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Source: The Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Fulton County
Munsell Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908

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The Biography of Judge John A. GRAY 

[Surnames: BERRY, GRAY, GRIMES, HATCH, INGERSOLL, LAPPIN, LAWSON, MIZENER, MOFFITT, OSBORN, PUTERBAUGH, SHOPE, WAGGONER] 

GRAY, JUDGE JOHN A. 

    
A very prominent and successful lawyer of Canton, he was born in Morgan Co., OH, Apr. 18, 1842, and received his early training in the common schools of Cuba. He is a son of Joseph K. and Margaret (GRIMES) Gray, native of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. The paternal grandparents, Ogden and Nancy (LAPPIN) Gray, were natives of New York, and Ohio, respectively. On the maternal side, the grandparents, William and Mary (LAWSON) Grimes, were of Irish birth. 
    
The father, Joseph K. Gray, who was a blacksmith by trade, moved to Morgan Co., OH, with his family, and to Canton in 1849, and after living there for a year, located to Cuba, where the family was raised. John A. Gray attended the public schools, and later was occupied in farming, and attended the local school in Winter. In the Winters of 1859 and 1860 he was engaged in teaching school. 
    
The father, Joseph K. Gray, who was a blacksmith by trade, moved to Morgan Co., OH, with his family, and to Canton in 1849, and after living there for a year, located to Cuba, where the family was raised. John A. Gray attended the public schools, and later was occupied in farming, and attended the local school in Winter. In the Winters of 1859 and 1860 he was engaged in teaching school. 
    
In April 1861 he enlisted as a private of Co. H., 17th Regt., Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front. He was wounded near Fort Holt, KY in Sept. 1861, and later transferred to the 11th Regt. Illinois Cavalry, then in camp in Peoria. He mustered out Dec. 20, 1864. The first nineteen months of his service were spent as a private, Sergeant, an Regimental Sergeant Major, and in Oct. 1862, he was promoted to 2nd Lieut. of Co. M, of his regiment. He was subsequently promoted to 1st. Lieut. and as such served on the staffs of Generals HATCH, MIZENER and OSBORN, of the Cavalry Division of the Army of the Tennessee. On July 5, 1864, Lt. Gray was made Captain, vice Captain Moffitt who was killed in battle, and from that time until discharge, commanded his company. 
    
Returning in 1865 Mr. Gray had a store ba, Il [?checking typo] for one year and then moved to Dent Co., MO where he farmed for a time. After a trip to KS and the Indian Terr., he returned to IL in the fall of 1867, and entered the law office of INGERSOLL & PUTERBAUGH, of Peoria. After being admitted to the bar he began practice of law in 1871. He moved to Lewistown and entered the firm of SHOPE & GRAY. Mr. Shope was elected to the circuit bench in 1879. Mr. Gray became partner with H. M. WAGGONER, under the firm name of GRAY & WAGGONER, until 1893. In Jan. 1896 he moved to Chicago where he spent one year, and has since made Canton his home. On July 26, 1863 he married Blanche BERRY, born in Fulton Co. They have had two children:
Lucian, of Lewistown
Blanche, now Mrs. J. L. S. Hunt, of the city of Mexico. 
    
Mr. Gray is a Republican, he was a member of the 28th General Assembly (1872074), and in June was elected Judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit of Illinois. He is a member of the G.A.R., B.P.O.E., A.F.&A.M., in the latter, a Royal Arch Mason.