Samuel Houston Gray

1882-1959 · Texas

Born 1882, Newton County, Texas

Died 1959

Father: Simeon Paskel Gray Jr.

Mother: Frances J. Gray

Children include Robert

Samuel Houston Gray was born on 12 January 1882 in Newton County, in the piney woods of east Texas against the Sabine River. His gravestone and his Social Security record give the date, and his voter registrations in New Orleans give Newton, Texas as his birthplace. His daughter's death record later said Kirbyville, the railroad town just over the line in Jasper County. He went by Houston as a young man. In June 1900 Houston Gray, 18, born January 1882, was living in Justice Precinct 7 of Newton County with his parents, Simeon Paskel Gray Jr. and Frances J., and his brothers and sisters William, Matilda, Laura, Nelley, Thomas and Edward.

In the same precinct lived the Denby family, and on 24 December 1903, in Jasper County, Houston Gray married Hettie Denby. Their first child, Bessie Inez, was born on 20 April 1905. Mildred followed about 1909, Robert Woodrow on 22 October 1916 at Beaumont, Doris about 1918 and Reid about 1920. In 1910 the census taker listed a Houston Gray, single, in his parents' house in Justice Precinct 1 of Newton County; where Hettie and the little girls were that year is not known.

In January 1920 the family was living in Sabine County, Texas, the next county up the river from Newton: Samuel, 37, Laura, 31, Bessie, 14, Mildred, 10, Robert, 4, and Doris, 2. Reid was born in Louisiana about 1920, and by 1927 Samuel was registered to vote in Orleans Parish. He registered again in January 1928, September 1929, January 1931, September 1939 and November 1941, each time born 1882 at Newton, Texas.

The 1930 census found him at 48 in New Orleans with five children, Inez, 25, Mildred, 21, Woodrow, 13, Doris, 12, and Reid, 10, and recorded him as widowed. Laura is not in the household, and in April 1950, living in Tangipahoa Parish, he was again recorded as a widower. When she died has not been found.

He died on 5 January 1959 at Robert, a village in Tangipahoa Parish north of Lake Pontchartrain, aged 76; the death record names his wife as Laura Denby. He was buried in Mount Stevens Cemetery at Independence, a few miles away, under a granite tablet: "SAMUEL H. GRAY. JAN. 12, 1882. JAN. 5, 1959. AT REST." His eldest daughter, Bessie Inez, the wife of Fred Brit Prevost, died in New Orleans in May 1964 and was buried in the same cemetery.

Parents

Frances J. Gray (b. 1859)

Simeon Paskel Gray Jr. 1857-1932

Children

Robert Woodrow Gray 1916-1998

Sources

United States Census, 1920, Sabine County, Texas, through FamilySearch (ark 1:1:MHT6-RVK).

United States Census, 1930, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, through FamilySearch (ark 1:1:XMR3-2PD).

United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007, through FamilySearch (ark 1:1:6K7C-74VB); Louisiana, Orleans and St. Tammany voter registration records (arks 1:1:DD19-M9N2, 1:1:68MV-B9ZW); Louisiana first registration draft cards, 1940-1945 (ark 1:1:KC1B-3QF).

Louisiana, Deaths, 1850-1875, 1894-1960, through FamilySearch (ark 1:1:QLQV-KN2S); Louisiana, Orleans and St. Tammany voter registration records (ark 1:1:D6H1-BDPZ and others).

Find a Grave memorial 61235205, Mount Stevens Cemetery, Independence, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, photograph.

Louisiana, Orleans and St. Tammany voter registration records (FamilySearch 1:1:D6H1-BDPZ and others); 1920 census Sabine County (1:1:MHT6-RVK); 1930 census New Orleans (1:1:XMR3-2PD); Louisiana deaths 1894-1960 (1:1:QLQV-KN2S); Social Security NUMIDENT of Robert W. Gray (1:1:6K7C-74VB); FamilySearch tree L6Y6-9T2 for the children's later dates.; 1900 census Newton County (1:1:M3PT-WRG); 1910 census Newton County (1:1:M2SL-LFB); 1950 census Tangipahoa Parish (1:1:6X2J-1WCX); Texas county marriage index, Houston Gray and Hettie Denby, 24 December 1903 (1:1:VXGZ-GYS); Social Security NUMIDENT (1:1:6K7D-WTNP); Orleans Parish death record of Bessie Inez Gray Prevost, 21 May 1964 (1:1:QPRR-B3HB); Find a Grave memorials 61235205 and 61235277.

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Cite: Heirology, "Samuel Houston Gray (1882-1959)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/samuel-houston-gray-1882-1959-d87cc3.