Alfred G. Gray was born around 1818 in Norfolk, Virginia, to William Gray and Sarah Scott. His father was the British consul assigned to Norfolk. He moved to the Republic of Texas around 1839, and he spent the next four years in the Texas Navy. He resigned in 1843 and became a captain in the steamship industry. He married Sarah Elizabeth Gray on August 15, 1849, and they had at least five children: Mary, born around 1854; Sheldon, born around 1856; Alfred, born around 1859; William, born around 1861; and Sarah, born around 1868. He lived in Brooklyn, New York, between voyages, and by 1860, he owned $5,000 of real estate.

 

He remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War, and he served as captain of the McClellan. In 1874, he became a commodore on the Pacific Mail Line. An early biographer noted that “as captain he had sailed nearly 1,000,000 miles without having lost a life” “made one hundred and twenty round voyages…for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company without losing or injuring one of their ships.” He died in Brooklyn on November 10, 1876.

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