Comments from Ronald Gray

(The following post comes from Ronald Gray. Ron went to Etowah County High School with Rob and I. Robby and I graduated in 1966, and Ron graduated in 1967. Ron presently lives in Pensacola, Florida, and is a professor at the University of West Florida. We have always wondered if our families were related. There are several possible connections – the names Theodore and William occur in his family too, and both Gray families, his and ours, come from the Carolinas. Ron's picture was scanned from our 1966 yearbook. You can reach Ron at rgray@uwf.edu.)

My Great-grandfather was Memory Theodore Gray born 1867 and died 1947. He was known as "Mem." However, Mem was the son of William Gray born 1828 in SC who in turn was the son of yet another William Gray born 1792 in SC and died 1857 in DeKalb County, AL--his probated will is in the county courthouse at Ft. Payne. My family "entered" or homesteaded Cherokee Cession Land in 1838 (this after the forced removal of the Cherokees from northeast AL as part of the Trail of Tears) at the federal land office located in Lebanon, DeKalb County (Lebanon then being the DeKalb county seat--it subsequently moved to Ft. Payne when the railroad line was constructed). I have no reliable information as to exactly where this family of Grays originated in SC. Some years ago, I researched SC US Census records and I discovered that there were numerous William Grays who "went West." It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, so I became frustrated and quite. Evidently, a very large percentage of the SC population chose to move West in the 1830s to new lands--"Gone to Texas" was common term used in SC to describe families who moved westward.

I discovered a Gray family in SC that might be related to mine. This family was descended from Frederick Grau (Gray) who was known as the "Old Hessian" who settled near Newberry, SC in 1757. This man received a land grant from King George II ("German George, House of Hanover, father of King George III). Frederick was reportedly from Potsdam and served in Frederick William I's army--father of Frederick the Great. Frederick Grau had a son George Gray who in turn had a son Frederick Gray who served in the Revolutionary War and subsequently the SC state legislature. This Frederick Gray was born 1758 in SC and buried at Calhoun Falls, SC located on the SC/GA border. When Frederick Gray died in 1837 his son William Gray was named in his will as executor. This William was born at the right time and moved west at the right time. So, it maybe he was the William Gray who appeared for the first time in the 1840 US Census in DeKalb County, AL--indicating he was born in SC in 1792. But, I have no conclusive proof to support this speculation.

Now, where your SC family ties in to this history, I have no clue. The US Census records are replete with SC Grays. But, I wager, we are cousins at a great distance.