6 
Indiana University Studies 
A Topographical Description regarding the author's early life 
in “the back parts of America” offers nothing substantial — 
and again between 1778 and 1783 make it impossible, until 
further information is available, to arrive at a definite con- 
clusion; but all of the facts which have so far come to light 
strengthen the probability that the Gilbert Imlay named in 
the court records of 1761 was the same Gilbert Imlay who, 
sixteen years later, was listed in the roster of the American 
army as a first lieutenant and accredited to Monmouth 
County, and who, shortly after the war, appeared on the Ken- 
tucky frontier. The statement on the title-page of A Topo- 
graphical Description that the author served as a captain in 
the American army during the Revolution is made plausible 
by the fact that the title of captain was commonly given to 
him by the ex-soldiers who were his neighbors in Kentucky.® 
The official records of military service now extant neither 
prove nor disprove his claim: all of importance that may be 
had from them is that Imlay was a first lieutenant in Forman’s 
Additional Continental Regiment from January 11, 1777, to 
July. 1778, where he served under Captain Burrows, and that 
he had enlisted for the duration of the war."^ 
example, in giving the date of the grandfather’s death as 1750 and that of the grand- 
mother’s death as 1754, as well as in the assertion that the grandmother’s name was 
Maiy Imlay, instead of Alice Imlay, as she is called in both her husband’s will and her 
own. These errors are perhaps partly responsible for the contradictory statements 
which occur in this account : in the course of a single paragraph it is asserted that 
Gilbert Imlay was born in or about 1755, that his grandmother mentioned him in her 
will, and that she died in 1754. For the facts involved in this discussion, see the 
following documents: the will of Robert Imlay, made June 12, 1754, and proved 
December 10 of the same year (2021 M of Wills, office of the Secretary of State of 
New Jersey) ; and the will of Alice Imlay, widow, made June 7, 1761, and proved 
August 17 of the same year (2649 M of Wills, as cited above). In the latter, Alice 
Imlay mentions her son Peter’s children — Robert, Peggy, and Gilbert — in the order 
named. It seems reasonable to suppose that she named them in the order of their ages ; 
and, if so, her provision that Robert was to receive the interest on her bequest when he 
should become ten years of age has an important bearing upon the question of Gilbert 
Imlay’s age at this time. As for Gilbert’s share in the bequest of his grandmother, 
he was to receive no benefit except in the event of Robert’s death. I have found no 
information regarding Gilbert’s mother ; but his stepmother, it seems, was a Mary 
Holmes, who married Peter Imlay in 1762 (see marriage license, Vol. UK, p. 22, office 
of the Secretary of State of New Jersey ; and c/. Lee’s Genealogical and Personal 
Memorial of Mercer County, Netv Jersey, II, 634). That Gilbert’s father was at one time 
the possessor of moderate financial means is shoAvn by the fact that he acknowledged the 
I'eceipt of £825 as his share of the proceeds of his father’s estate and was the heir of 
both the personal and real property of his mother. 
® In court records and correspondence cited below. 
‘ Cf. Heitman’s Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the 
War of the Revolution, p. 237 ; Stryker’s Official Register of the Officers and Men of 
Nciv Jersey in the Revolutionary War, p. 427 ; and MS. 3777, p. 4, in the office of the 
Adjutant-General of New Jersey. The fact that Imlay’s name appears in the Casualty 
