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For nineteen years Ezra S. Gray has been an active citizen of Chowchilla, where he is editor and publisher of the Chowchilla News.

Mr. Gray was born in Marion, county seat of Ann County, Iowa, November 26, 1859, the son of Argalus Wilson and Anne Eliza (Goff) Gray. His progenitors on both sides came from England in the seventeenth century and settled in the New England colonies. The family was well represented in the Continental army during the Revolution and successive generations were in the war of 1812, the Mexican, Civil, Spanish American and World wars.

The family moved from Iowa to Pennsylvania during Mr. Gray’s infancy. After he attended high school, he entered newspaper work in Du Bois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. In 1887, in partnership with an elder brother, he founded a morning newspaper, the Du Bois Courier. After a quarter of a century of turning night into day in pursuit of the exacting duties of the editorial-desk, he sold his interest in the paper and looked for a location in California. After considerable investigation, he decided on Chowchilla, where lie established his home in time for Thanksgiving dinner, November 1914.

Mr. Gray was married November 22, 1893, to Blanche Elizabeth Mead, daughter of Alfred D. and Rowena Mead, at Du Bois, Pennsylvania. Their children are: Thomas D. Gray, Rowena (Mrs. Charles J. Sullivan), Ralph E. Gray, and Dorothy Anne (Mrs. J. Fred Burcher), all living in California.

Mr. Gray is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association, and of the California Press Association. He is also a member of the Republican state committee. Since 1926 he has been inheritance tax appraiser in Madera County.

From the History of Fresno and Madera Counties, 1933, Joseph Barcroft, editor for Madera County.