William H. Gray

Who was William H. Gray?

William Henry Gray was a pioneer of the Oregon Country in the present-day U.S. state of Oregon. He was an active participant in the efforts to organize a government in the region.

Gray came to the Oregon Country as a lay member of the Spalding-Whitman missionary group, but resigned his position and came to the Salem area in 1842 to work at the Oregon Institute.

In the spring of 1843, Gray's house was the site of the first "Wolf Meeting", which led to the Champoeg Meeting of May 2, 1843 that created a provisional government. Gray seconded the motion for a division on the question after Joseph Meek called for the division. Gray was a member of the provisional legislature and of the committee that drafted the organic law for the provisional government.

Gray later became a farmer and a sawmill operator and wrote a History of Oregon.

Gray had at eight children, five boys and three girls. The second child was Caroline Augustus Gray, born 1840, who married Jacob Kamm in 1859 or 1860.