278
THE GREEN BAG
citizen, the Legislature of the State ad journed to attend his funeral. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick Scofield of Stamford, Conn., and her mother was a daughter of Colonel George Starr, of a well known family of that state. Of the children of this marriage, George Gray, the eldest, was born May 4, 1840, at New Castle, Delaware, where he spent his youth and received his preparatory school ing. He entered the junior class at Prince ton College in 1857, and after making a good record during his two-year course, graduated at the head of his class, being assigned to deliver the Philosophical Ora tion. His choice of " Gallic 's Oath " as his subject, at his age, is not to be passed by as an ill-considered trifle in forming a just estimate of the man. Before leaving the boy to contemplate the development of the man, there are cir cumstances of his boyhood which deserve a passing mention as, indicating certain characteristics which manifested themselves in manhood. As a boy, he was not only studious, but manifested great interest in machinery and the processes of the manu facturing and railroad business in which his father was then interested. As a result of this he became a favorite of the employees and spent hours of his recreation time in learning what he could of these practical operations, either in the factory or riding in the cab of a locomotive, as he frequently did. His home surroundings also lent them selves to constant sailing on the noble river on whose western shore his early life was spent, and he became an expert sailor — reputed, indeed, as one of the best in a community largely bred to that craft as a means of living. This early training in- the critical observa tion of the actual working of machinery and in the management of sail boats, and the natural bent which turned the boy's mind in these directions can hardly be overlooked in connection with the fact shown by an examination of the reports during Judge
Gray's service on the Bench, that in nearly all of the Admiralty and Patent cases he was assigned to write the opinions. On the return of the young graduate from college he studied law under his father and also under Hon. William C. Spruance, now a Judge of the Supreme Court of Delaware, and spent one year at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Bar in 1863. He practiced for a time at New Castle and, after the removal of the county seat, at Wilmington, where he has since re sided. The young lawyer at once himself unre servedly devoted himself to his profession and speedily developed those qualities and capacities which commanded the respect of the Bar and the confidence of the Courts at home, and which, through his public ser vices in wider spheres of action, have become known as well to the country at large. After sixteen years, having won for him self a commanding position at the Bar of his county and being favorably known throughout the State, Mr. Gray was in 1879 appointed Attorney-General and was reappointed in 1884. His administration of the duties of that office was marked by efficiency, fidelity and ability, and added to the reputation which he had gained in private practice. While by nature conser vative and by habit inclined to adhere closely to settled rules of law and forms of procedure, he did not hesitate, when it was necessary, to adapt himself to new con ditions not controlled by precedent. Thus it happened that during his term of service for the first time in the history of the State, a corporation was indicted, and, though a powerful railroad company, it was con victed and fined. Of his service in this office, the late Chan cellor Wolcott, himself a leader of the Bar who reached the highest judicial position, remarked some years afterwards: "In this state we have never had a man who filled the position of Attorney-General as ably as he did, and he had many eminent prede
