Ensign William Gray Sr. served with Colonel Daniel Morgan's Rifle Regiment, Continental Army during the American Revolution.
William was born 1755 in Scotland.
It is said he was an heir to the title of Earl of Gray. His parents were concerned for his life in Scotland as the firstborn male child. He came to the Colonies at an early age.
He Served as a Private and Ensign in regular service under General Daniel Morgan, known a "Morgan's Rifles".
He died Aug 14 1834 in Madison County, Alabama.
He was buried in Gray Cemetery, Madison County, Alabama. [1] Gray family Cemetery is still intact near Redstone Arsenal off Baruch rd. There was a Presbyterian church founded there. William's stone is not intact but Eleanor's is.
Research Notes
William Gray resided in Washington County, Pennsylvania when he joined the11th Virginia Militia.
William's early service under Daniel Morgan may have come in Morgan's expedition to the Northwest territories against the French and Indians. He mustered back in for the siege of Boston. This is similar to the record of the Maryland 51st Brigade that was assigned to the same campaigns. He would have come south to South Carolina to fight at Cowpens, Eutaw Springs and other smaller backcountry operations.
There is another William John Gray in the same family who died in 1807 of suicide in Scotland.
Familysearch gives both William John Gray 1754-1807 and this William Gray as William E. Gray, both born in same year [2]
Find A Grave: Memorial #13577707 states wife is Eleanor Wardlow, children as David, James,Wardlow, Margaret, William John Jr.,Thomas, Joseph (Joe) and Eleanor
There are more conflicts in the stories found.
Was it Eleanor Wardrobe or Wardlow? if Wardlow, She would be the widow of John W. Blackburn of Pennsylvania, b.1750- deceased who died with a son that died in Madison Alabama in 1854 some twenty years later than John Gray. Ancestry.com shows John William Gray as arriving in 1776 in Pennsylvania. There is a John Gray associated with Blackburns in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
If he was serving in the British Forces in Pennsylvania he would have been in the same theater as Daniel Morgan.
The Alabama combined surname index on Ancestry.com shows William Gray as a spouse to Eleanor (Wardrobe) Blackburn. Also as a second spouse William is married to Lucy Phillips.
He may have married widow Elizabeth Wardrobe in 1780 in Blount County, Tennessee. He was living in Blount County Tennessee between 1786 to 1796 by birth dates of his sons.
↑ FamilySearch Person: 9WY2-65K William E. Gray profile
William Gray received a land Grant in 1797 in Pendelton District and may have been a squatter there previously. His Grant is also identified as on Coneros or Coneross Creek. That would be near Seneca, SC.
William Gray, Land Grant. Land Claim in South Carolina, Book:
"Settlement of Pendelton District South Carolina 1770-1800" by Fredrick Van Clayton, c c.1988, citing pg.21
Meigs Commision Record: I found a letter of intrusion into Cherokee Nation in 1803 For John Gray to " bring forage to survey teams surveying the Tennessee line.
He settled in Choctaw nation before 1810, received Rev. War Land grant in Madison Ala. for 640 acres. (he may have settled in Muscle Shoals before Madison County was incorporated. (If before Cherokee withdrawal the area would have been Chickamaugua).
William was in first jury panel drawn in Madison in 1810.
Huntsville History Collection, William Gray 1755 - 1834
William Gray #118 bought Section 30, Range 1W and section 7, Township 4, Range W "The Heritage of Madison County, Alabama" The Madison County Book Committee., John P. Rankin, Chairman, pages 48, 215.
Obituary of William Gray published in Southern Advocate, Huntsville, Aug. 26, 1834.
Alabama Department of Archives and History , "Thomas McAdory Owen's Revolutionary Soldiers in Alabama" William Gray on wayback machine
Will of William John Gray, Huntsville Archives
Served as a Private under Daniel Morgan in Revolutionary War. He was in Militia, then mustered back in to fight Cornwallis in South Carolina. Settled in * Newspaper obituary in Alabama, and research on SC. Campaign that proves a William Gray was there under Daniel Morgan. He may have been militia or regular service.
DAR - In Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers and Patriots in Alabama, by Louise Milam Julich DAR, William Gray is shown as 1755-1834, born Perth Scotland, near Edinburgh. He served as a Private and Ensign in Virginia. Ensign rank is same as 2nd Lt. in other units. He was with General Morgan in regular service, his obituary was published in the Huntsville Southern Advocate 8-26-1834
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with William by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with William: