sentences:  He studied law with Phineas L. Tracy, attained admission to the bar in 1820, and commenced practice with in Batavia, New York as Tracy's partner.Lay served as Treasurer of Genesee County from 1825 to 1831.He was elected as an Anti-Masonic Party candidate to the Twenty-third Congress and reelected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1833 – March 3, 1837).