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Lydia Alice Copeland was born June 12, 1858, in Wayne County, Tennessee, the daughter of Joseph Matthew Copeland and Sarah Wade Cypert.
Lydia married Joseph Barton Lay on November 5, 1873, in Wayne County. Joseph Lay was born December 10, 1853, in Lawrence County, Tennessee, the son of Leonard Sampson Lay and Sarah Elizabeth Davis.
Joseph was a farmer. He bought 186 acres of land on Indian Creek in 1884 from his father-in-law. Joseph's family lived there in a log house until 1889, at which time Joseph built a new house for his family. Joseph also did carpenter work and made coffins. Joseph bought additional land and built a Barrel Stave Mill on part of his property. About 1918 a tornado destroyed the mill and this bankrupted the company. Joseph at one time owned over 430 acres of land in Wayne County. (Herman Lay, founder of Frito Lay Potato Chips, is a descendant of Joseph and Lydia.)
Lydia died January 3, 1936, in Wayne County. Joseph died there on February 21, 1936.
Children of Joseph Lay and Lydia Copeland
1. William Noah Lay, b. 1874, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1931; m. Alice Jordan in 1899, then m. Hulda Morrison Brewer in 1917
2. Ada Virginia Lay, b. 1876, Wayne Co, TN; m. S. C. Lum Robertson
3. Jesse Newton Lay, b. 1878, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1951; m. Bertha Parr, then m. Attie Hires
4. Joseph Leonard Lay, b. 1879, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1962; m. Emma Hinkle
5. Nannie Catherine Lay, b. 1881, Wayne Co, TN; m. D. M. Nichols, then m. W. F. Williams
6. Comer Clarence Lay, b. 1883, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1884, Wayne Co.
7. Roscoe McNeal Lay, b. 1885, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1886, Wayne Co.
8. Owensby Harrison Lay, b. 1888, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1889, Wayne Co.
9. Luther Brown Lay, b. 1891, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1984; m. Nina King
10. Sarah Elizabeth Lay, b. 1895, Wayne Co, TN; m. Ralph Cole
11. John Hall Lay, b. 1907, Wayne Co, TN; d. 1982; m. Juanita Farris