Eagle County CO Archives Biographies.....Gray, Elbert H. August 6, 1852 - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 10, 2006, 12:22 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Elbert H. Gray, a progressive and successful ranch and cattle man of Eagle

county, living in the vicinity of Basalt, is a native of New Jersey, born in

Morris county on August 6, 1852, and the son of George and Sarah (Corwin) Gray,

natives of the same state.  The father was a millwright and wrought at his trade

with industry and profit.  He supported the Democratic party in national

politics, and was a well esteemed man in his home neighborhood.  Six children

were born in the family, Elbert, Theodore T., Annie E., Frederick, George E. and

Joseph, all residents of New Jersey except the first born.  The parents belong

to the Methodist church and are prominent in its works of benevolence and also

in local social circles.  The oldest child, the subject of this review, on

completing his education in the public schools, learned his father’s trade under

the instruction of that estimable gentleman, spending three years in his

apprenticeship.  He then engaged in farming independently in his native county,

and continued this line of industry until 1881, when he came to this state and

located at Longmont in Boulder county.  Here he passed four years working on

ranches for wages, during which time he spent six months attending the State

Agricultural College at Fort Collins.  After leaving this institution in 1885 he

came to the vicinity of Aspen and worked on the ranch of G.W. Gillespie a year

for wages, then bought a ranch for himself at Emma, which he farmed two years,

then sold it at a profit.  He remained in the neighborhood, however, and during

the next two years conducted the affairs of a ranch which he rented.  He then

gave up farming and turned his attention to merchandising, acting as clerk seven

years for C.H. Mather.  At the end of that period he came to his present

location and purchased the ranch of two hundred acres on which he now lives, and

of which one hundred and seventy-five acres are under cultivation, producing

good returns for his labors in hay, grain, vegetables, cattle and horses.  He

belongs to the Odd Fellows, and the Woodmen of the World in fraternal life, and

in political allegiance is a firm and loyal Democrat.  On May 15, 1887, he was

married to Miss Anna E. Gillespie, a native of Kansas, and daughter of George W.

and Belle (Hull) Gillespie, who were born and reared in Kentucky and moved from

there to Kansas in early life, coming soon afterward to this state where the

father followed mining instead of farming as he had done in former residences. 

He supports the Democratic party in politics and he and his wife belong to the

Christian church.  They had a family of four children, Cora, wife of William

Tennis, of Aspen; Annie (Mrs. Gray), now deceased; Ollie, wife of Peter McCave,

of Aspen, and Gertrude, wife of Frank Allen, of Wyoming.  The parents of this

Mrs. Gray reside at Boulder.  In the Gray household three children were born of

the first marriage, Ernest, Harold and Beulah.  Their mother died on May 31,

1898, and on May 20, 1902, Mr. Gray married with Mrs. William (Scott) Tierney, a

widow with five children, Bertha, Gladys, Mabel, William and James.  The second

Mrs. Gray is the daughter of Timothy E. and Isabella (Birthwick) Scott, and was

born near Boston, Massachusetts.  Her parents live at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and

are engaged in farming.  The father supports the Liberal party in Canadian

politics, and both belong to the Methodist church.  Seven of their nine children

are living, Mrs. Gray, Ida (Mrs. Daniel Greenmyer), of Kansas City, Missouri;

Jennie (Mrs. Elmer Shryock), of Chicago; Eliza (Mrs. John Ridington), of New

Mexico; Alexander, of the Woody Creek vicinity, this state; Martin, of the same

vicinity; and Walter, living in British Columbia.  Mrs. Gray’s first husband,

William Tierney, was born at Toronto, Canada, in 1850, and died in Colorado on

April 18, 1897.  Both of his parents died when he was but a small boy, and he

was obliged to begin the battle of life for himself at an early age.  He became

a sailor and followed the sea for a number of years, visiting many lands but

confining his voyages mostly to places on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of

this country.  When he quit the sea he went to Alaska, British Columbia,

California, Arizona and South Dakota in search of gold.  In 1879 he came to

Colorado and located at Leadville in time to have the benefit of the boom at

that place in its early days.  In 1883 he moved to Independence and became

assayer and amalgamator in the mills of the Farewell Consolidated Mining

Company.  From 1884 to 1890 he lived in the neighborhood of Woody, where he

devoted his time to ranching and raising stock.  In December, 1890, he took up

his residence at Basalt and started a mercantile business, a line of commercial

activity of which he was the father in that locality.  His success was unusually

good and he became the most prominent man in that section of the state.  He was

energetic in every good cause for the promotion of its interests, and in its

fraternal and social life was a recognized leader, being an active member of the

Odd Fellows lodge, the only fraternal organization in the region in those days.

 On February 10, 1881, his marriage to Mrs. Gray occurred.  He died on April 18,

1897.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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