My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in The History of Carroll County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Robert J. Gray, vice-president of the Citizen's Bank, of Eureka Springs, was born four miles west of Clarksville, Johnson Co., Ark. He is a son of William and Emma (Crothers) Gray. William Gray was born in Maryland in 1813, and came West as an army surgeon in 1835. He was an eminent and successful physician. During the Mexican War he served in the volunteer army service. He was elected colonel and given charge of Fort Gibson for ten months. After 1835 he served in the regular army as surgeon for several years. He was of Scotch-English descent, and was finely educated, having graduated from Harvard College. While a resident of Johnson County, Ark., he represented the county in the State Legislature, and was a candidate for re-election at the time of his death, which occurred on May 16, 1851, at Clarksville, Ark. His widow was born in New York, and is still living with her son, the subject of this sketch. Both parents were consistent members of the Episcopal Church. In 1852 the mother married John F. Hill, a veteran of the Mexican War, and a colonel in the Confederate army during the Civil War. He died in Clarksville in February, 1882. He was a Mason of high standing, and at one time was a member of the State Senate. Robert J. Gray was reared in Clarksville to the age of thirteen years, when, in 1859, he started in company with relatives across the plains to California, reaching there after a six months' trip. He remained on the frontier, engaged in farming, mining, etc., for eighteen years, when he returned to Arkansas. Locating at Clarksville, in 1876, he engaged in merchandising with John F. Hill, and continued for three years. In the spring of 1880 he came to Eureka Springs, and for seven years was engaged in the liquor business, after which he was elected vice-president of the Citizen's Bank, and was acting president of the same for six months. Mr. Gray is also a member of the firm of Freeman, Gray & Co., dealers in produce and stock. His marriage with Anna Doss, of Eureka Springs, was celebrated on June 20, 1883. Mrs. Gray is a native of Tennessee, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Gray is a Mason, a member of the K. of P. and I. O. O. F.

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This family biography is one of 82 biographies included in The History of Carroll County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Carroll County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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