My Genealogy Hound

JOSEPH W. GRAY, farmer; P. O. Lena; born in Miami Co., on the farm upon which he now lives, Jan. 22, 1846; is a son of Frederick and Ann (Chamberlin) Gray, who were both born in New Jersey. The grandparents, Samuel and Hannah Chamberlin, were also born in New Jersey, their ancestry coming from Germany. The grandfather, Frederick Gray, was also from Germany, but the grandmother Gray came from England. The parents, Frederick and Ann, came to Ohio in a very early day and located in Warren Co., where they lived several years, and while there their marriage occurred; thence came to Miami Co. and located upon the farm where Joseph now lives, which was nearly half a century ago; he came upon the place with very little cleared, merely a log cabin on it, and here he commenced to make a farm and a home; by his labor and industry, he was permitted to see the forests disappear, and waving fields of grain to appear in their stead, good houses and barns to take the place of the log cabins; in his later years he has been enabled to enjoy some of the benefits of his hard toils, and feel a satisfaction in leaving to his children comforts which he in his younger days did not have. They were parents of eight children, of whom five are living, viz., Samuel C., living in Indiana; Hannah Jane, now Mrs. Charles McGuire, living in New Carlisle, Ohio; Sarah; Henry C., living in Indiana, and Joseph W. Joseph W., our subject, was united in marriage Nov. 12, 1873, with Viola Roberts, daughter of William and Louisa Roberts, natives of Pennsylvania. They were the parents of three children, viz., Viola, Ida and Daisy. Mr. Gray and wife by their union have had two children viz., Jessie and Edith Ann. After their marriage, Mr. Gray located upon the home farm where they still reside. He is politically a Republican.