NOTE: I have no connection, no further information and am not seeking additional information. This biography was provided by Teddy (Gray) Brock on our list. 11185 FLEMING CO – ROLLIE MILTON GRAY – Gray, Hawkins, Aikin, Harmon, Frank #11185: PORTLAND, OREGON ITS HISTORY AND BUILDERS By JOSEPH GASTON 1911 VOLUME II. Fleming Co. ROLLIE MILTON GRAY In the clothing establishment of which Rollie Milton Gray is proprietor there is a spirit dominant beyond the mere acquisition of wealth and it finds its manifestation in the enthusiastic loyalty of employees to employer, in the straightforward methods of the house and in the friendly feeling of its patrons, and in the conduct of his enterprise he is proving that success and an honored name may be won simultaneously. Mr. Gray was born in Jefferson county, Kansas, January 14, 1864, and is a son of Madison Harrison Gray, a schoolmaster and farmer, whose father came from Edinburgh, Scotland, to the new world in his childhood days. The maternal grandfather of our subject was of English birth and, like the founder of the Gray family in America, settled in this land about a century and a quarter ago. Mr. Gray was a slave owner in Fleming county, Kentucky, while Mr. Hawkins was a strong Union and anti-slavery man. They lived on adjoining plantations and, notwithstanding their difference of opinions, they were always good friends during the period of more than fifty years when they lived side by side. Both died when more than ninety years of age. The daughter of Mr. Hawkins, America Howe Hawkins, became the wife of Madison H. Gray. Both were natives of Fleming county, Kentucky, whence they removed to Kansas. R. M. Gray acquired his education in the common schools and in country districts of Kentucky between the ages of six and nine years. He then accompanied his parents on their removal to Atchison, Kansas, after which he was bound out for a year in Missouri to a man by the name of Allison, who lived on a farm just across the river from Atchison. At the end of that time the Gray family located on a farm in Atchison county, Kansas, where during the winter season the son attended school for two terms. This ended his school days, when he was but twelve years of age, but in the school of experience he has learned many valuable and practical lessons, which have constituted important factors in his later progress and success. For five years after leaving school his days were spent in the work of the farm, and after attaining the age of seventeen years he worked for a time in the coal mines at Carbondale in the mining region of Pittsburg, Kansas. After a few months' experience of that kind he returned to Jefferson county, where he engaged in farm labor in the service of James Jones, who owned the place adjoining that on which Mr. Gray was born. At the age of eighteen years he determined that he would learn the mercantile business and, starting upon the search for a position, at length entered the store of which Frank Aikin was manager. This was an extensive establishment of Perryville, Kansas, but he did not make much headway there and removed to De Kalb, Missouri, where he secured a situation in the store of John S. Harmon, known as the "Missouri laugher." After two years spent in Mr. Harmon's employ he entered the service of a clothing firm in Atchison, Kansas, operating under the name of L. Frank. There he received only twenty-five dollars a month at the beginning and from that sum had to pay for room, board and clothing. He continued in the house for four years and then the offer of a better salary in a larger store caused him to change his position. Fourteen years were spent in the new connection, during which time his industry and careful expenditure enabled him to acquire a sufficient capital to engage in business on his own account. Accordingly, on the 28th of March, 1900, he opened a men's clothing, furnishings and hat store in Salt Lake City, Utah, at No. 128 South Main street. The enterprise was fairly successful from the beginning and three years later more commodious quarters were secured at a better location, No. 154 Main street. His success in the new store was very flattering, but after two years Mr. Gray found it necessary to leave Salt Lake because of his wife's health, and in searching for a location on the Pacific coast decided upon Portland. He then secured a lease in the Blumauer building, at Nos. 269 and 271 Morrison street, and equipped what was probably the finest store on the coast at the time. He opened his doors for business on the 23d of March, 1905, and the establishment found immediate favor with the people, a men's general clothing business being conducted with gratifying prosperity for four years. At the end of that time Mr. Gray decided to establish an exclusive shop for men's and women's tailored clothes, such as would be a pride to the country, and his present establishment is the result. His five years' business experience in Portland has satisfied him that this city shall remain his home for the rest of his life, for he believes that in climate, opportunity and in population this state cannot be in any way improved upon. 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