George Alexander Gray was born on September 28, 1851, in Crab Orchard township, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He was the youngest child of George Alexander Gray and Mary Wallace, daughter of Robert Wallace, whose parents had emigrated from Ireland.
His paternal grandparents were Ransom Gray, of Mecklenburg, a soldier in the Revolution, and Narcissa Alexander, daughter of Col. George Alexander, who came to North Carolina from Pennsylvania.
During his convalescence from an accident at the mill in which his arm was broken in three places, Gray attended school. He had a turn for machinery and made it his study.
In 1853, George's father gave up farming and moved his family of nine to the Rock Island cotton factory nearby and within a few years moved on to another little mill in Stowesville. Here, in June 1859, the father died suddenly of apoplexy.
The mother, who was remarkable for her courage and contrivance, now had a hard struggle. The older children worked, but George, only eight years old, was his mother’s companion and special pet.
In 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, George too entered the factory, but the mill soon closed, and the Grays moved to Caleb Lineberger’s cotton factory at what was called “Pinhook” on the South Fork of the Catawba River. George began work here as a sweeper boy at ten cents for a twelve- to fourteen-hour day.
Shortly afterward he had an accident in the factory in which his arm was broken in three places, and he narrowly missed suffering an amputation.
Given more and more responsibility, he became assistant superintendent of the mill and did everything from supervising spinning and weaving to replacing buckets in the little breast wheel.
When Gray was only nineteen, he became superintendent of the Woodlawn cotton-mill. A few years later, in 1878, he was engaged by the Oates brothers to equip and operate the Charlotte Cotton Mills, the first plant in what later became a textile center.
After conducting this factory for four years, he was employed by Col. R. Y. McAden to start his mill at McAdenville. In 1888, having saved a little money, he went to Gastonia, then a tiny settlement at the junction of the Southern Railroad and a smaller road, and with the assistance of R. C. G. Love and J. D. Moore he organized the first mill in the district, the Gastonia Cotton Manufacturing Company.
Confident that Gastonia, with cheap fuel, abundant labor, raw material, and good transportation, would some day become an important seat of cotton manufacturing, he set about fulfilling his prophecy.
In 1893 with G. W. Ragan and R. C. Pegram he built the Trenton mill, and three years later with John F. Love, he erected the Avon mill. This plant was significant because it was the first mill at Gastonia to run on fine yarns and sheeting.
In 1905, he operated the first electrically driven mill in the Carolina Piedmont and then abandoned his steam-driven generator as soon as he could get hydro-electric power from Great Falls.
Gray was president of most of the factories, and only two mills were built in the town in his lifetime without his assistance. He also helped organize the Wylie mill at Chester, South Carolina; the Scottdale at Atlanta; and the Mandeville at Carrollton, Georgia. Gray was one of the first Southerners to bring technical proficiency to cotton manufacture in the S. Other enterprises had had to rely upon Northern advice and assistance.
Gray joined the Methodist church in Gastonia and for the rest of his life was devoted to its service.
Gray constantly strove for smoother, better-controlled power, and in successive mills installed the latest steam-engines.
He hailed this and similar hydro stations as foretelling a new day in manufacture. It is said he could walk through a great room throbbing with spindles or looms and detect by the sound a defectively operating machine in a remote corner.
He prescribed for himself strict discipline in his hard-working daily life but he was not without a sense of humor. Nervously energetic, he made up his mind quickly, acted forthwith, and knew no relaxation except in added superintendence of his mills.
In appearance he was small and thick-set, with bushy eyebrows and a penetrating, sparkling glance that nobody forgot.
He gave the impression of one of his own whirring spindles.
Gray was married to Jennie (Withers) Gray. They had eight of their ten children.
6 September 1854 - 7 August 1923
14 August 1887 - 24 September 1972
26 July 1878 - 31 July 1940
30 April 1894 - 15 January 1977
27 November 1895 - August 1985
12 June 1892 - 26 August 1981
17 November 1879 - 22 April 1942
21 August 1890 - 10 January 1988
21 January 1889 - 16 August 1953
