Chesley Bray

Chesley Bray
Short Name: Chesley Bray
Full Name: Bray, Chesley

Aaron Chesley Bray, Sr. was born in Houlka Mississippi in 1905. He died in 1968 and is buried in Pinecrest Cemetery in Calhoun County, Mississippi.

His musical education came from the Hartford Music Normal, the Vaughn Music Normal and instruction received from J.A. Roane, W.B. Walbert, Prof. Huddleston and Prof. Lancaster.

He was principle of Southern Gospel School of Music for eight years and a harmony instructor at the Denson School of Music in Haleyville, Alabama.

In a 1937 publication of the Who’s Who of Southern Singers and Composers, Bray was reported to have written 100 songs. It stated that Bray and his wife, Mattie, traveled the area performing as the Bray duet. He was engaged in the grocery business in Houlka.

In 1945, he began publishing a newspaper in Bruce MS, but restraints for raw materials after WWII forced him to find other revenue sources. He purchased his first dry cleaners shortly afterwards in Mathiston, MS but kept his printing press which allowed him to provide books for Gospel singings. It was reported he would travel from singing to singing on weekends, selling his freshly printed hymnals of the latest Gospel renditions.

He moved back to Bruce where he remained in the dry cleaning business, selling pianos in the front of his business. He later sold the dry cleaners to one of his sons and he became a Kimball Piano dealer. He spent his later years selling and servicing pianos and organs, writing Gospel songs and traveling the singing circuit.

Aaron Bray (grandson)


Texts by Chesley Bray (37)sort descendingAsAuthority LanguagesInstances
All our labor will be done, And the crown of victory wonChesley Bray (Author)English7
All our sorrows will endChesley Bray (Author)2
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)Chesley Bray (Author)English1
As he swoops down in love from that homeChesley Bray (Author)3
As you travel onward through life's journeyChesley Bray (Author)2
Dear Christian Friends, look upChesley Bray (Author)2
Dear Christian friends, look up and prayChesley Bray (Author)3
Don't forget your dear old motherChesley Bray (Author)3
Don't mistreat your mother, who has caredChesley Bray (Author)2
I am singing a song, as I go alongChesley Bray (Author)English2
I once was without light and lostChesley Bray (Author)2
I walk with Jesus in the beautiful wayChesley Bray (Author)2
I'm a pilgrim in this weary world belowChesley Bray (Author)3
I'm always happy and singing as onward I goChesley Bray (Author)2
In the darkness of nightChesley Bray (Author)1
Just a few more days of sorrowChesley Bray (Author)2
Lead me, Jesus, in this world of sorrowChesley Bray (Author)3
Oft here we meet with careChesley Bray (Author)2
Oft here we're sad and filled with woeChesley Bray (Author)2
Often here we are sadChesley Bray (Author)2
Once I roamed on Satan's highwayChesley Bray (Author)2
Once I wandered out in the darknessChesley Bray (Author)2
So often we're burdened as we travelChesley Bray (Author)2
Some mothers' boy has gone astray from homeC. B. (Author)English2
Somewhere upon the hills of blessed gloryChesley Bray (Author)2
The Lord has been so good to me (Bray)Chesley Bray (Author)2
There is a mighty army, now marchingChesley Bray (Author)4
There is naught to fear in the desert hereC. B. (Author)3
There's a wonderful story, let me tell it to youChesley Bray (Author)2
We are on our pilgrim wayChesley Bray (Author)2
When I shall stack my arms down hereChesley Bray (Author)2
When our work on earth is over and we hearChesley Bray (Author)2
When twilight shadows fall and darkness coversChesley Bray (Author)2
When your way is hedged in darknessChesley Bray (Author)2
While traveling through this wicked worldChesley Bray (Author)2
With my Savior here below, I am ready now to goChesley Bray (Author)2
You who wear the name of Jesus, claim to be a Christian hereC. B. (Author)English3
Suggestions or corrections? Contact us