My Genealogy Hound

W. J. Gray, clerk of the circuit court of Macon County, and son of William and Minerva T. (White) Gray, was born in Jackson County in 1844, and is the fifth of seven children, only two of whom are living. The father was born in Jackson County in 1808, and was of Irish extraction. He was married about 1829, and in 1851 removed to Macon County, and settled three miles northwest of La Fayette, where he resumed his farming. He died in 1867. He was one of the county’s most thrifty and well-to-do farmers. The mother was also a native of Jackson County; born in 1809 and died in 1862. She was a member of the Christian Church. Our subject’s grandfather, William Gray, was a native of Ireland, and after reaching manhood, and being married, immigrated to the United States, and located in Jackson County, Tenn., where he remained until his death. He was a farmer. Our subject was educated in La Fayette, and in the common schools. At the of age seventeen he entered the service in Company I, Ninth Kentucky Infantry (Union Army), and was engaged in the principal battles of the war. He was discharged in January, 1865, and returned home after nearly four years of gallant service. In 1869 he married Miss Prudie A., born in 1851, and the daughter of John W. and Polly Atkerson. To them were born two children: Marietta and Joseph G. Soon after his marriage Mr. Gray removed to the Cherokee Nation, but a few months after went to Illinois, and from there to Arkansas, and then to Macon County, Tenn., where he was soon after elected constable. He served two terms, and in 1880 was elected sheriff of Macon County, and re-elected in 1882. He then removed to his farm, and in 1886 was elected to the office of circuit court clerk. He has filled that office in a highly creditable manner up to the present. He has a good farm of 160 acres, well cultivated, and also has a house and lot in town; besides this he has over 240 acres in two other tracts. He is an ardent and active Republican in politics, and cast his first vote for Gen. Grant in 1868. He and wife are members of the General Baptist Church.