DAVID GRAY
#1) NANCY ELMS
#2) TERRISSA ELMS
David Gray was born in Alabama
in November 1817. His first child Armelia
was born in Mississippi
July 29, 1842. He then moved to Independence County,
Arkansas where in October
1846 he married Nancy Elms. David and Nancy had
two children born in Arkansas,
James born in 1847 and David M. born in 1849.
The family moved to Sugar
Loaf in Coryell County, TX where Matilda was born in 1852 and
Mary Ann in 1854. Nancy
died in 1854 and was buried at Sugar Loaf. In 1856
David Gray married Nancy's
sister
Terrissa after her husband
Harvey O'Neal died. Terrissa had 6 children by
Harvey - William 1845, Seth
1847. In 1851 Harvey and Terrissa moved from
Arkansas to Washington County
Texas where her father John O'Neal had moved
earlier. The twins Hadden
and Sibley were born here in 1851. Sarah was born in
1853 and Moses in 1855 about
the same time Harvey died. Terrissa then
moved to Sugar Loaf. This
new household of David and Terrissa had eleven
children. Armelia age 15
was the oldest. Harvey, Nancy and Terrissa were
children of John O'Neal
who moved to Sugar Loaf 1855. The 1850's were exciting
times for frontier settlers,
community growth and government building. David Gray
was active in precinct and
county work. He was elected to the second county
commission in 1856. He served
two more terms in 1862 and 1865. He was appointed
numerous times as road Overseer
in the Sugar Loaf precinct to supervise the
creation and maintenance
of roadways and served on juries. He raised three families,
two of his own and the children
of Harvy and Nancy O'Neal. He was a leader in
Sugar Loaf during the civil
war when many of the men left young families behind that
required help with home
and stock. He lived to see his grandson Young Pierce Jr.
form his own family and
prosper from the land and was there when his four Pierce
great grandchildren were
born. David Gray died October 8, 1900 and Terrissa died
August 23, 1906. They are
buried in the Sugar Loaf Cemetery that the Army moved
to Killeen in 1942. Walking
through the Sugar Loaf area of Killeen Cemetery today
one can see the tombstones
of these early settlers. John O'Neal, Thomas Elms,
Ambrose Lee, John Riggs,
Young and Sabina Pierce and Isaac Scoggin to mention
a few.
By Eldon Pierce great-great gandson of David Gray.