classical Institute--Circular Letter, 1848 | |
| 1 | 7 | Green Hill Church--History, 1850 | |
| SERIES 2: SAMUEL RANKIN GAYLEY, 1856 | |||
| 1 | 8 | Journey from NY to Shanghai--Journal, 1856 | |
| 1 | 9 | Transcript | |
| 1 | 10 | Journey to Hangchow--Journal (partial), undated | |
| 1 | 11 | Photographs of SMG and SRG |