Butte-Sacramento County CA Archives Biographies.....Gray, John C. 1837 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 30, 2006, 1:25 am Author: Fariss & Smith (1882) JOHN C. GRAY was born at Dresden, Lincoln county, Maine, on the second day of February, 1837. He is the son of Hon. John L. Gray of that state. Mr. Gray experienced considerable difficulty in acquiring an education. His early boyhood days were spent in. doing farm-work summers and attending school during a short period in the winters. However, he had acquired a good common-school education at the age of nineteen. Then he began to fit himself for a course in Waterville college, now the Colby university, being obliged not only to drill his mind therefor, but to make money enough, while preparing, to pay the expenses of such course. By practicing the most rigid economy, he was enabled to eater the freshman class of that institution of learning, in. August, 1859. Having to depend entirely upon his own resources, he taught school during the vacations, and in this laborious manner made his way through his junior year, when he left the college and entered the law-office of Hon. Artemus Libbey, of Augusta, now one of the supreme judges of that state. After two years' close application to study, he was admitted in June, 1863, to practice in the supreme court of Maine. Having contracted a few debts while in college, and seeing but little chance of immediate release from them, he resolved to emigrate to California, which he did, arriving in Sacramento in July, 1863. There he clerked in a hotel for some time. In January, 1865, he came to Butte county and engaged in school-teaching at Morris ravine. In 1867, he became principal of the grammar school at Oroville, which position he held until June, 1872, when he resigned, and opened a law-office in Oroville. On the sixth of October, 1869, he was married to Miss Bella R. Clark, one of the teachers of Butte county, and a member of the board of education. By this marriage two children, a son and a daughter, have been born to them. In 1873, Mr. Gray was elected by the republicans to represent Butte county in the state assembly. He was chairman of the committee on public lands, and a member of the judiciary, elections and apportionment committees, In August, 1874, he bought the Oroville Mercury, with William De Mott, and acted as editor of that paper until 1878, when he sold his interest, his law business requiring his whole and undivided attention. He steadily built up a very lucrative practice. Mr. Gray took a very active part in advocating the adoption of the new constitution, doing effective work with both pen and voice. After its adoption he accepted the nomination for state senator by the new constitution party, and. made a thorough, canvass of the three counties of his district— Butte, Plumas and Lassen—but the ticket was defeated. While residing in the county he has been deputy county superintendent of schools six years, deputy district attorney one year, and a member of the board of examiners of teachers seven years. Mr. Gray is a member of the Oroville lodge, No. 103, F. & A. M., and has been master; he is at present high priest of the Franklin Royal Arch chapter, a member of the Oroville Commandery, No. 5, and is also a member of the Old Fellow lodge, and the encampment. He is one of the school board of trustees of Oroville, having held the place for four years. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, IN TWO VOLUMES. I. HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA FROM 1513 TO 1850. BY FRANK T. GILBERT. The Great Fur Companies and their Trapping Expeditions to California. Settlement of the Sacramento Valley. The Discovery of Gold in California. BY HARRY L. WELLS. II. HISTORY OF BUTTE COUNTY, From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. BY HARRY L. WELLS AND W. L. CHAMBERS. BOTH VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED WITH VIEWS AND PORTRAITS. HARRY L. WELLS, 517 CLAY STREET, SAN FRANCISCO 1882. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by HARRY L. WELLS, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. FRANCIS, VALENTINE & Co., Engravers & Printers 517 Clay St., San Francisco File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/butte/bios/gray551nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 4.6 Kb