1813–1905

Introduction

Born: Au­gust 12, 1813, Lon­don, Eng­land.

Died: Ap­ril 7, 1905, Brock­port, New York.

Buried: Man­li­us Vil­lage Ce­me­te­ry, Man­li­us, New York.

Biography

Alfred was the son of John Gra­ley and Anne Green­wood. He mar­ried three times: to Al­ley Ma­ria Van Eps (June 1843, Ge­ne­va, New York), Mar­ga­ret Ann Dies (1849), and Ca­ther­ine Me­li­ta Je­rome of Pom­pey (1861).

Around 1842, he and an old­er bro­ther sailed from Li­ver­pool, reach­ing New York Ci­ty aft­er a five week voy­age.

He worked as a cob­bler for sev­er­al years, then at age 25 made a pub­lic con­fes­sion of faith in the Pres­by­ter­ian Church at Wamps­ville, New York, and gave him­self to Chris­tian min­is­try.

He stu­died at the Ham­il­ton Aca­de­my, then en­tered Prince­ton Se­mi­na­ry in 1840. Gra­ley was li­censed Sep­tem­ber 4, 1844, by the Pres­by­te­ry of Onon­da­ga (later Sy­ra­cuse) and or­dained on Christ­mas Day, 1844.

He served as pas­tor of the Con­gre­ga­tion­al Church at Len­ox, New York, un­til June 12, 1856. He went on to serve in Pom­pey Hill, New York (1857–63); Tri­ni­ty Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Man­li­us, New York (1863–69); Me­di­na, New York (1869–70); Knowles­ville, New York (1870–72), and was state sup­ply and mis­sion at Clark­son, New York (1872–78). He then re­tired and lived in Clark­son un­til 1903, when he moved to Brock­port, New York.

Works

Graley is said to have writ­ten words or mu­sic for 150 hymns. His oth­er works in­clude:

Sources

Lyrics

Music

Help Needed

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Gra­ley (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),