Joseph R. Gray
THE GRAY FAMILY
by Mrs. Anne Gray Davis of Royse City
The Gray family were very early settlers of Collin County. Joseph Ross Gray and his wife Olivia Allison Gray filed on land in 1853. The land survey still carried his name and is the Joseph R. Gray Survey. Adjoining that is the survey filed on by his brother, James A. Gray.
There is a family tradition or story that when the Grays were first living on their land west of McKinney the Indians were very troublesome in the early 50s. Once an alarm was sent out to run to the fort for the Indians were on the warpath. Olivia Gray was busy making her soap, doing the boiling in the fireplace inside the house. She sent the family on and insisted on staying behind to finish the soap. The Indians came and began attacking the house. Olivia grabbed an old dipper and began throwing boiling soap at the Indians, driving them away and so saved herself and her house.
The Grays were one of the 31 families who settled near the present community of Foote, in the Grays Branch Community. Joseph Ross Gray was one of the earliest surveyors of the county.
My father was Robert Lee Gray. His father was Joseph Allison Gray and he was reared over west of McKinney near the Foote community. Joseph was the son of Joseph Ross Gray and Olivia Allison. Joseph came in from Missouri and was among 30 families that settled near Old Buckner on Gray’s Branch.
Joseph supplied grain for the Confederate Army during the Civil War as recorded in the Collin Co. courthouse. The Allisons, Grays, Footes (Dr.) were all related by intermarriage.
Olivia Allison Gray died before the Civil War for there is a distribution and inventory of her property on record in the Collin Co. courthouse.
Dr. J. B. Wright and his family moved to the community from Hardinsville, Illinois in 1876 when their daughter was about 5 years old. Dr. Wright, who had been a surgeon in the Civil War, bought 1,000 acres of land just north of where Culleoka now stands. They were the parents of six children. His daughter, Lillian, married R. L. Gray. In 1887 Dr. Wright was elected to the Texas Legislature to represent Collin County. His sons were Dr. E. F. Wright of Royse City and Greenville, Dr. James B. Wright of Weatherford, Louis N. and W. W. (Tout) Wright also of Royse City. One child died in infancy.
Mrs. Lillian Wright Gray very clearly remembers when there were only a few settlers in the “Backbone” community. Among those families were: The Tants, Bass, Thompsons, Todds, Tarpleys, Middletons, Townsends. She recalls there was a cattle pen where Culleoka now stands. They drove to Longneck, north of where Princeton now stands with a wagon and team once a month to church meeting.
Mrs. Lillian Wright Gray was a 1871 graduated of Sam Houston Normal Institute of Huntsville and taught her first school at the Hobbins School house [1 mile west of Culleoka] in 1891, receiving a salary of $35 per month, out of which she paid $10 a month for room and board. She later taught about 1893 at a 2 teacher school at Longneck. She had previously taught at Clinton in the year 1892-93. Miss Allen was the assistant teacher. The recalls that when the neighbors needed a doctor, they came in a wagon from her father and then brought him back. He had been crippled during the Civil War and could not ride horseback.
The Wright family moved from the Culleoka Community in 1887 to the “Illinois Community” which later became Climax. They are buried in the old Van Winkle Cemetery near Climax. Elizabeth Higgins, wife of Dr. James B. Wright was also a school teacher, having taught in Illinois before and during the Civil War. She had taught for 15 years. She was the daughter of John Arnold Higgins and wife, Ruthie Ann Martin Higgins of Crawford County, Illinois.
My father moved to where I live at Burrow, Hunt County in 1899. The land on which he built his home was mostly in Collin County and extends almost to where Sabine school house stood. He built his house just over the line in Hunt County in order that he could go to Greenville to court, since the creeks and roads were so bad in that day. My mother Lillian Wright taught school at Sabine in 1902. She substituted for Mrs. Billie Gray McWhorter. I rode behind her on horseback and rode 2 miles.
by Mrs. Anne Gray Davis of Royse City
The Gray family were very early settlers of Collin County. Joseph Ross Gray and his wife Olivia Allison Gray filed on land in 1853. The land survey still carried his name and is the Joseph R. Gray Survey. Adjoining that is the survey filed on by his brother, James A. Gray.
There is a family tradition or story that when the Grays were first living on their land west of McKinney the Indians were very troublesome in the early 50s. Once an alarm was sent out to run to the fort for the Indians were on the warpath. Olivia Gray was busy making her soap, doing the boiling in the fireplace inside the house. She sent the family on and insisted on staying behind to finish the soap. The Indians came and began attacking the house. Olivia grabbed an old dipper and began throwing boiling soap at the Indians, driving them away and so saved herself and her house.
The Grays were one of the 31 families who settled near the present community of Foote, in the Grays Branch Community. Joseph Ross Gray was one of the earliest surveyors of the county.
My father was Robert Lee Gray. His father was Joseph Allison Gray and he was reared over west of McKinney near the Foote community. Joseph was the son of Joseph Ross Gray and Olivia Allison. Joseph came in from Missouri and was among 30 families that settled near Old Buckner on Gray’s Branch.
Joseph supplied grain for the Confederate Army during the Civil War as recorded in the Collin Co. courthouse. The Allisons, Grays, Footes (Dr.) were all related by intermarriage.
Olivia Allison Gray died before the Civil War for there is a distribution and inventory of her property on record in the Collin Co. courthouse.
Dr. J. B. Wright and his family moved to the community from Hardinsville, Illinois in 1876 when their daughter was about 5 years old. Dr. Wright, who had been a surgeon in the Civil War, bought 1,000 acres of land just north of where Culleoka now stands. They were the parents of six children. His daughter, Lillian, married R. L. Gray. In 1887 Dr. Wright was elected to the Texas Legislature to represent Collin County. His sons were Dr. E. F. Wright of Royse City and Greenville, Dr. James B. Wright of Weatherford, Louis N. and W. W. (Tout) Wright also of Royse City. One child died in infancy.
Mrs. Lillian Wright Gray very clearly remembers when there were only a few settlers in the “Backbone” community. Among those families were: The Tants, Bass, Thompsons, Todds, Tarpleys, Middletons, Townsends. She recalls there was a cattle pen where Culleoka now stands. They drove to Longneck, north of where Princeton now stands with a wagon and team once a month to church meeting.
Mrs. Lillian Wright Gray was a 1871 graduated of Sam Houston Normal Institute of Huntsville and taught her first school at the Hobbins School house [1 mile west of Culleoka] in 1891, receiving a salary of $35 per month, out of which she paid $10 a month for room and board. She later taught about 1893 at a 2 teacher school at Longneck. She had previously taught at Clinton in the year 1892-93. Miss Allen was the assistant teacher. The recalls that when the neighbors needed a doctor, they came in a wagon from her father and then brought him back. He had been crippled during the Civil War and could not ride horseback.
The Wright family moved from the Culleoka Community in 1887 to the “Illinois Community” which later became Climax. They are buried in the old Van Winkle Cemetery near Climax. Elizabeth Higgins, wife of Dr. James B. Wright was also a school teacher, having taught in Illinois before and during the Civil War. She had taught for 15 years. She was the daughter of John Arnold Higgins and wife, Ruthie Ann Martin Higgins of Crawford County, Illinois.
My father moved to where I live at Burrow, Hunt County in 1899. The land on which he built his home was mostly in Collin County and extends almost to where Sabine school house stood. He built his house just over the line in Hunt County in order that he could go to Greenville to court, since the creeks and roads were so bad in that day. My mother Lillian Wright taught school at Sabine in 1902. She substituted for Mrs. Billie Gray McWhorter. I rode behind her on horseback and rode 2 miles.
