William Fairfax Gray was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, on November 3, 1787, to William and Catherine Dick Gray. As a land agent for Thomas Green and Albert T. Burnley, Gray first visited Texas in 1835. He attended the 1836 convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos and kept a detailed diary of its proceedings. Gray left Texas during the
Peter W. Gray, 1819-1874, son of William and Millie Gray, came to Houston, Texas with his family in 1838. He became a captain in the Republic of Texas army and second lieutenant of the Milam Guards. From 1841 to 1861 Gray served as district attorney of Houston. He married Abby Jane Avery in 1843. In 1846 he was elected to the first Texas state legislature, and there he authored the important Practice Act, regulating Texas court procedures. Gray was a founder of the Houston Lyceum, which later became the Houston Public Library. After Texas secession, Gray represented the Houston district in the first Confederate House of Representatives. He became a volunteer aide to General John Bankhead Magruder in 1863, and saw action in the battle of Galveston. In 1864 Jefferson Davis appointed Gray his fiscal agent for the Trans-Mississippi Department. After the war Gray started a Houston law practice and was the first president of the Houston Bar Association. For a brief time prior to his death, he was appointed associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court. Like his father, Gray was an active Mason and Episopalian.
Edwin Fairfax Gray, 1829-1884, son of William and Millie Gray, served in both the Republic of Texas Navy and United States Navy, and while in the latter, sailed with Commodore Matthew Perry on his historic trip to Japan in 1853. After resigning from the Navy in 1858, Gray was appointed Texas state engineer, and secretary/treasurer of Houston Tap and Brazoria Railway Company in 1860. He joined the 3rd Texas Infantry during the Civil War and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After the war Gray returned to engineering and often acted as an inspector for railroad construction. Gray had three children with his wife, Rosalie Woodburn Taylor Gray, whom he married in 1857.
Correspondence, diaries, legal documents and printed materials created by the Gray family or collected by them record events in Virginia and Texas from before the Texas Revolution to the Civil War. Those documents created by a Gray family member are arranged by individual. Contained in the William Fairfax Gray series are a handwritten Constitution of the Philosophical Society of Texas, a letter from James Madison, and an oath of allegiance to Texas made before Gray. A transcript of Millie Gray's diary covers the time period of 1832 to 1840, and documents her life in Fredericksburg, Virginia, her husband's move to and return from Texas, the family's journey to Texas, and life in Houston. In the Peter W. Gray series are correspondence with Nathan Fuller and Jefferson Davis in 1862, and a key to the writing of a Galveston secret society.
Documents collected by the Gray family are arranged according to material type and function. Seven letters written to Sam Houston and one written by him, document 1830s and 1840s Texas. Other notable correspondence is by former president Andrew Jackson, covering the approach of Texas annexation in 1844; Confederate governor of Texas Francis R. Lubbock, concerning martial law in Texas; and early Texan jurist and diplomat George W. Terrell, writing to Ashbel Smith and Lord Aberdeen of Britain. One of the 1000 printed copies of Col. Travis' March 3, 1836 letter from the Alamo reveals his situation there. A hand-drawn map documents the Texan defenses at Fort Defiance in Goliad in 1836.
Organized into nine series and nineteen subseries; arrangement is alphabetical and chronological.
None.
Open for research by appointment.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San Jacinto Museum of History. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Jacinto Museum of History as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Gift of George D. Sears, 1958.
Processed by Joel Minor, 2001.
[Identification of Item], Gray Family Papers, MC033, San Jacinto Museum of History, Houston, Texas.