The Tiverton Grays are descended from a long line of Grays which are claimed to go back to Rollo, Viking invader and conqueror of Normandy, France. Valiant service during a 1066 expedition to England with William the Conqueror earned the Grays high position in political circles. The Gray family history is a long and distinguished one.
Bapt. 15 Apr 1623, England; d.30 Jun 1681, Plymouth, MA. Married 1st Mary Winslow, a Mayflower passenger, on 16 Jan 1650. Married 2nd Dorothy Lettice 12 Dec 1665. Edward was a successful merchant and active in town affairs, Edward left the largest estate in Plymouth up to that time. He was a purchaser of nine shares out of thirty in the group that bought the area that became Tiverton, RI. Edward is listed on the Grand Deed with the other partners.
Children:
1st Wife, Mary (Winslow)
Born 31 Jan 1667, Plymouth, MA.; d. 1726 Tiverton, RI.; Married 1st Mary (Smith), 2nd Mary (Manchester). Edward went to live in Tiverton in 1696. He was active in town affairs. Edward is buried on the lot in back (EAST) of the town farm house shown as it looked in mid 1996. It was one of the oldest homes in Tiverton. He has no marked grave. Spot shown on an old Tiverton map by a cross. (Plat 15, Book 1, Town Hall. It says: Old Edward burying place). Edwards will was proved 7 Jun 1726.
Children:
1st wife: Mary (Smith)
Born 2 Feb 1704 in Tiverton, he died 26 Feb 1773. Married 1st Elizabeth Sweet, 21 Mar 1722; m. 2nd Sarah Bennet, 19 Nov 1729. Thomas will entered in Book 2, pg. 195; Tiv. probate.
Children:
1st wife: Elizabeth (Sweet)
Born 27 Jan. 1729; m.2 Nov 1747 Abigail Brown; d. 8 Nov. 1803 in Tiverton when he went there from Bristol to attend the funeral of his son John. Col. Thomas bought a large tract of the Mount Hope lands in Bristol, RI. from Nathaniel Munroe on January 17, 1769, (Bk. 3, Pg. 220) and settled there. In 1776 he was commissioned as Captain of the Ninth Company, to be raised in the counties of Newport and Bristol. He was next commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the First Regiment, Bristol County, and later Colonel of the same. He died in Tiverton where he had gone to attend the funeral of his son John. His wife Abigail (Brown) died in Bristol on September 14, 1813 at the old homestead on Metacom Avenue. Both are buried in Legion Hall cemetery. Col. Col.Thomas Gray will. Abigails will.
Children:
- Abigail b. 1752; Tiv.; m.Hezekiah Peck 8 May 1791, Swansea, MA.
- Meribah b. Tiv.; m.Steven Munroe
- John b.1757 Tiv.;(1748 LDS); d.4 Nov 1803; m.Martha (Layton?), 26 Sept.1775.
- Pardon b.1764 Tiv.; m.Reliance Davis 14 Jan 1786; d.16 Aug 1826 Bristol.
- Ruth b1765 Tiv; m. Thomas Waldron 20 Nov 1776/8
Born 14 Jun 1725; d.21 Jun 1775; m.6/7 Jan 1746 Sarah (COOK). Edward lived at the "gut". These Grays went to Swansea, MA. Edward and his wife buried at Common Burial Ground, Farewell St. Newport, RI.
Children:
Born 3 Sept 1753; d.Fall of 1783 at sea coming from the West Indies in the employ of Capt. J. Cook in a merchant vessel. He was a Lieutenant in the Revolutionary War. Captured by the British and taken to England with his brother-in-law Philip Corey in the ship "Swallow". He wrote a letter home telling of his adventures. The letter is now in the National Archives. He was married to Nancy (Corey) who filed a pension application in her later years.
Children:
Born 1757? 1748?; d.4 Nov 1803; John lived at the "gut", house gone in a hurricane, he is buried in Legion Hall cemetery. Johns will is in Tiv. book 6, pg 2.
Children:
Birth date unknown, died before 7 May 1821, he married Sarah Gray, dau. of David and Nancy (Corey). There is not much available concerning this Edward Gray. Any contributions would be appreciated. Edwards farm was deeded to Joseph Church Jr. by the family in 1838.
Children:
Ellerys parents were distant cousins which makes for a rather unusual looking family tree. He was born 26 April 1813, Tiverton, RI., m(1) Elizabeth McKernan 16 Jul 1837, Fall River, MA., m(2) Betsey Jane (Negus) 28 Oct 1855, Fall River. Ellery is listed as a mariner and laborer in the Fall River city directories. He enlisted in the army on March 5, 1864, saw action in and around Petersburg, VA. and was captured at Poplar Grove Church Sept. 30, 1864. He was taken to a prison at Salisbury, NC. where he died Nov. 25/26, 1864 of disease and probably starvation.
1st Wife: Elizabeth (McKernan), d.17 Sept 1853, F.R.
Children:
Children:
Born in Fall River in 1849, William was in Northboro, MA. by 1871 where he married Olive Eldora Sylvester on the 18th of May that year. He was at times a shearer, shoemaker and junk dealer. He and Olive were divorced about 1885 and William died in Fall River during the influenza epidemic of 1917/18 on October 28, 1918.
Wife: Olive E. (Sylvester), b.4 Jan 1850; d.8 Apr 1919, Princeton, MA.
Children:
Clifton E. Gray was born in Worcester, MA. June 22, 1885. He married Jennie Knight (Blanchard) on June 22, 1911 in West Boyleston, MA. He was a farmer and self employed in the lumber business. He died in Amherst, MA. April, 1948
I am looking in particular for other descendants of Ellery and his brothers and sisters. I would like more information on Ellery and his father Edward. Edward is quite a mystery. Ellerys son Edward married Bridget Wallace Nov. 20, 1860. They had a son Edward born 18 Feb 1861 who married Annie J. Finnegan 25 Oct. 1883. Ellerys son Edward served in the Navy during the Civil War and moved to Providence, RI. in the late 1890's. If you have any information concerning any of these people please email me, Rodney E. Gray at wyarg@juno.com.
If you have a line that reaches back to one of these people and you would like to have it added to this genealogy, please e-mail me at the above address and I would be happy to include it.
Related lines: Blanchard, Roberts, Wright, Sylvester.
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