Edwin Gray, was born in Southampton County, Virginia, on July 18, 1743 to Col Joseph Gray and Martha Sarah Gray. He died in Nansemond County, Virginia.
Edwin Gray married Julia Godwin
Edwin Gray was educated at the College of William and Mary and served in the colonial House of Burgesses, 1769-1775. He was a patriot and member of the Virginia State conventions in 1774, 1775, and 1776 and served as the Chairman of the Southampton Committee on Safety in 1775-76. He was a member of the State house of delegates in 1776, 1779, 1787, 1788, and 1791; a member of the Virginia state senate, 1777-1779; and elected as a was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1799 as a Federalist. He served in the House until 1813, supporting, along the way, James Monroe’s challenge to James Madison’s election to the presidency in 1808 (Fischer, Revolution of American Conservatism, pp. 373–74). He served in the Sixth and the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1799-March 3, 1813).
Edwin Gray was father of Thomas Gray
Edwin Gray was brother of Mary Fanning; Sarah Wall; James Gray; Lucy Gray; Ann Blount and 5 others
1. Thomas 2. William 3. William 4. Colonel Joseph Gray, of Southampton county, who was descended from a family which had long been of prominence in Surry (from which Southampton was formed), was one of the first justices of Southampton County in 1749, sheriff in 1751, and was a member of the House of Burgesses from Surry in 1744, and from Southampton 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1762, 1767, 1768, 1769, and doubtless in other years. His will was dated August 30, 1769, and proved in Southampton June 13, 1771. Issue: 2. James; 3. Edwin; 4. Mary Fanning, probably wife of Rev. Thomas Fanning; 5. Ann, married Thomas Blunt of Southampton; 6. Sarah, married Wall; 7. Lucy, married, October, 1769, John Flood Edwards, of Brunswick county; 8. Mary, married, September, 1753, Littleton Tazewell, of Brunswick county (she probably died before her father's will was made). 5. Colonel Edwin Gray, of Southampton county, was member of the House of Burgesses 1769-1774, of the Conventions of 1774, 1775 and 1776, of the House of Delegates and State Senate. His will was dated September 23, 1788, and proved in Nansemond June, 1790. He married Julia (or Juliana), daughter of Thomas Godwin, of Nansemond county. Issue: 9. Joseph, who was probably the person of the name whose will, dated March 28th and proved February 21, 1820, in Southampton, names his sons, James and Joseph, and his daughters, Sally and Nancy Gray; Issue. 10. Edwin of Southampton County, Member of Congress, 1799-1813, married (i) Julia Gray, (2) Mrs. Gray Lewis; 1. Thomas; 2. Mary,9 married, September, 1788, Daniel Simmons; 13. Henry Mills, married Martha Hynes. Henry M. Gray, in his will, dated May i ith and proved in Southampton May 17, I814, gives his wife, Martha F. B., all of his estate; directs that nothing shall be sold except his shop furniture, medicines and surgical instruments (he was evidentlv a physician). His infant son was to receive a classical education, and at his mother's death was to inherit the whole estate. Appoints his brother, Thomas Gray, friend, James Rochelle, and nephews, Edwin and James Gray, executors. 11. Thomas Gray, of Southampton, married Mrs. Brewer Cocke. His will was dated September 6, 1831, and proved in Southampton September 9, 1831. Issue: 14. Catherine, married _______ Richardson; 15. Edwin, married (first) ______; married (second) Charlotte Langston; 16. Joseph, married Evelyn Davis; 17. Anne; 18. Robert, married Mary Nicholson; 19. Thomas Ruffin, married Mary Gray, and had a daughter, Ellen Douglas, who married Richard Wilson. Thomas" Gray appointed his friend Gilbert Gustavus Gray one of his executors. This was probably the George G. G. Gray whose will was dated October 5, 1836 and proved in Southampton December 19, 1836, and who