My Genealogy Hound

John Ray, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., in 1832, and is a son of Hamilton and Polly (Moses) Ray, natives of South Carolina and Georgia, respectively. They were married in Alabama, and when our subject was a small boy removed to Itawamba County, Miss., where their respective deaths occurred in 1880 and 1861. Mr. Ray was a farmer by occupation. He lost his father when a small boy living in South Carolina, but his mother afterward married and removed with the family to Georgia. Mr. and Mrs. Ray were members of the Missionary Baptist Church, and to them a family of thirteen children were born, of whom our subject is the second. He, with a brother, Alfred, are the only survivors. He was educated at the country schools of early days, and in 1855 married Martha J., daughter of Ezra and Lucinda Brown, and a native of Ringo County, Ala. This marriage was blessed with ten children, of whom five sons and two daughters are living. One daughter, Mary Lucinda, was killed, while at home, by a cyclone, April 18, 1880. In 1859 Mr. Ray removed to Hempstead County, Ark., and in 1871 located upon his present place in Sebastian County, which was then a wilderness. He owns 200 acres, and has cleared and cultivated 100. He also cleared a farm while in Hempstead County. During the cyclone of 1880 all of his buildings and a great deal of timber was destroyed. The house was blown from the floor, and all the inmates injured to some extent, one daughter being killed, as above mentioned. During the war Mr. Ray served four years in the Confederate army, having enlisted in Company F, Twenty-fourth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, in 1862. In January, 1863, he was captured at Arkansas Post, and taken a prisoner to Camp Douglas, at Chicago, where he was held for three months. He was then taken to City Point, Va., and exchanged, after which he joined his old company in the Army of Tennessee, under Gen. Bragg. He served in the battles of Chickamauga and Mission Ridge, and after the latter battle returned home. He also fought in many skirmishes, but was never wounded. Mr. Ray cast his first presidential vote for Buchanan, and has voted the Democratic ticket since. He has been a Mason for about eighteen years, and joined the Missionary Baptist Church prior to his marriage. Mrs. Ray is also a member of that church.