{"id":427,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-06-09 20:12:42","latitude":30.723526299999999622514224029146134853363037109375,"longitude":-95.550777100000004793400876224040985107421875,"title":"Pleasant Gray&#039;s League of Land: Founding Huntsville","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/a90c1c797efca2dc4bfcded261f71c54.jpg","address":"","all_locations":[],"zoom":16,"creator":["Ruby Norman"],"description":"On November 14, 1835, early Texas settler Pleasant Gray bought a 4,428-acre “league of land” in Tejas y Coahuila province from the Mexican government. This lot became the original site of Huntsville in Walker County. While Texas land frequently changed hands in the early nineteenth century, the community built on Gray’s would prove a lasting community, steeped in history. [1]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nGray was born on June 15, 1806. His birthplace is disputed between Tipton County, Tennessee, and Huntsville, Alabama. He spent his formative years in Huntsville, Alabama, before moving to Tipton County, Tennessee, where he married Hannah Elizabeth Holshouser, who became known as Hannah Gray, in 1826. The two spent a few years in Tipton County before Gray began considering moving to Texas, a popular destination for many Tennessee and Arkansas pioneers. Although Gray had already bought 100 acres in Tennessee earlier that year, he took his first exploration trip to Texas in 1832 and began discussing the matter with Hannah. [2]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nWhen the Gray family finally decided to make the move, they chose the best possible time to buy land. The new Mexican constitution, enacted in 1824, led to the Colonization Act of 1825. This measure offered many benefits to entice new settlers from the northern lands. Anglo-American settlers who arrived in Tejas y Coahilua after the 1835 Act faced many disputes, including taxation rates and the growing power of local Mexican authorities. On July 10, 1835, Gray officially received his land grant, and the photo below features a transcription of the original document. Signing and sealing the papers on this date proved to work in Gray&#039;s favor, since the Texas War of Independence against Mexico began shortly afterward. This document includes a map of Coahuila and Texas from 1836, during a period of change. [3]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe specific plot of land that Gray purchased lay on the outskirts of the frontier; it occupied an envious position as a crossroads for trade and the arrival of new settlers. The location also proved close to friendly tribes of local Indians, including the Cherokee and Comanche. This plot was also adjacent to the “Big Thicket” of East Texas, which Indians utilized for survival but which the Mexican government largely ignored. Gray’s town featured a spring [2], which was vital to the early development of the Gray family and the city of Huntsville. With these geographical features in place, settlers began to arrive, and the local trading post began to prosper through the community&#039;s resourcefulness. [4]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAccording to Huntsville, Texas’ Bicentennial History [1], the Indians in the area would bring bear fat, skins, and pelts to trade, as well as crops such as nuts and corn. Native Americans from other areas would offer handmade goods such as sandals, baskets, and bags. Even with all these resources, the community‘s population remained at about 100 for the decade following their arrival due to disputes with the Mexican government and Indian occupation. [5]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nOnce the population began to grow, elders in the community wanted education for their children. In the early 1840s, citizens funded a school called “Brick Academy,” which later became a girls’ school. It would become part of the Huntsville Penitentiary system. Local community leaders formed a Masonic Lodge in 1844, and Gray dedicated a cemetery site three years later. In 1848, local voters sponsored the creation of a courthouse and adjacent jail to be financed two years after Huntsville, Texas, became the seat of the newly created Walker County. Present-day Huntsville still uses the original streets where these original buildings stood. A hotel and many other functional community buildings would be built in the years that followed, but Pleasant Gray felt the need to move again after his community became prosperous. [6]<br />\r\n<br />\r\nGray has been described by many as having an “itchy foot,” as he eventually left his home in Texas for California in the summer of 1849 to seek gold during the Gold Rush. He died en route, somewhere near North Platte, Nebraska, of cholera; he was only 43 years old. His four children went on to uphold the Gray family name by managing their father’s assets in Huntsville well.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"","website":"","related_resources":["[1] Charles L. Dwyer and Gerald L. Holder, “Huntsville, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 27, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/huntsville-tx.","[2] “Pleasant Gray Biography,” PleasantGray.com, accessed February 1, 2026, http://www.pleasantgray.com/pleasant-gray-bio.html.","[3] Eugene C. Barker, “Mexican Colonization Laws,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 27, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mexican-colonization-laws.","[4] “Pleasant Gray Biography,” PleasantGray.com.","[5] Ibid.","[6]"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/a90c1c797efca2dc4bfcded261f71c54.jpg":{"id":3040,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Portrait of Pleasant Gray by Lee Jamison. [2]","description":"http://www.pleasantgray.com/pleasant-gray-bio.html","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/a90c1c797efca2dc4bfcded261f71c54.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/dda8ad78fab2e6308832b5b4a18c0a03.jpg":{"id":3041,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Map of Coahuila and Texas. [3]","description":"https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-revolution","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/dda8ad78fab2e6308832b5b4a18c0a03.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/7de11de07fe2b601250d1a5a6528c58a.jpg":{"id":3042,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A part of the transcription of the original land grant for Pleasant Gray. From [1].","description":"","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/7de11de07fe2b601250d1a5a6528c58a.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/570c535d869455c73527a8d1fb8f74cf.jpg":{"id":3043,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A photo of Huntsville&#039;s first State Penitentiary","description":"From Texas State Historical Association | https://www.tshaonline.org/texas-day-by-day/entry/1070","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/570c535d869455c73527a8d1fb8f74cf.jpg"},"https://easttexashistory.org/files/fullsize/75de33cd76084cdc4fdba5452f99096e.jpg":{"id":3044,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A Gray family ranch illustration [1]","description":"","thumbnail":"https://easttexashistory.org/files/square_thumbnails/75de33cd76084cdc4fdba5452f99096e.jpg"}}}