-9- FATHERS 0F CONFEDERATION

Chairman of 1864 Meeting: Col. J. Hamilton Gray. Hon. A. A. MacDonald; Hon. W. H. POpe; Hon. Edward Palmer; Hon. George Coles.

0n the first marble stone erected in the Colony

to commemorate the dead, is an inscription to Mary, wife of Robert Gray, a Loyalist and retired officer. Mrs.

Gray was the daughter of Lt. Burns (Stukeley Farm?) who was an early settler, and had served under Capt. Holland on the 1765 Survey of Prince Edward Island.

Col. Robert Gray was born near Glasgow, Scotland; his early pursuits were Mercantile; in 1771, he went to

Virginia where he engaged in business. On the breaking Out of the American Revolution he joined a regiment of

volunteers commanded by Lord Dunmore. In this corps he was twice dangerously wounded in action. Later, he was a Company Commander in a regiment commanded by Col. Edward Fanning. When war was over, Col. Gray retired on half Day, and with other Loyalists went to Nova Scotia; he was sent to Shelburne to superintend the Loyalists and disbanded soldiers. In 1787, on invitation of his former Colonel, Governor Fanning, he came to Prince Edward Island, bought and settled at Spring Park. He was appointed Treasurer of the Island9 a member of His Majesty’s Coune oil, and later an assistant Judge. His name appears on lists of army personnel in 1809. He died 1828.

His son, J. Hamilton Gray, was born at Spring Park House. He was sent to military schools in England, and entered military service where he had a long and dis= tinguished career, seeing service in many parts of the world. He took retirement in Ireland at the end of the Crimean War. During the course of severe illnesses and fevers in his military career, he was obsessed by thoughts of theclear cold water of the Spring at home in Charlotteaf town. He returned here and bought part of the original : estate, and built Inkerman House. In 1860, when the Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII) visited Charlottetown the Prince asked Col. Gray if he had done much travelling. 5 The Col. answered "yes" he had, and to prove it he had 4 p daughters, each born in a separate quarter of the globe. i

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