makes bequiests to his wife, Mary, and his sons, Johni Cowper and Philip Francis Gray, who are to have the best education his wife's means will afford. His lands in Illinois may he kept or sold, as may appear best. John C. Gray, who was a member of the House of Delegates from Southampton in 1823, member of Congress 1820-21, and died May 18, 1823, aged forty, may have been a brother of G. G. G. Gray. Others of the family who lived in Southampton were Thomas Gray, the invenitory of whose personal estate, amountinig to £936.7.6, was recorded November 10, 1763; Benjamin Gray, whose will, dated December 28, 1764, and proved in Southampton December 11, 1766, names his wife, Catherine, sons, James, Richard, Benjamin and Jesse, and daughter, Mary Gray. (See Historical Magazine, 111, 402, for an account of the earlier generations of the Grays.) 66. EDWIN[5] GRAY (Joseph[4], William[3], William[2], Thomas[1]) was born 18 July 1743 and died 4 April 1790.[190] He represented Southampton County in the House of Burgesses, 1766-76, was a member of the Conventions of 1775 through 1776, and a member of the House of Delegates, 1779, 1787-89,[191] and left will 3 Sept. 1788-June 1790.[192] He married Juliana Godwin,[193] who died by 15 April 1796 when Edwin Gray was granted administration on her estate.[194] Issue: 136. Joseph[6], died about 1798;[195] 137. Thomas[6], died in Southampton County, aged 75,[196] left will 6 Sept. 1831-9 Sept. 1831,[197] married 457. Anne[6] (Cocke) Browne (see BALEY-COCKE); 138. Edwin[6], died about 1817 in Nansemond County,[198] member of the House of Delegates from Southampton County, 1791, and of United States Congress, 1799-1813,[199] married (1) Charlotte (Langston?) and (2), 5 Dec. 1802,[200] Margaret (_) Kearns; 139. Mary6, married, (bond 22) Sept. 1788,[201] Daniel[7] Simmons, son of 285. William[6] Simmons (see MASON), who married (2), 9 Feb. 1808,[202] Elizabeth Hughes; 140. Henry Mills[6], for whom Edwin Gray gave bond as guardian, 15 April 1796,[203] died before 18 June 1814 when the inventory of his estate was made,[204] physician of Southampton County, married, (consent 17) March 1812,[205] Martha F. B. Hines. 1 Benjamin C. Holtzclaw, “Thomas Gray, Ancient Planter of Surry County, Virginia, and Descendants,” Historical Southern Families, XVII (Baltimore, 1972), pp. 81 -102; John Bennett Boddie, Virginia Historical Genealogies (Redwood City, Calif., 1954), pp. 309-13. 2 Patent Bk. 1, p. 283. 3 Hotten, p. 176. 4 Surry Co. Deeds, Wills &c 1, 1652-72, p. 41.190 Gray Bible, loc. cit. 5 MCGC, p. 119. 6 Patent Bk. 1, pp. 283, 631 (repatent 26 May 1638). 7 Ibid., p. 669. 8 Ibid., p. 787. 9 Ibid., p. 950. 10 Patent Bk. 3, p. 158. 11 Surry Co. Deeds, Wills &c 1, 1652-72, p. 121. 12 Ibid., p. 131. 13 Register, St. Peter, Paul’s Wharf, London, MS 5721/1, Guild Hall, London.191 Leonard, pp. 98, 100, 104,106, 110, 113, 115, 118, 120, 123, 127, 132, 135, 136, 166, 170. 192 Southampton Co. Will Book. 4, p. 380. 193 Will of Thomas Godwin, Nansemond County, 9 April 1778-13 May 1779, Godwin genealogical notes, Virginia State Archives, Acc.30183. 194 Southampton Co. Minute Bk. 1793-99, p. 215. 195 Sussex Co. Land tax book, 1798, estate taxed. 196 Enquirer, Richmond, 8 Nov. 1831. 197 Southampton Co. Will Book. 10, p. 343. 198 Nansemond Co. Personal property tax list, 1817. He was not listed there earlier or later. 199 Biographical Directory of the American Congress, p. 1117; Leonard, pp. xxv, 185. Littleton Waller Tazewell, quoted in W(2) XV, p. 309, says he died at Portsmouth. 200 Norfolk Herald, 9 Dec. 1802. 201 Knorr, Marriage Bonds ... Southampton County, p. 95. 202 Thomas P. Hughes and Jewel B. Sandefer, Petersburg, Virginia, Hustings Court Marriage Bonds ... 1784-1854 (Memphis, Tenn., 1971), p. 122. 203 The Virginia Genealogist, XXV, p. 267. 204 Southampton Co. Will Book. 8, pp. 238-40. 205 Southampton Co. Marriage Register 1750-1853, p. 216.