A Brief Sketch of this Family in America
The first LeJays in America were probably Isaac LeJay and his wife, Madeleine Fleury, who arrived in South Carolina in 1685. They were granted 500 acres of land by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina. Isaac and Madeleine seem to have been part of the Huguenot flight from France. They may have been from Sancerre in the Loire valley in France's centre region. They were likely related (through Madeleine) to the Fleury family who were prominent in the Petit-Guerard colony of Huguenots in South Carolina. Isaac and Madeleine brought their five year old daughter, Magdelene, to America with them.
Few records of the LeJays in America seem to exist from the end of the 17th century until the middle of the 19th century, when LeJays turn up in Louisiana. Some authorities suggest that the relative invisibility of the surname was due to a general trend to drop prefixes such as "Le" and "La" from French names in America. That would account for the comparative abundance of names like "Jay."
Today in Louisiana and Texas, a significant number of LeJays are African-Americans.
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