William D. Gray was born in Pennsylvania around 1813 and moved to Ohio with his family at a young age. According to Isaac T. Hopper’s diary on page 75 of volume 2, William came to New York City as a respectable young man employed a clerk in a mercantile house, which is a privately financed commercial enterprise dealing in the import and export of goods.[1] Unfortunately, it was not long before the naïve and amenable William acquired criminal friends that led him astray, according to the diary In 1836 he was charged with grand larceny and sentenced to Sing Sing for five years.

After the expiration of this term, William was subsequently convicted of third- and first-degree burglary in 1842. He was sentenced to a total of twelve and a half years in Sing Sing. This second stint in prison caused a decline in both physical and mental health. His mind deteriorated so much that his brother Lewis was able to obtain a pardon and take William back to his home in Ohio in 1848. William attempted to conduct himself in a respectable manner, evident in a letter he sent to Hopper recorded on page 162 of the second manuscript. William describes attending Presbyterian services and was generally trying to remain optimistic.

However, after this letter, Hopper records on page 217 of the second volume that William was admitted into the Ohio Lunatic Asylum at Columbia between May 1849 and May 1850. After this time, he resided with his brother in Licking, Ohio.[2] He eventually married and moved to Iowa City, Iowa, to where his brother Lewis had also resettled.[3][4] Examination of several census records suggest that William died in early 1860, leaving behind his widow Nancy and three young children.[5][6]

William’s story was described by Isaac T. Hopper as having the potential to prove how beneficial the New York Prison Association’s effect was on their fellow man. William’s rise from insanity and sufferings, seen in how he later became a worker with a family,[7] realized this potential that Hopper perceived.

[1] Vera Blinn. Reber, British Mercantile Houses in Buenos Aires, 1810-1880 (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard U.P., 1979).

[2] 1850 United States Census, Hartford, Licking, Ohio, digital image s.v. "William Gray," Ancestry.com.

[3] Iowa State Census Collection 1856, Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa, digital image s.v. "William Gray," Ancestry.com.

[4] Iowa State Census Collection 1856, Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa, digital image s.v. "Lewis Gray," Ancestry.com.

[5] 1860 United States Census, Harlan, Shelby, Iowa, digital image s.v. “Nancy M. Gray,” Ancestry.com.

[6] Administration and Guardian Bonds and Letters, 1843-1885; Author: Iowa. Circuit Court (Van Buren County); Probate Place: Van Buren, Iowa

[7] Iowa State Census Collection 1856, Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa, digital image s.v. "William Gray," Ancestry.com.