GRAY

More Questions than Answers

The first and only concrete piece of GRAY family information that I have is that Catherine GRAY was married to John GILSTRAP, probably in Burke County, GA (because that is where he lived) and probably on 3 OCT 1805 (because that date passed down one of her children's families).

So, who was Catherine GRAY? Where was she born on 10 FEB 1786 (her birth date per her obituary)? Who were her parents?

Take these many questions and set them into Burke County, GA - a county with few early records that survived its 2 courthouse fires. Yippee.

GRAYs in Burke County, GA

  • Catherine GRAY - 1766 - a widow in GA for 1 year, with 4 children, asks for 300 acres on N side Briar Creek near Absalom WELLS. Granted MAY 1767. This record is interesting because I believe Absalom WELLS/WALLIS/WALLACE has ties to the Gilstrap family.
  • James Gray - 1759 - wife and 6 children, have been in GA many years, asks for 100 ac. in Halifax District
  • James Gray - 1762 - land grant, wife, 5 children, 3 slaves; land next to Richard Wallace
  • Matthias GRAY - 1766 - has a wife and 2 children, asks for 250 acres on Rocky Comfort Creek
  • Matthias GRAY - 1783 - granted 250 acres of land between Buckhead and Quaker Road - again names with ties to the Gilstrap family. In 1788, Ann GRAY, wife of Matthias, petitioned the courts.
  • Elizabeth GRAY - bc 1765 Burke County dc 1823 m. William McCORMICK b 1770 Lincoln Co., SC. Their children were: William, Mathias, John, James, Jeremiah, Sarah, and Dicey. Again, these names have ties to the Gilstrap family. Who were Elizabeth's parents?
  • James GRAY, Esquire - b. 1742 Aberdeen, Scotland died 20 FEB 1804 in Burke County, GA leaving a wife, son, and daughter.

GRAYs in Pulaski County, GA

On 6 July 1818 in Pulaski County, GA, John Gilstrap, husband of Catherine GRAY, was made guardian of Thomas GRAY and Willoughby GRAY, orphans of Mathias GRAY, dec'd. No other estate papers of Mathias GRAY have been found. Could this Mathias GRAY have been Catherine's brother or father?

Any information about the GRAY families of Burke or Pulaski County is appreciated.