William Wray

As printed in 1908

WILLIAM WRAY, who has been a resident of Bethel Township, Clark County, Ohio, since 1868, where he has been successfully engaged in general farming, was born July 4, 1839, on a farm in Franklin County, Virginia, and is a son of Edmund and Betsy (Kensey) Wray.

Edmund Wray and wife were both natives of Virginia. He was a wool carter by trade. They had the following children: Joseph, William, Abraham, Chesley, deceased, Catherine, Margaret, Louise, Alice, deceased, George, and Benjamin. Edmund Wray died about 1853, when still in the prime of life. His widow survived him but eleven months. A family of small children were thus left orphans, and necessarily they became separated, going to live with different relatives. Three of the sons were drafted into the Southern Army, all of whom deserted. One of these, Chesley, was recaptured and condemned to death, but before the sentence was carried out was taken prisoner by the Union forces and imprisoned in New York, where his death occurred. Since the Civil War the children have become scattered in various parts of the country, and two have been completely lost trace of.

William Wray was fourteen years old when his parents died, after which he made his home with his uncle, Christopher Kensey, a farmer of Virginia, with whom he remained until twenty-one years of age, when he went to Indiana and worked by the month on different farms for about two years. He then came to Clark County, Ohio, and worked for four months on John C. Beckner's farm, after which he worked for Mr. Stewart several months. After his marriage, in December, 1863, to Catherine Snyder, a daughter of Feltz and Chi-istina Snyder, he rented a small farm in Pike Township, Clark County. Here Mr. Wray and wife lived in a two-room log bouse, and experienced the coldest winter of their lives, the snow often blowing in through the cracks of the old house. Many times, however, that hard winter, they gave shelter and food to soldiers returning from the war, willingly sharing what little they had, with true Virginia hospitality. After living for eighteen months on this farm, Mr. Wray removed to a better improved farm in Pike Township, where he remained one year, after which he rented the Stndebaker farm in Miami County for two years, and in 1868 he bought sixty acres of his present farm in Bethel Township, from William Gordon. An old log house and other buildmgs were on the land at the time of his purchase, but have been replaced by more substantial and modern buildings. Mr. Wray later added thirty acres to his original purchase and his farm, which is about five miles west of Springfield, is situated on both sides of the old Troy road. Mr. Wray has been very successful as a general farmer and fruit grower, and disposes of his fruit in the Springfield market.

Mrs. Wray passed out of this life August 9, 1906, aged sixty-eight years, the mother of nine children, namely: Forrest, who is an electrical inventor, lives at Boston; Ella, who lives at home; Mary E., who is the wife of F. Cooksey; Theresa, who married William Prentz, has two children, Wilbur and Omer; William Jason, who married Pearl Brown, has one child, Donald; Nora, who is the wife of Moses Peterson; Anna; and John A. and one unnamed child, died infants. Religiously Mr. Wray is a member of the German Baptist Church, as was his father.

As printed in 20th century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens (1908). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.