Nevada
County
Biographies
THOMAS B. GRAY
Prominently identified with the
business interests of Nevada City is Thomas Benton Gray. The Keystone state has furnished California
with a large proportion of its exemplary men whose warm sympathy and willing
hands have been prominent factors in the upbuilding of this great state. Among the number may be mentioned Mr. Gray,
who was born in Sunbury, Center County, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of
July, 1834. On the paternal side the
ancestry can be traced in this country back to 1620, when the Gray family was
founded in America. For many generations
the Gray’s were prominent in England, and Sir John Gray was killed at the
second battle of St. Albans in 1461. The
family crest was a lion couchant. Desire
Gray, a daughter of Edward Gray, married a Mr. Kent and with him came to
America in the Mayflower in 1620, she being the first white woman to land in
this country. Her brother, John Gray,
came later. He was a government pensioner,
having lost an arm in the English navy.
From him our subject is descended, being of the sixth generation
removed. In all of the wars of the
nation representatives of the name have loyally defended American rights. John Gray, the second of the name and a son
of John Gray, the first, was born in the latter half of the seventeenth century
and married Ruth Hebbard in Beverly, Massachusetts,
on the 28th of April, 1704, he died February 29, 1712, and his widow
afterward became the wife of Benjamin Webster.
John Gray, a son of John and Ruth (Hebbard)
Gray, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, May 17, 1707, and at Windham,
Connecticut, on the 26th of February, 1728, married Anne Hebbard. After her
death he wedded Catherine Gardner at Sharon, Connecticut, the wedding taking
place on the 18th of September, 1747. She was the great-grandmother of our subject
and died in Sharon in 1761.
James Gray, a son of John and
Catherine (Gardner) Gray the grandfather of our subject, was born in Sharon,
Connecticut, August 3, 1759. On the 26th
of March, 1786, in Sharon, he married Parthena White,
who was born in Sharon in 1768. They had
five sons and four daughters, of whom John White and James were born in
Rutland, Vermont, while the others were natives of Hartwick,
Otsego County, New York. In 1805 the
grandfather, James Gray, removed from Bath, Steuben County, New York, and with
his family settled in what has since been known as Gray’s Valley or Hollow, in
Tioga County, Pennsylvania. He owned a
tract of dense timber land a mile square, on which a few settlers lived in log
cabins, and in the forests there were many deer, elks, bears, panthers, wolves
and foxes. Gray’s Valley has since
continuously been the home of some members of the family. At present Lafayette Gray, a second cousin of
Thomas B. Gray is living there. The
grandfather, James Gray, died at the home of his son Victor, in Covington,
Pennsylvania, in 1845. He served
throughout the Revolutionary War, part of the time under his brother Captain
Silas Gray, of the Fourth New York troops.
He was in several battles, notably the storming of Stony Point, July 15,
1779.
On the maternal side Mr. Gray, of
this review, is also descended from old Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, Royal Cole, who was born in
Dutchess County, New York, in 1757, served in the war for independence in the
Fourth New York militia and also with Rhode Island troops. He was at the battle of Brandywine, Trenton
and Princeton and was with Washington’s forlorn hope at Valley Forge in the
winter of 1776. His wife, Hannah Cole,
acted as a nurse in the Revolutionary War.
They reared two sons and seven daughters and made their home in
Wellsboro, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, where they both died. The grandfather was ninety-seven years of age
at the time of his death, which was occasioned by patriotic excitement July 4,
1852. His wife was more than ninety
years of age when called to the home beyond.
John White Gray, the father of our
subject, was born in Rutland, Vermont, January 3, 1788, and removed with his
parents to Gray’s Valley, Tioga County, Pennsylvania. When the country again became engaged in war
with England he donned the uniform of the nation and went to the front under
General Harrison. During the Battle of
Chippewa he sustained a severe wound in the forehead from a well-directed saber
blow of an enemy. Prior to the War, in
1806, he had purchased the remaining time of his minority of his father for
three hundred dollars, and entered upon an active, useful and successful business
career. He founded the city of Covington,
Pennsylvania, and was for many years a leading politician in that state, being
twice a member of the Pennsylvania legislature.
