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By Trent Shotwell
Collection Overview
Title: Pleasant Gray Family Papers, 1835-2014
Extent: 0.5 Boxes
Arrangement: The collection contains documents, newspaper clippings, and biographical information on the Gray family. The collection materials are arranged in the order previously assigned to them. The collection is located on the SHSU Special Collection’s manuscript shelves.
Subjects: Gray, Pleasant, 1806-1849, Huntsville (Tex.) - History, Walker County (Tex.)
Languages: English
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The Gray Family Papers (1835 - 2016; .5 box) include biographical information, newspaper clippings, land title documents, and other material concerning the Gray family of Huntsville. The collection also contains the Pleasant Gray Family Bible loan agreement form between the city of Huntsville and the Newton Gresham Library. Additional information on the Holshouser family was added to the colection in 2016.
Collection Historical Note
The Gray family were early Pioneers of East Texas who traveled from Alabama. Pleasant Gray, who is considered the founder of Huntsville, initially established a trading post in the area during the mid-1830s. Pleasant Gray traveled alone to Texas from Huntsville, Alabama in the early 1830s and became fond of the East Texas lands that are now Walker County. He returned home to Alabama for several years and then moved to the area to establish a home site and trading post. As the settlement grew, Pleasant Gray named the town Huntsville after his first home of Huntsville, Alabama. He and his brother Ephraim traded with the welcoming Bedai Indians in the area.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
SHSU Special Collections & University Archives
Use Restrictions:
The materials represented in this finding aid have been made available for research, teaching and private use. For these purposes, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) these items without prior permission on the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies.
Please contact the Newton Gresham Library's Special Collections and University Archives department to request permissions to reproduce materials for any other purpose, or to obtain information regarding the copyright status of a particular digital image, text, audio or video recording.
Preferred Citation:
Pleasant Gray Family Papers. SHSU Special Collections, Newton Gresham Library, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Box:
[
Box 1],
[All]
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Spanish Title Coahuila and Texas to Pleasant Gray, 1835 July 10
- Transcription of Title
- Folder 2: Pleasant and Michael Gray Biographical Information, undated
- Includes ancestry.com information on Pleasant Gray and Michael Gray. Our Southern Accent: Pleasant Gray, Adventurous Frontiersman.
- Folder 3: Pleasant and Hannah Gray Biographical Information, 1986; no date
- Includes notes copied from the Mae Wynne McFarland Collection and several other brief documents
- Folder 4: Newspaper Clippings on the Gray Family, 2001, 2005
- Folder 5: Pleasant Gray Family Bible Loan Agreement, 2001 February 23
- Gray Family Bible Loan Agreement between the City of Huntsville and The Newton Gresham Library
- Folder 6: Gray Family Papers notes concerning the collection, 2012 - 2014
- SHSU Special Collection's notes on the Gray Family Papers
- Folder 7: Gray Family Research Requests, 1984, 2003, 2014
- Correspondence concerning Gray Family research in the Newton Gresham Library
- Folder 8: Correspondence concerning Pleasant and Hannah Gray, 1982 - 1985; undated
- Letters from Verona Yssel, Veta Blackburn, Newton Roseborough, E.T. Hughett, Eliza Bishop, Byron Sistler, Sidney V. Neely, and Maple Dunn.
- Folder 9: Pleasant and Hannah Gray Research Records and Related Documents, 1983; undated
- Letters requesting Gray family research. Other research related documents.
- Folder 10: Pleasant Gray Documents, 1833 - 1854; undated
- Copies of documents relating to Pleasant Gray and Walker County.
- Folder 11: Copy of MacFarland Records on Pleasant and Hannah Gray, 1849
- Handwritten notes concerning Pleasant and Hannah Gray.
- Folder 12: Gray Family Photographs, c. 1856
- Includes photographs of Mike Gray, Amanda Texanna Gray Sharkey, and David Crockett Gray. Donated by Leslie Larson.
- Folder 13: Gray and Holshouser Family Documents, 2016
- Documents on the Gray and Holshouser families donated by Leslie Larson.
- Folder 14: Pleasant and Hannah Gray's Children Who Lived in California and Texas, 1827-1920
- Book regarding Pleasant Gray's children
- Folder 15: Larson Family History Book, 1996
- Contains a section on Pleasant Gray, ancestor to the Larson family as well as correspondence regarding the book
