Three Gray Families
and Possible Connections
These three Gray families may not even be related to each other, but then, again, they might. They are included here to further the possibility of contact with other researchers who may have information that could shed light on possible connections. The Gadsden and Millville Grays are in a separate database from my mainline Grays, and have been submitted to the Rootsweb Worldconnect project.
Geneva County, Alabama, Grays
The family of Joseph and Mary Gray of the Marl area of Geneva County is my primary line of research. We have not yet been able to track them into North Carolina, but research has led to these other two families.
Gadsden County, Florida, Grays
This Gray family is included here simply because they were located in Gadsden County at the same time as the Holland family I am researching there in connection with the Geneva Grays, and some of their neighbors married into a local Holland family. They lived in Concord, near Havana, on state road 12, which runs southwest several miles through Quincey and straight to the Sycamore area where the Holland family lived. Their place of origin is uncertain, as various censuses report Alabama, Florida and Georgia. So far, I have found no connection with the Geneva County Grays or the Sycamore Hollands.
Millville, Florida, Grays
Etta Gray Owens (1886-1960) of Panama City, Florida, used to say very definitely that Carl Gray's grandfather and her father were brothers, but various records show this to be incorrect. This leaves the possibility that Etta was confusing that Millville Gray family with another local group who were grandchildren of her father's brother Joseph Gray, Jr., (c1853-bef 1920) of Geneva County, Alabama, or that she was off by a generation or two in the relationship.
At any rate, members of that Gray family were in Bagdad, Santa Rosa County, Florida, at the same time as John C Gray of Geneva County. William B Gray of Millville was married to Meselie Bovis of Santa Rosa County. In 1910 Bagdad, Meselie's brother John lived three entries away from John C Gray of Geneva County. Both Bagdad and Millville were sawmill towns. The Bovises moved to Millville in connection with the mill there. It may be complete coincidence that that two families were in the same area at the same time.