He was a great admirer of Thomas H. Benton and Stephen A. Douglas,
having met them and worked with them in politics. He also enjoyed the personal friendship of
General A. C. Dodge, W. F. Coolbaugh and Henry Gear, all since United States
senators. It was Mr. Gray who first
named Mr. Coolbaugh in the Democratic convention as a candidate for state
senator of Iowa. In 1842 he removed from
Pennsylvania to Iowa, locating in the city of Burlington.
On the 16th of September,
1832, John White Gray married Miss Mary Susan Cole, in Gray’s Valley, Tioga
County, Pennsylvania. Thomas Benton, of
this review, is their eldest child. Amanda
Sarah, who was born March 15, 1837, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was married
February 4, 1857, to Homer H. Hemenway, at Lansing,
Iowa. He is now a lumber merchant of
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their
children, all natives of Lansing, Iowa, are Grant C., born January 8, 1858; Genett M. born December 8, 1860; Laura D., born November
17, 1864; Mabel G., born August 11, 1867; and Robert W., born April 26,
1872. Henry Clay Gray, a brother of our
subject, was born in Burlington, Iowa, August 15, 1842, and during the Civil
War became a member of the Chicago Mercantile Battery, which command was under
General Sherman in all of his operations in the west and protected his retreat
across the Yazoo River after his disastrous attack upon Vicksburg. Henry C. Gray married Matie
Mason, in Chicago, Illinois, in 1873, and is living in that city, where he has
long been a grain broker and a member of the board of trade.
After the removal of his parents to
Iowa, Thomas B. Gray remained with relatives in the Keystone state until
fourteen years of age, when he joined the family in the west. He acquired his preliminary education in the
public schools and completed his collegiate course in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in
1852. In 1854 he came to California and
engaged in mining in Sierra County for three years. On the expiration of that period he returned
to Iowa, where for a time he was connected with the educational interests of
the state as a teacher. He also learned
the printer’s trade in the office of the Burlington Hawkeye. In 1864 he again came to the west, locating
in Montana, where he carried on farming.
He also served as county assessor and county treasurer there for a
period of six years, and on leaving Montana removed to Virginia City, Nevada,
where he occupied the position of principal of the high school and was elected
county superintendent of public schools in 1882 for two years. On the expiration of that term he came to
Nevada County, California, and had charge of the schools here from 1884 until
1889. He was a most successful educator,
having the ability to impart clearly and readily the knowledge he had acquired,
and his faithful performance of each day’s duty gave him courage and
inspiration for the work of the next day.
He is now largely interested in mining, being the principal owner of the
Buckeye mine, which has yielded many tons of very rich ore. He also has the district agency for the
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, and in the various branches of his
business has met with creditable success.
In 1866, in Montana, Mr. Gray was
united in marriage to Miss Cornelia Brooks, a native of Missouri, and they now
have four children, all born in the Gallatin Valley, Montana: Nettie, the wife of J. W. Fly, of Bozeman,
Montana, born December 13, 1867; Lucy, at home, born October 16, 1869; Charles
R., born September 15, 1874; and Harry B., born December 11, 1871. The latter has recently returned from Manila,
being a member of Company C, First Montana Regiment of Volunteers, with which
command he participated in sixteen different engagements during his service in
the Philippine Islands.
In politics Mr. Gray takes an active
interest supporting the Democratic Party.
Socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the
Royal Arch chapter and Eastern Star. He
has filled the most important offices of the lodge and is a worthy
representative of the craft. His
identification with the educational and mining interests of Nevada County has
made his history an integral part of the annals of this section of the state.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 746-749. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2011
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Nevada County Biographies