Joseph Gray (before 1715 1769) was a

Colonial Virginia The Colony of Virginia was a British Empire, British colonial settlement in North America from 1606 to 1776. The first effort to create an English settlement in the area was chartered in 1584 and established in 1585; the resulting Roanoke Colo ...

planter and politician. He served in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

from Isle of Wight County and

Southampton County Southampton County is a county located on the southern border of the Commonwealth of Virginia. North Carolina is to the south. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,996. Its county seat is Courtland. History In the earl ...

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 The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...

from the colony's capital, in what was then Surry County, but part of which became Isle of Wight County. His paternal grandfather, William Gray, served in the

. 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.
Isle 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. Edwin Gray (July 18, 1743 before June 1790) was a planter, patriot and politician from Southampton County who represented the county in the House of Burgesses, Virginia Revolutionary conventions, Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate. ...

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 The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from southern Virginia in the early 19th century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Joseph 1769 deaths House of Burgesses members people from Isle of Wight County, Virginia people from Southampton County, Virginia