Frederick De Grau immigrated to the colonies from Germany in the mid 1700s. According to family legend, he secured a land grant from King George III of England, but I found no evidence of that. Most people fleeing Germany were leaving for religious or economic reasons. England was granting sanctuary to those claiming religious persecution. They offered land grants to some to settle the "frontier" in the colonies.
Once in the colonies Frederick settled in the Dutch Fork section of Newberry County, South Carolina and adopted the last name of Gray, the English translation of Grau.
The Gray family members intermarried with the DeWalt and Gallman families. The DeWalts were French Huguenots from the Alsace-Lorraine area that was at the time under German control. The Gallman family was German. The Gray-DeWalt Cemetery in Newberry County, SC is filled with members of these families.
George Gray Sr came over to the colonies with his father Frederick and met Eva Margareta Egmont on board the ship. She was married to a Depeyster or Piester who died on board the ship. George and Eva married and settled in South Carolina.
As with many families during the Revolutionary War, the Gray family was split with some siding with the British and some with the Patriots. It was reported that George Gray Sr was a British supporter while his son Frederick fought for the Patriots, rising from rank of private to major by the war's end. It is noted that many people at the time switched from one side to the other.
Susannah Gray, daughter of George Gray Jr and Catherine DeWalt, married John Gallman. Their granddaughter was Sarah Victoria Cannon who married James Alfred Crotwell.
Note: The Grays on the Crotwell side of the family are not related to the Grays on the Swink side of the family who are of Scots-Irish descent.
Highlighted names show the direct ancestor line of Selma Crotwell.