Full name: John Edwin Ruthven Ray, Sr
The Memphis Daily Appeal
July 15 1879
Hon J.E.R. Ray
The extra Appeal, of yesterday morning, briefly announcing the death of this distinguished citizen, occasioned a feeling of universal sadness and gloom throughout the city. We feel that a gentleman so prominent, so useful, and so beloved in Memphis a more extended notice than appeared in the appeal of yesterday. Hon. J.E.R. Ray was about fifty-seven years of age. He was born in South Carolina, but his father removed to Tennessee when he was a small boy, and located in Henry county. Though not a classical scholar or a regular graduate, he acquired a good Engish education, and about the time he reached his majority commenced the study of law at Paris, Tennessee, in the office of Senator Isham G. Harris, who had just entered upon a brilliant and successful practice. While Judge Ray was a law student an intimacy and friendship grew up between himself and Senator Harris, which never darkened by a cloud. Immediately after procuring licence Judge Ray took a prominent position at the bar and in the politics of West Tennessee. At an early age he was elected to the legislature from Weakley county. In 1855 he located in Memphis, and was appointed secretary of state by Governor Harris, which position he held until the close of the war. In October last he was appointed by Governor Porter judge of the criminal court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. P.T. Scruggs. In the discharge of his professional duties duties, whether as lawyer, legislator, secretary of state, or criminal court judge, Judge Ray displayed marked abilities and incorruptible integrity. The various positions he acquired an held were not secured by an pre-eminent brilliancy; not by what is commonly called oratory, not by eloquence in its usual acceptation. His mind, though strong, could not be called brilliant. Genius he had, but genius for work and thoroughness, not genius for words; and if eloquent ever, it was the eloquence resulting and flowing from the sincerity of his convictions. He was without fancy or imagination. But he reached his conclusions by the clear and lucid enunciations of a strong logical mind. Judge Ray was rapidly making a reputation as judge of the criminal court. His clear and vigorous common sense, his intuitive love of justice, enabled him to discharge the important and responsible duties of his office in a manner highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. In social intercourse he was courteous, gentle and unobtrusive, but always firm in his views and purposes. Few men were so firm in their convictions when he was satisfied that they were founded on reason and justice and fortified by truth. A kinder, nobler or more generous heart never beat in manly bosom than that which ceased to throb in the death of J.E.R. Ray. It was always overflowing with human sympathies and charities, ever ready to meet a tale of woe or respond to the appeal of real distress. Judge Ray was not a communicant or an open professor of religion, but he has been visited every day by that exemplary minister, Rev. Dr. William T. Harris, ever foremost in ministering to the wants of the suffering, and we understand that he says Judge Ray has borne his afflictions with the philosophy of the christian.
Ray was a member of the Memphis bar and a practicing attorney. He was appointed Secretary of State under Tennessee's Gov. Isham Harris and served his term into the early part of the Civil War, 1859-1862.
