Biography of William H. Gray, Clatsop Co., Oregon
Surnames: Gray, Dix

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Transcribed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
W. David Samuelsen - April 2002
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History of the Pioneer Presbyterian Church of Clatsop Plains
undated, but early. Typewritten.

William H. Gray, the 11th child of a Scotch Presbyterian minster, was born in
Fairfield, new York on September 8, 1810. As a young man he studied cabinet
making and medicine. In 1836, he joined the Whitman-Spalding party as a lay
worker. Dr. Whitman settled on the Snake River to work among the Nez Perce
Indians. During his first year with the mission, Gray was kept busy erecting
buildings and improving the properties at Wailatpu and Lapwai. (Near the
present Walla Walla, Wash.) Then he was sent back east for supplies and to
recruit more workers for the mission staff.

This return journey almost ended his career. For, in addition to the normal
hardships encountered, the party was captured by hostile indians, robbed of
all their possessions and turned loose to make their way as best they could
without the aid of their indian guides who had been killed in the skirmish.
Undaunted, Gray pursuaded two missionaries and their wives to sign up witht he
American Board of Missions and secured a lifetime partner for himself when he
married Mary A. Dix. In 1838, he set out for the second time, to make the long
difficult trip over the mountains to the promised land.

Upon arriving at the mission, Gray was assigned to Lapwai as Mr. Spalding's
assistant. Gray, when he first joined the American Board, had been promised a
post of his own. When, for various reasons this promise was not fulfilled, he
asked to be relieved of his responsibilities and left the mission in 1840.

He moved to Salem and went to work as a lay worker for the Methodist Mission
at a salary of $400 a year. During this period he was active in the Wolf and
Champoeg meetings and worked hard to establish a provisional government. He
was elected to the first Legislature.

In 1846, Gray moved to a farm on Clatsop Plains. Once again he made a trip
back est; this time to purchase sheep for his farm. After successfully
negotiating his third journey "West", the sheep were all drowned when a sudden
storm upset the barge just as Gray was almost home.

The Gray family moved to Astoria in 1855. From then on, he engaged in many
varied enterprises - built and operated a saw mill, mined, built and operated
a supply ship to the mining camps, and wrote the first History of Oregon.

His final act of public service was to initiate a drive to raise money for a
suitable memorial for his old friend and co-worker, Dr. Marcus Whitman.
Although Gray did not live to see the marble shaft erected, he and his wife
now rest under a shaft of their own beside that of Dr. Whitman's.