David Gray was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and came to the United States in 1849, settling with his family on a farm in Wisconsin. In 1856 he moved to Buffalo, New York, where he worked as a secretary, librarian, and bookkeeper. In 1859 he joined the Buffalo Courier as a reporter, and rose steadily, becoming editor-in-chief in 1876. In 1865–68 Gray traveled in Britain, Europe, and the Holy Land, writing foreign correspondence for his paper. In 1869 he married Martha Guthrie. SLC met him in August 1869, just after acquiring an interest in the rival Buffalo Express. In 1882 ill health forced Gray into retirement; in 1888 he was fatally injured in a railway accident near Binghamton, New York. Years later, SLC recalled that David and Martha Gray were “all the solace” he and Livy had during their “sorrowful and pathetic brief sojourn in Buffalo,” and said Gray’s delicate gift for poetry was wasted on his newspaper work.