1850 Census Dresden, Weakley Co TN
J.W. Hays, age 36, merchant, TN
Mary Hays, age 28, LA
William Hays, age 20, Clerk, TN
John Hays, age 15, clerk, TN
J.E.R.Ray, age 24, lawyer, SC
1860 Census Shelby County TN
George Dixon, age 43, Judge Crim Law Court, KY, real & personal estate $32000
Maria Dixon, age 35, KY
Hart Dixon, age 18, KY
J.E.R. Ray, age 35, Lawyer/farmer/secretary of state, SC, real/pers estate $245000
Mollie S. Ray, age 27, Alabama
Eddie Ray, age 3, TN
Willie Ray, age 2, TN
1870 Census Shelby County TN
Ray, J.E.R., age 47, farmer, South Carolina, real & personal estate $12000
Mary S. Ray, age 35, Alabama
J.E.R. Ray, age 13, TN
W.L. Ray, age 11, TN
C.F. Ray, age 9, TN
Lillia Ray, age 3, TN
The Memphis Daily Appeal
July 15 1879
Hon J.E.R. Ray
The extra Appeal, of yesterday morning, briefly announcing the death of this distinguished citizen, occasioned a feeling of universal sadness and gloom throughout the city. We feel that a gentleman so prominent, so useful, and so beloved in Memphis a more extended notice than appeared in the appeal of yesterday. Hon. J.E.R. Ray was about fifty-seven years of age. He was born in South Carolina, but his father removed to Tennessee when he was a small boy, and located in Henry county. Though not a classical scholar or a regular graduate, he acquired a good Engish education, and about the time he reached his majority commenced the study of law at Paris, Tennessee, in the office of Senator Isham G. Harris, who had just entered upon a brilliant and successful practice. While Judge Ray was a law student an intimacy and friendship grew up between himself and Senator Harris, which never darkened by a cloud. Immediately after procuring licence Judge Ray took a prominent position at the bar and in the politics of West Tennessee. At an early age he was elected to the legislature from Weakley county. In 1855 he located in Memphis, and was appointed secretary of state by Governor Harris, which position he held until the close of the war. In October last he was appointed by Governor Porter judge of the criminal court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. P.T. Scruggs. In the discharge of his professional duties duties, whether as lawyer, legislator, secretary of state, or criminal court judge, Judge Ray displayed marked abilities and incorruptible integrity. The various positions he acquired an held were not secured by an pre-eminent brilliancy; not by what is commonly called oratory, not by eloquence in its usual acceptation. His mind, though strong, could not be called brilliant. Genius he had, but genius for work and thoroughness, not genius for words; and if eloquent ever, it was the eloquence resulting and flowing from the sincerity of his convictions. He was without fancy or imagination. But he reached his conclusions by the clear and lucid enunciations of a strong logical mind. Judge Ray was rapidly making a reputation as judge of the criminal court. His clear and vigorous common sense, his intuitive love of justice, enabled him to discharge the important and responsible duties of his office in a manner highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. In social intercourse he was courteous, gentle and unobtrusive, but always firm in his views and purposes. Few men were so firm in their convictions when he was satisfied that they were founded on reason and justice and fortified by truth. A kinder, nobler or more generous heart never beat in manly bosom than that which ceased to throb in the death of J.E.R. Ray. It was always overflowing with human sympathies and charities, ever ready to meet a tale of woe or respond to the appeal of real distress. Judge Ray was not a communicant or an open professor of religion, but he has been visited every day by that exemplary minister, Rev. Dr. William T. Harris, ever foremost in ministering to the wants of the suffering, and we understand that he says Judge Ray has borne his afflictions with the philosophy of the christian.
Ray was a member of the Memphis bar and a practicing attorney. He was appointed Secretary of State under Tennessee's Gov. Isham Harris and served his term into the early part of the Civil War, 1859-1862.
