I wanted to share this family photo of William Gray with the community. Location: Roff, Pontotoc, Oklahoma, United States. Date: unknown.
My paternal grandfather, William Buford Gray. Known to all as "Tam." Born in Saltillo, Mississippi in the late 1880s, Tam's occupation in 1908 is listed as "Farmer." He worked as a sharecropper, eventually selling his interest in the share to his oldest son, Buford Beryl.
From family history I know that he worked county improvements, grading county roads with a mule team; and he served, for a while, as Town Marshall.
He looks like a man that put up with little foolishness. Even though he took time to visit the photographer for this portrait, he wasn't going to let some fussy little man tell him to take off his hat or fix his tie. He has the slightly droopy left eye shared by his son Buford and his Grandson Buford Jr. He would have intimidated me as a young man, but I now would enjoy spending some time with Tam, swapping stories.
Click here for the image details page or here for the full-sized version (1396 x 1993).
