Thomas GRAY, Sr. [905]

  General Notes:

Thomas Gray, Sr., and wife, Mary, came to Michigan in 1881. They owned a dairy farm in Rawdon, Quebec. He left Canada because the public schools had closed. Arriving in Sault Ste. Marie, he found property could be bought cheap. The boat crews and lumberjacks were filling the streets and drinking and fighting were the favorite pastimes. It was not to the liking of a man hunting a home for himself, his wife, and ten children.

He then went to Jolly's Landing on the boat, Northern Belle, and proceeded on foot to his wife's cousin's home in Stalwart - - the Reynolds and O'Brien families he knew in Canada. Thomas then filed a homestead claim on a piece of land on the Sand Ridge and sent for his wife and ten children, The children ranged in age from 5-year-old Edward to 25-year-old Mary plus James, Andrew, Robert, Thomas, Jr., Anna, George, Elizabeth, and Jane.

The stay on the homestead was of three years' duration - they found a better location at Stirlingville and bought a tract of land from James Hill (railroad people) at Stirlingville. The new home was quickly built of logs and was besides that of Mother Gray's brother, Gabriel Kerr. A spring of water was handy, a navigable river close by, a school and Presbyterian Church under construction, and also land the boys might buy.

Thomas Gray, Sr., had the misfortune to lose his arm in a shake mill while making shakes for his roof. How his grandchildren enjoyed the shakes used as toboggans in winter! About 1891 Thomas, Sr., died. He had established a cemetery on his land for his family. It was high and dry, he said. He was the first to be buried in it. Three days after his funeral, his only granddaughter, Mary (ROBERT's daughter), was buried beside him. ELIZABETH GRAY HILL was interred soon after.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. He was buried at the Gray Family Cemetery in Stirlingville, Chippewa, Michigan, United States in 1891. Gray Family Cemetery Photos (Gray Family Cemetery, Section 21, Gray Road , Pickford, Michigan 49774, United States.)

Thomas married Mary Jane KERR [906] [MRIN: 350] on 6 February 1855. (Mary Jane KERR [906] was born on 16 April 1836 in Rawdon, Matawinie, Quebec, Canada, died on 22 July 1924 in Cashmere, Chelan, Washington, United States and was buried on 24 July 1924 in Cashmere, Chelan, Washington, United States.)