John Gray Bynum was born in Stokes County, North Carolina on May 16, 1813. After studying law and being accepted to the bar, he served as a colonel in the North Carolina Militia and led a group of men in enforcing Cherokee removal from western North Carolina in 1838. He established a legal practice in Rutherford County, North Carolina and obituaries regarded him as one of the most prominent lawyers in the state at the time of his death. He also served in the North Carolina General Assembly and published a weekly newspaper, the Carolina Gazette. He died in Wilmington, North Carolina on October 17, 1857.