1850 Census Dresden, Weakley Co TN
J.W. Hays, age 36, merchant, TN
Mary Hays, age 28, LA
William Hays, age 20, Clerk, TN
John Hays, age 15, clerk, TN
J.E.R.Ray, age 24, lawyer, SC
1860 Census Shelby County TN
George Dixon, age 43, Judge Crim Law Court, KY, real & personal estate $32000
Maria Dixon, age 35, KY
Hart Dixon, age 18, KY
J.E.R. Ray, age 35, Lawyer/farmer/secretary of state, SC, real/pers estate $245000
Mollie S. Ray, age 27, Alabama
Eddie Ray, age 3, TN
Willie Ray, age 2, TN
1870 Census Shelby County TN
Ray, J.E.R., age 47, farmer, South Carolina, real & personal estate $12000
Mary S. Ray, age 35, Alabama
J.E.R. Ray, age 13, TN
W.L. Ray, age 11, TN
C.F. Ray, age 9, TN
Lillia Ray, age 3, TN
Full name: John Edwin Ruthven Ray, Sr
The Memphis Daily Appeal
July 15 1879
Hon J.E.R. Ray
The extra Appeal, of yesterday morning, briefly announcing the death of this distinguished citizen, occasioned a feeling of universal sadness and gloom throughout the city. We feel that a gentleman so prominent, so useful, and so beloved in Memphis a more extended notice than appeared in the appeal of yesterday. Hon. J.E.R. Ray was about fifty-seven years of age. He was born in South Carolina, but his father removed to Tennessee when he was a small boy, and located in Henry county. Though not a classical scholar or a regular graduate, he acquired a good Engish education, and about the time he reached his majority commenced the study of law at Paris, Tennessee, in the office of Senator Isham G. Harris, who had just entered upon a brilliant and successful practice. While Judge Ray was a law student an intimacy and friendship grew up between himself and Senator Harris, which never darkened by a cloud. Immediately after procuring licence Judge Ray took a prominent position at the bar and in the politics of West Tennessee. At an early age he was elected to the legislature from Weakley county. In 1855 he located in Memphis, and was appointed secretary of state by Governor Harris, which position he held until the close of the war. In October last he was appointed by Governor Porter judge of the criminal court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. P.T. Scruggs. In the discharge of his professional duties duties, whether as lawyer, legislator, secretary of state, or criminal court judge, Judge Ray displayed marked abilities and incorruptible integrity. The various positions he acquired an held were not secured by an pre-eminent brilliancy; not by what is commonly called oratory, not by eloquence in its usual acceptation. His mind, though strong, could not be called brilliant. Genius he had, but genius for work and thoroughness, not genius for words; and if eloquent ever, it was the eloquence resulting and flowing from the sincerity of his convictions. He was without fancy or imagination. But he reached his conclusions by the clear and lucid enunciations of a strong logical mind. Judge Ray was rapidly making a reputation as judge of the criminal court. His clear and vigorous common sense, his intuitive love of justice, enabled him to discharge the important and responsible duties of his office in a manner highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. In social intercourse he was courteous, gentle and unobtrusive, but always firm in his views and purposes. Few men were so firm in their convictions when he was satisfied that they were founded on reason and justice and fortified by truth. A kinder, nobler or more generous heart never beat in manly bosom than that which ceased to throb in the death of J.E.R. Ray. It was always overflowing with human sympathies and charities, ever ready to meet a tale of woe or respond to the appeal of real distress. Judge Ray was not a communicant or an open professor of religion, but he has been visited every day by that exemplary minister, Rev. Dr. William T. Harris, ever foremost in ministering to the wants of the suffering, and we understand that he says Judge Ray has borne his afflictions with the philosophy of the christian.
Ray was a member of the Memphis bar and a practicing attorney. He was appointed Secretary of State under Tennessee's Gov. Isham Harris and served his term into the early part of the Civil War, 1859-1862.
