Canton, again becoming a merchant of the town. He prospered as a representative of commercial interests and in other business lines as well. He sold railroad ties for a number of years, employing on an average of thirty men in getting out these ties and he had full control of the trade for the Quincy & Louisiana branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad.      In 1860 Mr. Gray cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln and continued a stanch republican, serving twice as a delegate to the state conventions, while his opinions carried weight and influence in the local councils of his party. He filled the office of supervisor and treasurer of Pleasant Vale township and was also postmaster of New Canton. Socially he was connected with the Odd Fellows lodge at Barry, with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Grand Army of the Republic and of all these was an exemplary and valued representative. His wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. On the 8th of January, 1878, Mr. Gray was married to Lydia R. Ware, who was born in Barry, February 28, 1847, and acquired her education in the public schools here, her parents being Isaac and Mary Ware, who in 1839 became residents of this locality. Mr. Ware was born in New Jersey but was reared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he learned the shoemaker's trade and his death occurred in Barry in 1876. His wife, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, spent her girlhood days in that city and in Philadelphia. Mrs. Gray was the tenth in order of birth in a family of eleven children. She had no children of her own but reared an adopted daughter and son, Jennie and George E. Gray. The latter was but eight months old when brought by his foster parents to Pike county and here he was reared and in their home received every care and attention that would have been bestowed upon an own child, his warmest affection therefore being aroused for his foster parents. As he grew in age and knowledge he became associated with Mr. Gray in his business enterprises and is his successor in different lines of trade here. He is now the proprietor of a large and well equipped lumberyard and receives in this line a good patronage, while at the same time he gives careful supervision to his farming interests, which are represented by many acres, constituting a splendid farm which is well improved. Both branches of his business are returning him a gratifying income and he is justly accounted one of the active and enterprising men of New Canton.      On the 15th of April, 1902, he was married to Miss Maude E. Myers, a daughter of William Myers, Jr., one of the practical and prosperous farmers of Barry township. His parents were William and Mary (Wike) Myers and his grandfather and great-grandfather both bore the name of Jacob Myers. The last mentioned was supposed to have been a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Cumberland county, where he developed a farm and carried on blacksmithing. He was married to Margaret Marat and their son, Jacob Myers, was born in Cumberland county in 1795. Ultimately he became the owner of the old farm homestead there, upon which he resided until 1848, when he came to Pike county, where his death occurred at the age of seventy-six years. He married Lydia Lyne, a daughter of William Lyne, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, where her death occurred.      William Myers, Sr., grandfather of Mrs. Gray, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, July 15, 1819, and came to Illinois in 1848, living in New Salem township for five years and then removed to the farm upon which William Myers, Jr., now resides. He was married in 1844 to Miss Mary Wike, a native of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of George and Mary Wike. Thus the Myers family became identified with the history of the county in early pioneer times. William Myers, Jr., has always devoted his attention to general agricultural pursuits living continuously in Pike county with the exception of one year spent in the stock business in Texas. He has good farming interests in Barry and Pleasant Vale townships and is one of the representative agriculturists of the locality. In 1880 he married Pauline Bright who was born in Pike county, October 2, 1858, a daughter of William and Rosella (Osburg) Bright. Mr. and Mrs. Myers became the parents of five children, the second daughter being Maude, now the