Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Gray, John W ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 9, 2007, 11:56 pm Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County JOHN W. GRAY is one of the leading Democratsof Joliet. In 1890 he was elected to represent the sixth ward in the city council, and has since been re-elected every two years, receiving large majorities each time, with the exception of 1898, when he ran on an independent ticket, against both Democratic and Republican candidates, and was elected by a majority of three. As a member of various committees he has been helpful in the work of the council, and has aided enterprises of undoubted value. At this writing he is chairman of the committee on parks and public property, and was a member of the same at the time Bush park was purchased and improved. Frequently he has been committeeman from his ward. In 1896, at the Democratic state convention held in Peoria, he was chosen to represent his district as state elector on the Bryan-Sewall ticket. From Governor Altgeld, in 1893, he received the appointment of chief state grain inspector for Will County, a position which he held until the close of that administration. For eight years he was a member of the Joliet library board, having been appointed to the same by Mayors Haley, Akin and Lagger. At the homestead in Joliet where he still resides, Mr. Gray was born October 27, 1856. His father, Lawrence, a native of County Langford, Ireland, and the son of a farmer, was educated in Dublin College, but left school at the age of eighteen in order to come to America. After a short time in New York City he went to Haverstraw, N. Y., thence to Poughkeepsie, and about 1852 settled in Joliet, Ill., where he was first employed by the Michigan Central Railroad Company, and has been in the employment of that company ever since. He married Mary, daughter of Patrick Doyle, who came from County Langford to America, and was employed on the New York Central Railroad in New York. Of five children now living, the subject of this sketch was next to the oldest. At fifteen years of age he became an employe of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, and for three years had charge of the elevator, after which he managed the transferring business. Later, for five years, he had charge of the Kensington yards in Chicago. On his return to Joliet he was given the superintendence of the outside work, but afterward was transferred to the office of the company. February 14, 1887, having resigned his connection with the railroad, he bought a stock of groceries from James Egan and began in business at No. 301 South Chicago street, where he continued in business until 1890. He then built a three-story block, 47x60, at Nos. 501-503 South Chicago street, where he has since carried on a grocery business. In addition to this business he was for ten years prior to 1898 a director in the Mutual Loan and Building Association. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, and is identified with the Sacred Heart Church. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Modern Woodmen of America, and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. During his residence in Chicago Mr. Gray married Miss Nora Rogers, a native of Ireland. They are the parents of seven children, the eldest of whom, Lawrence, is employed in the Illinois Pressed Steel plant. The others are Charles, Mary, George, Raymond, Melville and Catherine. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/gray1010gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb