THE QUARTERLY
OF THE
Oregon Historical Society
Copyright, 1913, by Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
REMINISCENCES OF CAPTAIN WILLIAM P. GRAY
By Fred Lockley
"My father, W. H. Gray, came to Oregon in 1836," said Captain William P. Gray, of Pasco. "I was born in Oregon City in 1845. My father named me William Polk Gray. I remember when I was about four or five years old some one asked my father what my middle initial stood for. Father said, 'I named him after President Polk. When I named him the president had taken a strong stand on 54-40 or fight. Polk reversed his attitude on that question and I have been sorry I called my boy after him ever since. Sometimes I have a notion to wring the youngster's neck, I am so disgusted with President Polk/ I was about five years old, and when I heard my father say that he sometimes had a notion to wring my neck, it scared me pretty badly. My father was a man who usually meant what he said and always, did what he said he was going to do, so every time I saw him look stern I ran like a rabbit and hid, for fear he might be about to wring my neck.
"My father was one of the early day expansionists. He was really the prime mover and originator of the agitation for making Oregon American territory. He got one or two others together and first discussed the advisability of holding the Wolf meeting that led to the movement to organize the provisional government at Champoeg on May 2, 1843.
