History of Penn township, (Chester County) Pennsylvania United States of America

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Isaac Pusey Gray, governor of Indiana, was born in Penn Township, Chester county, Pa., Oct. 18, 1828; son of John and Hannah (Worthington) Gray, and descended on both sides from Quakers who came to America with Penn. His parents removed to Urbana, Ohio, in 1838; to near Dayton, Ohio, shortly afterward, and in 1842 to New Madison, Ohio. He received a common school education; and was clerk in a store in New Madison. He removed to Union City, Ind., Nov. 30, 1855, where he established a dry goods and grain business, selling out in 1861 to accept the colonelcy of the 4th Indiana volunteer cavalry. He resigned his commission on account of ill health. He subsequently organized the 147th Indiana infantry but could not accept the command. At the time of Mergan's raid he commanded the Minute men (state guard). He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for representative in the 40th congress against George W. Julian in 1866, and was defeated by a few votes; was state senator, 1868-72; delegate to the Liberal Republican national convention of 1872; declined the nomination for attorney general of Indiana in 1874; was lieutenant governor of the state, 1877-80, serving till the death of Governor Williams, Nov. 20, 1880, when he became governor, his term expiring Jan. 12, 1881; and candidate for the nomination for governor in 1880, but received four votes less than necessary to a nomination, and was unanimously nominated for lieutenant-governor, suffering defeat with the rest of the ticket. In the Democratic caucus of 1881 he was nominated for U.S. senator and was defeated in the election by Gen. Benjamin Harrison. In 1884 he was elected governor, serving 1885-89. He removed to Indianapolis in 1885, and in 1888 his name was presented before the Democratic national convention for the vice-presidency, and in the national convention of 1892 he was named as an available candidate for the Presidency. President Cleveland appointed him U.S. minister to Mexico in 1893, it being the President's first diplomatic appointment. He visited his home in December, 1894, and on his return was unconscious from the effects of a sudden attack of pneumonia and he died the same day in the American hospital. He was married, Sept. 8, 1850, to Eliza, daughter of Judson Jaqua, a native of Columbia county, N.Y., resident in Yankee Town, Ohio, and their son Pierre was a partner with his father in the law firm of Gray & Gray, Indianapolis, and Bayard settled in Frankfort, Ind. Governor Gray died in the city of Mexico, Feb. 14, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Penn township, (Chester County) Pennsylvania

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