Joseph Gray (before 1715 1769) was a Colonial Virginia planter and politician. He served in the House of Burgesses from Isle of Wight County and Southampton County.Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography vol. 1 p. 247, available at hathitrust.org
Early life
Joseph Gray was probably born in Surry County, although his father also owned plantations in neighboring Isle of Wight County.Parramore, Thomas C. Southampton County, Virginia. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press for the Southampton County Historical Society, 1978. p.31. Gray could trace his ancestry to Thomas Gray who emigrated from England to the Jamestown colony by 1620, and bought land across the James River from the colony's capital, in what was then Surry County, but part of which became Isle of Wight County.Martha W. McCartney, Jamestown People to 1800 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore 2012 ) pp.178-179 His paternal grandfather, William Gray, served in the House of Burgesses. His father was either burgess William Gray Jr. or his brother Gilbert. Joseph Gray received an education appropriate to his class.John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5 (4th Edition, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc. 2005) vol. 2 pp. 206, 210-214
Career Like his father and other ancestors, Gray farmed using enslaved labor, and by his death owned at least three plantations, but also owed creditors significant amounts of money, as he acknowledged in his last will and testament.One compiler estimated 25 slaves were named, but the number may vary somewhat based on punctuation. See Southampton Will book 1-3 p. 412, image 509-510 of 847 in ancestry.com compilation of early Southampton will booksIsle of Wight voters elected Joseph Gray as one of their representatives in the House of Burgesses in 1736. It remains unclear whether he or his fellow burgess John Simmons succeeded Matthew Kenchin, who was elected one of the burgesses for that session but died before that session convened, though both men were clearly re-elected in the 1748-1749 session which created Southampton County.Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) p. 76 and n.13, 81 Although Gray was not elected as one of Southampton County's first representatives in the House of Burgesses, one of those first two, Thomas Jarrell, died before that assembly's second session and Joseph Gray succeeded him, then was re-elected alongside William Taylor, who had succeeded Ethelred Taylor.Leonard p. 85 and n.26, 87
Gray also was colonel of the county's first militia regiment.
Personal life Gray married Sarah, who survived him. They had at least two sons, Edwin Gray Sr. and James Gray, and daughters Mary, Ann and Sarah.
Gray served as churchwarden beginning some time before 1749, first in the parish in Isle of Wight County, then in Nottoway Parish, which was subdivided in 1762.
Gray wrote his last will and testament in August 1769 and died before the year ended, although the local court did not recognize his sons as executors until the next year. His grave site is now unknown. His grandsons Edwin Gray and John C. Gray served in the United States House of Representatives from southern Virginia in the early 19th century.
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