He went to Halifax with his family of four persons where he stayed a short time. "He was passenger in one of the six vessels that arrived at London from Halifax, prior to June 10, 1776, laden with Loyalists and their families."
In Mr. Gray's house in London about the year 1789, Arthur Savage gave the Rev. Mr. Montague a bullet taken from the body of General Warren the day after his death. Mr. Montague after his return to Boston, became rector of Christ Church. Harrison Gray, in a letter to him, dated London, August 1st, 1791, remarks to him in a spirit of loyalty to the crown of Britain as follows: "The melancholy state in which you represent religion to be in Boston and New England is confirmed by all who come from thence. Is this one of the blessings of your independence to obtain which you sacrificed so many lives? I am glad your federal constitution 'has had a very great and good effect', but very much question whether you will ever be so happy as you were under the mild and gentle government and protection of Great Britain; for, notwithstanding the freedom my countrymen boast of, if in order to obtain it they have sacrificed their religion, they have made a poor bargain. They cannot, in a religious sense, be a free people till the Son of God has made them free. It is very surprising, considering the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion at Quebec was one of the heavy grievances the American Congress complained of[220] that your governor and other great men in your town should attend the worship of God in a Roman Catholic church, to hear a Romish bishop on a Sunday; and that he should be one of the chaplains who officiated at a public dinner. I cannot at present account for their inconsistency any otherwise than by supposing the part they took in the late unhappy contests lays so heavy upon their consciences that they imagine no one can absolve them but a Romish priest."
Mr. Gray lived in England upon a pension granted by the British government. In 1794 at the advanced age of eighty-four, this excellent and virtuous man sunk to rest. Perhaps no man among the many excellent persons who went into exile at this time was more beloved and regretted by his political enemies, for a more genuine model of nature's nobleman never lived.
John Gray, son of Harrison Gray and his wife Elizabeth, born in Boston, 18th of May, 1755. He went to Ireland soon after the battle of Lexington. Hearing that the difficulties would probably be adjusted, he embarked for Massachusetts, the vessel was taken off Newburyport. He was in Newbury Jail, February, 1776, when at the solicitation of his sister, the mother of Harrison Gray Otis, an order was passed to allow his removal to the Otis homestead in Barnstable on condition of his giving a bond with security in £1,000 not to pass without the limits of that town, or deal or correspond with the enemy. Mr. Gray was in London, January, 1781.
Joseph Gray was descended from an old Boston family, his grandfather Joseph Gray, was married by Rev. Samuel Williard to Rebecca Sears, June 27, 1706. Their son Joseph Gray was born April 9, 1707, and married Rebecca, daughter of John West of Bradford, or Haverhill of Massachusetts. The old people were displeased with the match and cut Rebecca off with "one pine tree shilling." Their son Joseph, the subject of this sketch, was born July 19, 1729. He was a loyalist and settled at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was a member of the firm of Proctor & Gray, merchants. His wife was Mary, daughter of Hon. Joseph Gerrish. His son, the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray, D. D., was born in 1768, married Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Roy Thomas a Loyalist, and was many years rector of St. George's parish, Halifax, and afterwards of an Episcopal church in St. John, N. B. Died at the latter city in 1854. Another son of Joseph Gray was William, born in 1777. Was British Consul for Virginia for a long time and died in England in 1845.
Joseph Gray died at Windsor, N. S., in 1803 at the age of seventy-four, leaving a large number of descendants.
John Gray of Boston, another brother of Joseph Gray. He was bred to business in that town by Caleb Blanchard. About the year 1768 he went to England, but returned previous to hostilities, and was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs, in which office he was popular. In 1776 he embarked for Halifax with the Royal Army, and before the close of that year was at Charleston, S. C., and in prison. He was still in that city as late as 1780, when he was an Addresser of Sir Henry Clinton. Before the last mentioned date, however, he had engaged in business as a commission merchant, and had purchased a plantation on account of himself and of John Simpson, a fellow Loyalist of Boston. But involved politically beyond the hope of extrication he sold his interest in the plantation, and invested the proceeds in indigo and in a ship with the intention of sailing for London. The Revolutionists not only defeated this plan, but seized his vessel and his cargo, and the result was that of both he barely saved one hundred guineas. With this sum he fled to his brother Joseph at Halifax, who provided him a passage to England in a ship of war. Without any accession to his fortune yet, with letters to the agents of the East India Company, he soon embarked for India, and, on his arrival there, was well received. The family account is that he wrote a treatise on the Cultivation of Indigo, which the Governor and Council considered so valuable as to grant him £4,000 sterling, and jointly with a Mr. Powell, an extensive tract of land. These two grantees, assisted by the Company, established a factory, and began the culture of indigo, which was said to be the first attempt to cultivate this beautiful dye in India. Both died suddenly in 1782 on the same day. Gray was at the plantation, and Powell was two hundred miles away at the factory, and the supposition was that they had incurred the jealousy of the natives, who had caused their death by poison. Powell's brother told Joseph Gray, prior to 1799 that the estate of our Loyalist and his associate had become "the greatest indigo plantation in the known world."[221]
Samuel Gray was also a brother of Joseph Gray. He died at Boston in 1776 leaving issue, male and female. His wife was a daughter of Captain Henry Atkins of Boston.
Thomas Gray of Boston was a merchant, a Protester against the Revolutionists, and one of the Addressers of Hutchinson. He died at Boston in 1783.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO HARRISON GRAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.