Gray, Benjamin Gerrish

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: D. Murray Young, “GRAY, BENJAMIN GERRISH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 8, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–.https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/gray_benjamin_gerrish_8E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Church of England clergyman; b. 22 Nov. 1768 in Boston, eighth child of Joseph Gray and Mary Gerrish, daughter of Joseph Gerrish; m. Mary Thomas, and they had one son; d. 18 Feb. 1854 in Saint John, N.B.
    • Benjamin Gerrish Gray inherited considerable property in Nova Scotia upon the death in 1772 of his great-uncle Benjamin Gerrish. When Gray was eight, his family moved to Halifax where it had close ties to the inner circle of pre-revolutionary families. After being educated in England and in Nova Scotia at King’s College, Windsor, he returned to Halifax and eventually married. Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth subsequently appointed him king’s chaplain to the 400–500 Jamaican maroons, descendants of escaped slaves who had been deported to Nova Scotia and settled near Preston. In 1797 he had been admitted to priest’s orders and inducted as a missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, remaining at Preston. From 1799 to 1800 he was also grand chaplain of the provincial grand lodge of the masonic order in nearby Halifax.
    • He was named rector of Trinity Church in Saint John, N.B., in June 1825. There, as at St Paul’s, the parishioners had a claim to the right of nomination, but since their favoured candidate was Gray’s son, John William Dering, they did not object, especially when the younger Gray was brought to Saint John to be his father’s assistant the following yea
    • Within a decade of moving to Saint John, Gray Sr suffered two severe blows. The first was to his pride: in 1829 he was passed over for the office of archdeacon, which went to George Coster. The second, and more serious blow, came in November 1833, when his wife and a female servant died in a fire which destroyed the rectory. Gray’s long-felt wish to retire in favour of his son was granted in 1840, the regulation against a son succeeding in his father’s parish being set aside. Gray continued as chaplain to the forces, a position he had held since his arrival in Saint John.
  • Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory –https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=3345
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174373698/benjamin-gerrish-gray