Francis Calley Gray

Francis Calley Gray (September 19, 1790 – December 29, 1856) was a politician from Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Elizabeth and William Gray, he graduated Harvard University (1809) and went on to be John Quincy Adams's private secretary, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and president of the Boston Athenæum. Gray was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1819,^[1] and a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1820.^[2] Gray was a member of Harvard Overseers.^[3] When he died, he left many gifts to Harvard, including his collection of 3,000 engravings and $50,000 (equivalent to $1,695,556 today) to be put towards a museum of comparative zoology.^[4]

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Francis Calley Gray

Francis Calley Gray, portrait by Francis Alexander

He died in 1856 and is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery, his tomb guarded by a sleeping dog.

References

1. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
2. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
3. Marjorie B. Cohn, Francis Calley Gray and an early Boston Daguerreotype, History of Photography (1985)
4. Bio data