“…although she goes by her married name Holmes and her second husband gets caught married to two women…”

~ Wilfred Gayleard

Not a lot is known about Henry Gayleard outside of his maritime records and the birth of his daughter Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard. I was actually contacted quite awhile ago by a lady in England who was doing research into Henry and Sarah Elizabeth and she had a great deal of information about Henry’s maritime activities and the life of Sarah Elizabeth and her family. There are no baptismal records that so far that I can find or any marriage certificate either. And also he never shows up in any of the census records of the time. He should have been in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 but he doesn’t as far as I can find. However since he was a mariner or in the navy they would have had records of him being there not at his place of residence. So the only only current family I can find of Henry is his daughter. But let’s put together what I can find.

Here are several of Henry Gayleard’s naval records, it is full of interesting facts…if they are correct. The first being that it states he is born in 1820, is 5 foot 1/2 inch tall, red hair, blue eyes, with tattoos on his right arm. And in all his records it states that he is born in Portsmouth. And in 1844 it states that he lives on 7 Crown st. It also shows what ships he served on. Henry was a sail maker by trade. It also shows that he joined the navy at age 14 in 1834.

Continue Reading: 4. Henry Gayleard 1820-1865