El Dorado County
Biographies
WILLIAM H. GRAY
Was born in Edwardsville, Madison county, Illinois, Dec. 25, 1820. His parents were natives of Virginia and removed to Illinois in 1818, and reared a family of nine sons and three daughters, and Wm. is the youngest of them all. When he was but 5 years old, his parents removed to Montgomery county. Here he lived till 1849, working on a farm, that year he followed an ox team to California. In 1851 he returned to the States, and in 1853 again crossed the desert waste to California with a band of cattle. For a time he was located at Logtown, from 1860 to 1865 was at Gold Hill and Silver City, Nevada. He was married April 30, 1868, to Julia Moses, to them have been born three children, Mary C., William P., and Eliza. He had 80 acres of land located on Blue Tent creek, so called from fact of a tent by that color having been there in early days.
Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men & Pioneers - Oakland, Cal. - Paolo Sioli, Publisher, 1883. p – 245-246
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
WILLIAM E. C. GRIFFITH
Is of Welch ancestry. Was born on the high seas, February 12, 1817. Father’s name was William, a blacksmith, who settled in Illinois in 1821. When a lad of about 18, the subject of this sketch learned the same trade and began work in a machine shop in St. Louis, Mo., after a while went as an engineer on a Mississippi river steamboat, made a two years’ trip to the Rocky mountains with Van Bebber and Calloway on a trapping and hunting expedition. In 1846 enlisted for service in the war with Mexico, at close of the war he followed the river until 1852, when he came to California where he has since continued to live in El Dorado except a short time spent at Virginia city, Nev. Is a member of F. & A.M., a machinist and engineer by trade.
Historical Souvenir of El Dorado County, California with Illustrations & Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men & Pioneers - Oakland, Cal. - Paolo Sioli, Publisher, 1883. p - 246
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler