Robert Gray
Robert Gray was born in Worcester to Robert Gray and Sarah Wiley on December 23, 1734. His parents were among Scots-Irish (Presbyterian) families who came to Worcester in 1718, becoming some of the earliest white settlers of the town. Most of the Scots-Irish left Worcester in 1740 after the Congregationalist population of Worcester demolished the Presbyterian meeting house that was under construction, but they Grays were among those who stayed. They eventually converted and joined the Old South (Congregationalist) Church.
In 1758 Robert's parents sold their house and farm to him, and in return he cared for them until their deaths. Robert had this same agreement with his son Thomas when he himself became elderly and unable to care for his large acreage.
On November 18, 1760 Robert married Margaret Watts of Brookfield, MA in Brookfield, and they had nine children: Experience, John, Molly, Thomas, Sarah, Robert, Betty, Anna, and Lucy. All of the childred, save Sarah, are given bequeathments in their father's will. She had likely passed away, but I haven't been able to locate any records for her other than those for her birth and baptism.
Robert was a voter in the town meetings and gave both civil and patriotic service during the American Revolution: he served on the town jury, was a surveyor of the highways, a tax collector, and was on the committee assigned to procure men to fulfill Worcester’s quota of soldiers and supplies. One source states that he fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill, but I have not been able to verify that. In the years before the Revolution he was a member of the American Political Society, which functioned as Worcester's Sons of Liberty.
The Gray household had seven members in it during the 1790 US Census: 2 white males over the age of 16, 1 white male under the age of 16, and 4 white females.
Robert Gray died in Worcester on October 6, 1799. Margaret had passed away in 1796. The two were originally buried in the Mechanic Street Burial Ground, but they were moved to Hope Cemetery in 1878 when Mechanics Street was closed.
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