Born in Gondenans-les-Moulins, Doubs, Franche-Comté, France

Charles Celestin was descended from Servois Ducray, one of the Ducray Nine, nine Ducray brothers who saved the life of the French King Henry IV ("Henry the Great," "Good King Henry") in the 1590s, and were rewarded with knighthood and villages. Servois' village was Gondenans-les-Moulins. The family crest is a shield and swords, with nine arrows crossed in the shape of an asterisk representing the nine brothers.

His parents Nicholas (1785-1873) and Frances (née Françoise Petitjean; 1795-1883) married 13 Feb 1822 in Gondenans-les-Moulins.

From search "HARDY PIONEER FAMILY Ducray" online: In 1839, Nicholas and Frances with their nine children left the port of Le Havre, France, aboard the ship Navire Marie, headed for a new home in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, where friends from France already had settled. The ship began taking on water near Newfoundland, and hoping to keep the ship afloat, passengers and crew threw everything overboard, including the Ducrays' chest containing $2,000 in gold and everything else they brought for their start in the United States. Despite all efforts, the ship foundered. Everyone aboard was shipwrecked on a sand island off of the coast of Newfoundland. After days without rescue, without food and fresh water, the ship's crew became crazed. A passenger François Poly overheard the crew planning to kill and eat Nicholas Ducray and one of his sons (possibly his eldest, 15-year-old Jean-Baptiste). François saved the lives of the Ducrays by hiding them buried in sand. To everyone's great fortune, all were rescued the following day by a passing ship. The Ducrays remained lifelong friends with Jean François Poly. The Ducrays had with them a simple wooden cross with an ivory carving of Jesus, that they credited for their fortune of surviving the perilous voyage. The Ducray family bought 80 acres acres southeast of East Mead Township (now Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania) on the southern tip of Tamarack Lake; and later bought another farm on 72 acres located "2 miles south of Frenchtown and Route 27" and "on Route 441 near Boussons Corners." (An estate sale was listed in 1963 upon the passing of Nestor Ducray, grandson of Nicholas and Frances, son of Julius C. and Julia [née Grosclaude] Ducray. Nestor's sister Eva/Eve Mary Ducray Brunot passed away in 1967. The wood cross with ivory carving of Jesus brought with the family to America was kept by Eva, then passed to one of her children.)

Soon after settling in Crawford County, Nicholas became a church trustee for Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pettis, and donated an acre beside the church for use as the church cemetery (his name was misspelled on the deed "Ducri"). Nicholas and Frances and many of their family, friends, and neighbors are at rest in the Catholic church cemetery, in Section B Lot 5.

Nicholas and Frances's descendants (first generation) went to California, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Montana, and Minnesota.

Nicholas and Frances had ten children, nine born in the family village in France:
1) Françoise Virginie/Frances Virginia born 1822
2) Jean-Baptiste/John B. Ducray 1824-1890 March 20
3) Celestine F. Ducray Bourquin, 25 Feb 1826-1899 Feb 7
4) Augustus Ducray 27 Sept 1827-1895 May 12 Pettis
Birth name: Auguste; also called Gustavus Ducray
5) Claude Marie 8 August 1828-1912 February 23
= Mary F. Wood
6) Jeanne Claude/Johanna/Jane born 1831
7) Jean Claude/John C. Ducray 1833-1875 April 6
8) Charles Celestin Ducray 29 April 1835-1925
9) Justin Ducray January 1836-1914 December 24
Birth name: François Augustin Ducray; known as
Augustus Ducray until 1862.
10) Julius C. Ducray Meadville 1841-1925 Pettis
Julius was the first descendant of Servois Ducray born in the U.S.

Charles Celestin Ducray served in the Civil War. He enlisted at Chicago, Illinois, on 22 July 1862; served in the New York Marine Artillery 1st Regiment, Company G. Discharged 22 Jan 1863 at Newberne, North Carolina.

Charles was a farmer in the 1880 Illinois U.S. Census. He patented a corn planter, granted 17 April 1888 by the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., based on his patent application filed in St. Paul, Iowa County, Wisconsin.

He lived in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Charles Celestin Ducray married:
1) Ann Waters DuCray (19 June 1850-1873 May 22) on 30 September 1866 in Mendota, Illinois, La Salle County. Tragically, Ann passed away when she was only 22 years old.
2) Hannah Heslop DuCray (born in England 14 March 1846; passed away 1905 Feb 10 in Dodgeville, Wisconsin) on 11 October 1875 in Dubuque, Iowa.

Children with Ann Waters:
1) Charles Ernest DuCray, 5 July 1868-1936 December 12
2) James Pierce "Percy" DuCray, 1 May 1870-1951 June 8
3) Frances A. DuCray Winders, Sept 1872-1953 August 20
Children with Hannah Heslop:
1) Eugenie Ducray, born 1874
2) Eleziebith/Elizabeth Ducray, born 1876
3) Frank Nicholas DuCray (1878-1963); Sheriff of Colorado Springs 1921-1923
4) Heslop Ducray, born 1879
5) George H. Ducray, 1880-1945
6) Eugenia O. DuCray Langerman 1881-1967
married Charles Frederick Langerman
7) Celestine DuCray Beckett, 1884-1959
8) Julius C. DuCray, 29 Nov 1886-? (Twin of Julian Senninger Ducray)
9) Julian Senninger DuCray, 29 Nov 1886-1964 February
Twin of Julius C. DuCray.