Arthur Pierce Gray

Arthur P. Gray was born January 14, 1878 at Wolverton, Ontario, the son of John D. and Julia Gray from Germany. He came to the Sanborn area with his folks in 1880 and here he was raised to manhood on the family farm. His father passed away in 1901 and Arthur, who had been a cowboy and mail carrier in western North Dakota, was needed to take over the farm. At the age of twenty-eight he married Mary Schimpp, who was born December 17, 1877 in Germany. She had been previously married and had a daughter, Ida Caroline. Nine additional children were born to Arthur arid Mary Gray:

  1. Clara May (March 8, 1907);

  2. Nellie (June 10, 1908);

  3. Florence (October 29, 1910);

  4. John (February 28, 1912);

  5. Rachel (October 25, 1914);

  6. David (November 10, 1917);

  7. Katherina (September 26, 1919);

  8. Donald (January 5, 1922) and

  9. Lela (February 28, 1925).

All the children attended the Gray school, in District 28, except Donald. The home farm was lost in 1927 and the family moved finally to Granger Hill in Valley City where they lived until 1945, when Arthur Pierce Gray passed away. Mrs. Mary (Schimpp) Gray passed away June 8, 1949.

The children pursued different careers, some teaching, some ranching, some farming, but all with the common appreciation of the good and bad times they enjoyed with their parents in the early days in Barnes County.

Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 82