John Gray

Born [date unknown] in Ireland [uncertain]

Died 21 Nov 1751 in Timber Ridge, Augusta Co, VA

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Biography

Linn, Jo White (1976), The Gray family and allied lines: Bowman, Lindsay, Millis, Dick, Peebles, Wiley, Shannon, Lamar, McGee

The immigrant John Gray probably came to Virginia with Benjamin Borden in 1737, and bought a tract in Orange Co on waters of James River, NW side of Timber Ridge, in 1742 [near present-day Lexington VA]

His wife was named Agnes, surname unknown. Their children, as listed in John's will, were Jacob, William, David, Joseph, Benjamin, Ann, Samuel, John, and Elizabeth.

Samuel Gray bought land in the Borden tract himself in 1747, and was executor of his father's will and guardian of his younger brother Joseph. William was also of age at the time of his father's death, and was guardian of the younger brother Benjamin.

There are two different men named Samuel Gray, both of whom moved to North Carolina, and family histories claim each as the son of John and Agnes Gray of Virginia. Jo White Linn's book says that John and Agnes were parents of the Samuel Gray who appears in Henry County VA in the 1779 and 1780 tax lists, and is thought to have moved on to Randolph County NC about 1790, where at least two of his sons, John and Robert, had already settled. This Samuel does not appear in the Randolph Co. 1790 census. His descendants are discussed on the following web page:

http://www.momslookups.com/generations/gray.html

The other Samuel Gray moved to Tryon Co. NC and died there about 1775. For good treatments of this family, see the following sites:

http://members.aol.com/InmanGA/family.gray.html

http://familygenes.net/gray.htm

John's son William has been assumed to be the William Gray who settled in Guilford Co. NC and died there in 1794. However, this too is problematical: the other Samuel Gray also seems to have had a brother named William, who lived in Rutherford Co. NC.

Jacob Gray appears in land transactions in the 1750s in Augusta Co. VA, and has not been traced beyond that time.

David Gray served as a militia Captain in the Revolutionary War, and probably went with his brother Joseph to Washington Co. VA after the war.

Ann Gray appears to have been unmarried at the time of her father's death, whereas her sister Elizabeth received only a token inheritance, suggesting that she was already married and settled, and had received her share earlier.

Benjamin Gray was under age when his father died, and chose his brother William as guardian in 1759, when he was age 14, indicating that he was born about 1745. He ultimately moved to Kentucky, where he died about 1818.

Sources

• Source: S17 Text: Linn, Jo White (1976), The Gray family and allied lines: Bowman, Lindsay, Millis, Dick, Peebles, Wiley, Shannon, Lamar, McGee