James Louis Gray

photographer: J L Gray
Van Alstyne, TX
example from LOST GALLERY

Photographer: Gray - Button
124 North Travis, Sherman, TX
example from LOST GALLERY

Records for J L Gray are scarce so some personal information has been added in the timeline to show location and dates.

James Louis Gray
(1862-1936)

1862 Jan 14
Bridgeport, IL, state records, James Louis Gray is born to Philo Gray and Nancy Miller
1880 Jun 04
Hunt, TX, US census, J L Gray as farmer, living with parents at age 18
1892 Jul 06
Grayson, TX, state records, J L Gray and Lizzie Pearl Arnspiger are married
1893 Aug 28
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, son Jimmie Fay Gray is born
1895 Sep 09
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, son John V Gray is born
1897 Jun 25
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, son Dave Evans Gray is born

1900 Jun 04
Van Alstyne, TX, US census, James L Gray as photographer
1905
Sherman, TX, city directory, J L Gray as labr Car Shops; res 312 W Herron (It is quite possible that this is not the photographer, although the entry does add “Lizzie” as his wife. And other entries, before and after show James L Gray in Van Alstyne as photographer)
1907 Jul 07
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, son Neland I Gray is born
1910 May 21
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, wife Lizzy Pearl Arnspiger dies a age 48
1910 Apr 19
Van Alstyne, TX, US census, James L Gray as photographer with own studio
1912 Apr 04
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, James Gray and Amanda Elizabeth Spears are married
1912 Sep 22
Tarrant, TX, state records, child born to James Gray and Amanda Spears

1920 Jan 09
Van Alstyne, TX, US census, Jim L Gray as photographer; res Jefferson St
1930 Apr 07
Van Alstyne, TX, US census, James Louis Gray as photographer, res 3 West Jefferson St
1936 Jun 23
Van Alstyne, TX, state records, James Lewis Gray as photographer, dies at age 74

James Louis Gray lived in Van Alstyne, TX, just about 16 miles from Sherman, TX. There are no city directories for Van Alstyne available. Only a few Sherman city directories are available between 1876 and 1935 but James Gray was not in any of them as a photographer in the business pages. Only about a half dozen city directories for that period, were available for Denison, TX, also. Dennison is just fifteen miles north of Sherman.

He is in the 1880 US census, living in Van Alstyne with his parents, at age 18.

J L Gray appears in the US census for 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 as photographer. Of course, for at least some of those years, he might have been working for another photographer and not running his own gallery.

The name was not uncommon in Texas. There was a James L Gray, prominent businessman mentioned in the newspapers of several cities in Texas. He was in the lumber and building materials business.

The card imprinted Gray-Button may have been James Gray’s attempt to expand by taking on a partner who would operate a studio in another town. No information has been found to confirm any facts about a photographer named Button. Of course, Button may have lived at a rural address so he was not included in city directory listings. Still, no Gray-Button listings were found in the available business sections of either Sherman or Denison, TX.

So, the association of Gray and Button in a photograph gallery in Sherman, TX, was probably brief and simply was not caught in any census or other document at the time.

Dennison (TX) Daily Herald - 29 Mar 1907

This is the only area newspaper mention of
J L Gray that has been found.

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. Listed here are all the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY. This is a work in progress. For a look at the original postings go to LOST GALLERY.

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