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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Frank P. Gray, president of the F. P. Gray Dry Goods Company, No. 206 Main Street, Little Rock, and one of the city’s leading business men, was born in Augusta, Ga., being a son of James A. Gray, a prominent citizen and dry-goods merchant of that place. The elder Gray was a noted manufacturer and well known in commercial circles throughout the South, being president of the Summerville Cotton Mills at Augusta. His wife was a Miss Arabella O’Conner before her marriage, by whom he had seven children, only three of them yet living and all residing at Little Rock: Mary E. (wife of Joe P. Quinn), Frank P. and James A. (the latter studying law with Messrs. Caruth & Erb, leading attorneys of Little Rock.) The father’s death occurred on June 29, 1880, and the mother followed him on October 3, 1881. Frank P. Gray was reared and educated in Georgia, but later on attended Seaton Hall College at South Orange, N. J. His close application to study seriously affected his health, and he was forced to abandon his college and go abroad, traveling through England, Ireland and France until he was once more restored to his former strength. After a two years’ stay in Europe he returned home and embarked in the dry-goods business with his father at Augusta, Ga., remaining with him until his death. Soon after, he formed a partnership with Mr. Joe P. Quinn, and carried on the same line of business at Eatonton, Ga., continuing for eighteen months, and in 1884 came to Little Rock, Ark., where the firm of Quinn & Gray was established. Subsequently it became known as the Quinn & Gray Dry Goods Company, with F. P. Gray as its president; later Frank P. Gray withdrew and formed the F. P. Gray Dry Goods Company. This company ranks among the first of the many well-known dry-goods houses of Little Rock, and its success is certainly due, in a large measure, to the foresight, business tact and enterprise of its able president. Mr. Gray is one of the foremost citizens to give his aid to any worthy enterprise, and is one of the most popular men in commercial and social circles in Little Rock.

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This family biography is one of 156 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Pulaski County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Pulaski County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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