1850 Census Dresden, Weakley Co TN
J.W. Hays, age 36, merchant, TN
Mary Hays, age 28, LA
William Hays, age 20, Clerk, TN
John Hays, age 15, clerk, TN
J.E.R.Ray, age 24, lawyer, SC
1860 Census Shelby County TN
George Dixon, age 43, Judge Crim Law Court, KY, real & personal estate $32000
Maria Dixon, age 35, KY
Hart Dixon, age 18, KY
J.E.R. Ray, age 35, Lawyer/farmer/secretary of state, SC, real/pers estate $245000
Mollie S. Ray, age 27, Alabama
Eddie Ray, age 3, TN
Willie Ray, age 2, TN
1870 Census Shelby County TN
Ray, J.E.R., age 47, farmer, South Carolina, real & personal estate $12000
Mary S. Ray, age 35, Alabama
J.E.R. Ray, age 13, TN
W.L. Ray, age 11, TN
C.F. Ray, age 9, TN
Lillia Ray, age 3, TN
The Memphis Daily Appeal
July 15 1879
Hon J.E.R. Ray
The extra Appeal, of yesterday morning, briefly announcing the death of this distinguished citizen, occasioned a feeling of universal sadness and gloom throughout the city. We feel that a gentleman so prominent, so useful, and so beloved in Memphis a more extended notice than appeared in the appeal of yesterday. Hon. J.E.R. Ray was about fifty-seven years of age. He was born in South Carolina, but his father removed to Tennessee when he was a small boy, and located in Henry county. Though not a classical scholar or a regular graduate, he acquired a good Engish education, and about the time he reached his majority commenced the study of law at Paris, Tennessee, in the office of Senator Isham G. Harris, who had just entered upon a brilliant and successful practice. While Judge Ray was a law student an intimacy and friendship grew up between himself and Senator Harris, which never darkened by a cloud. Immediately after procuring licence Judge Ray took a prominent position at the bar and in the politics of West Tennessee. At an early age he was elected to the legislature from Weakley county. In 1855 he located in Memphis, and was appointed secretary of state by Governor Harris, which position he held until the close of the war. In October last he was appointed by Governor Porter judge of the criminal court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. P.T. Scruggs. In the discharge of his professional duties duties, whether as lawyer, legislator, secretary of state, or criminal court judge, Judge Ray displayed marked abilities and incorruptible integrity. The various positions he acquired an held were not secured by an pre-eminent brilliancy; not by what is commonly called oratory, not by eloquence in its usual acceptation. His mind, though strong, could not be called brilliant. Genius he had, but genius for work and thoroughness, not genius for words; and if eloquent ever, it was the eloquence resulting and flowing from the sincerity of his convictions. He was without fancy or imagination. But he reached his conclusions by the clear and lucid enunciations of a strong logical mind. Judge Ray was rapidly making a reputation as judge of the criminal court. His clear and vigorous common sense, his intuitive love of justice, enabled him to discharge the important and responsible duties of his office in a manner highly creditable to himself and satisfactory to the people. In social intercourse he was courteous, gentle and unobtrusive, but always firm in his views and purposes. Few men were so firm in their convictions when he was satisfied that they were founded on reason and justice and fortified by truth. A kinder, nobler or more generous heart never beat in manly bosom than that which ceased to throb in the death of J.E.R. Ray. It was always overflowing with human sympathies and charities, ever ready to meet a tale of woe or respond to the appeal of real distress. Judge Ray was not a communicant or an open professor of religion, but he has been visited every day by that exemplary minister, Rev. Dr. William T. Harris, ever foremost in ministering to the wants of the suffering, and we understand that he says Judge Ray has borne his afflictions with the philosophy of the christian.
Ray was a member of the Memphis bar and a practicing attorney. He was appointed Secretary of State under Tennessee's Gov. Isham Harris and served his term into the early part of the Civil War, 1859-1862.
1850 Census Dresden, Weakley Co TN
J.W. Hays, age 36, merchant, TN
Mary Hays, age 28, LA
William Hays, age 20, Clerk, TN
John Hays, age 15, clerk, TN
J.E.R.Ray, age 24, lawyer, SC
1860 Census Shelby County TN
George Dixon, age 43, Judge Crim Law Court, KY, real & personal estate $32000
Maria Dixon, age 35, KY
Hart Dixon, age 18, KY
J.E.R. Ray, age 35, Lawyer/farmer/secretary of state, SC, real/pers estate $245000
Mollie S. Ray, age 27, Alabama
Eddie Ray, age 3, TN
Willie Ray, age 2, TN
1870 Census Shelby County TN
Ray, J.E.R., age 47, farmer, South Carolina, real & personal estate $12000
Mary S. Ray, age 35, Alabama
J.E.R. Ray, age 13, TN
W.L. Ray, age 11, TN
C.F. Ray, age 9, TN
Lillia Ray, age 3, TN
Family Members
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