Sutter County
Biographies
JAMES
C. GRAY
JAMES
C. GRAY. One mile west of Yuba City lies the quarter
section of land which Mr. Gray inherited at the settlement of his father’s
estate and which, under his capable supervision, has been transformed from the primeval
condition of nature into a well-improved and valuable farm, having, in addition
to the acreage used for pasturage and the raising of crops, a small vineyard
and thirty acres in peaches, pears and cherries. One of the owner’s specialties is the raising
of cattle and horses, in which, while not engaged upon a large scale, he has
gained a local reputation and encouraging success. Besides his own farm he rents one hundred and
sixty acres adjoining, which property is owned by a sister.
About 1829 James Gray left his
native Scotland and crossed the ocean to the United States, where he followed
the trade of a millwright in the east.
In an early day he settled in Iowa and took up land forty miles north of
Keokuk, where he remained for a few years.
Later he became a pioneer of Hancock county,
Ill., where he made his home at the time that Joseph Smith was killed in the
jail at Carthage, the county seat, and during the Mormon struggles of that
period he was an active factor in forcing them to leave that part of the
country. In 1855 he came by ox-team and
wagon to California and rented raw land two miles from Yuba City in Sutter county, but later bought a squatter’s title nearer
town. By purchases from time to time he
gradually acquired eight hundred acres of land near Yuba City and there carried
on ranching pursuits, besides which he owned and operated a threshing
machine. A man of strong physique, he
was active until the illness came that resulted in his death, in July 1868, at
sixty-four years of age. Though never an
officeseeker [sic], he was a staunch supporter of the
Republican party and never failed to cast his vote for
its principles. In his native country he
was reared in the Presbyterian faith and always afterward affiliated with that
denomination, to which his wife, Mary (Carr) Gray, also belonged in Scotland
and the United States. Her death
occurred the same year as his own. They were the parents of seven children,
namely: Robert John, deceased; Jane Ann, Mrs. Pratt, a widow, living in San
Francisco; Mary Ann, deceased; James C., the subject of this narrative; William
J., who died at fifty-seven years of age; Alexander, a resident of San
Francisco; and George, who was twenty-four at the time of his death.
During the residence of the family
in Hancock county, Ill., James C. Gray was born
January 8, 1842. When a youth he
accompanied his parents to California and during the entire journey, for
one-half of each day, he drove four yoke of oxen. After crossing the plains he settled on a
tract of land with his parents, whom he aided in the making of improvements
necessary to the building up of a homestead.
On the division of the estate he inherited one hundred and sixty acres
wholly destitute of improvements, and his has been the difficult task of making
the tract profitable as a means of livelihood and comfortable as a home for his
family. Desiring to secure a market for
his fruit, he was a prime factor in the establishment of the Sutter Canning and
Packing Company of Yuba City and was chosen the first president of the same,
filling the office for ten years. After
the plant had been operated about fourteen years it was sold to the California
Canning Association, and has since been operated by them.
May 6, 1868, Mr. Gray married Miss
Ellen A. Plum, a native of Vermont, but from childhood a resident of
California. Born of their union are
seven children, namely: James Clarence, who is employed as roadmaster’s
clerk for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at Marysville; Rosa Belle, at
home; Walter Scott, who is a dentist at Marysville; Etta, wife of Dr. C. H.
Stocking, of Los Angeles; Blanche, Allen E. and Florence, who remain with their
parents on the home farm. Like his father, Mr. Gray has always been an active
Republican, but has never cared for official honors, preferring to devote his
time and thought to the cultivation of his property. In fraternal relations he is connected with
Enterprise Lodge No. 70, F. & A. M., at Yuba City, and is a devoted
champion of the high principles for which Masonry stands.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source:
“History of the State of California and
Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley, California” by J.
M. Guinn. Pages
625-626. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2017 Doralisa Palomares.
Golden Nugget Library's Sutter County
Biographies