RHEA-L Archives

Archiver > RHEA > 1998-04 > 0893139065


From: Polly Dixon <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Obediah Ray/Rhea
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 23:11:05 -0700


Kay:

Today I received the following from one of my genealogist friends in
Monroe Co., TN. It's from an unpublished manuscript of Worth S. Ray,
who was the author of the book, TENNESSEE COUSINS.

I don't know the source of my friend's information, but it is a typed
manuscript, obviously authored by Worth S. Ray. Handwritten at the top
of the page is [14]. The title of the page is " Col. Charles M.
McGhee's Big Island - Rays and Morrows."

I quote directly from a photocopy of the manuscript:

"The Ray Family"
The Ray family first settled in that part of Monroe County which lies
along the banks of the Little Tennessee River near Lowrey's, later
called Niles' Ferry.

"Obediah Ray and John Black made a crop together the first year, which
was sometime in the 1820s. Obediah Ray came from Virginia, like the
Stickleys nad others who came later. Obediah had a brother named Jesse
Ray.

"The wife of Obediah Ray was Elizabeth Lynch, who was born in Virginia,
and the grandfather of Obediah Ray, Capt. James Ray, was known as "Mid-
shipman James Ray, of the Royal Navy, who was said to be the first
English Naval Officer ever to visit the Phillipines. This was in 1760.
The children of Obediah Ray were:
1. Obediah Ray, Jr. b. 1833 died in 1933.
2. Peggy Ray who married John Moses and lived at Four Mile Branch.
3. Jane Ray who married James Hedrick, father of Tom Hedrick.
4. Julia Ray married a Kerr.
5. Jessie Clark Ray b. June 8, 1822.
6. Massenberg Pearson Ray b. Sept. 12, 1826.
7. Evelyn Ray b. Nov. 8, 1824.
8. Eliza Ann Ray, b. Oct. 2, 1821.

"MASSENBERG PERSON RAY (called Peter Ray)
He married Martha Montgomery McTeer Feb. 6, 1849, and had
children: 1. William King Ray (Worth Ray's father) b. June
15, in 1850.
2. Louisa Adelaide Ray.
3. James Robert Ray b. Apr 6, 1854
4. John Wesley Ray died in 1887.
5. George Washington Ray (of Vonore).
6. Amanda Missouri Ray b. 1861.

"SOME AFTERTHOUGHTS (page [26])

". . . RAY FAMILY: I may be trying to say too much about this family,
but there is something that has always bothered me, and that is, that
there was a family of RAYS in Monroe County when I was a boy that was a
"different set" from my own, and the folks always said they were not our
"kin". I believed that then, but do not believe it NOW, since I have
studied the history of the tribe; and I now know that while they were
"distant kin," they were nevertheless descendants of the same RAY
ancestors back in Virginia; and the Virginia old records show that
SAMUEL HICKS was transported to Virginia in 1635 by old man PETER RAY;
and they always called my grandfather PETER RAY, though his name was
MASSENBERG PEARSON RAY. I recall that this "other family" of RAYS ran
to "red heads", while ours did not." (End of quote from Worth S. Ray
manuscript).
Kay, my Monroe County friend also sent this from the 1830 census of
Blount Co., TN:
Obadiah Ray 1100001-11101 (he would have been 40-50 yrs old).

It appears that these are your OBEDIAH RAY and JESSE CLARK RAY.

Kay, please note that this Jesse Clark Ray b. June 8, 1822 (Obediah
Ray's brother) could NOT have been MY Jesse Rhea. My Jesse Rhea was
born in 1778, the son of James Rhea and Mary Paul of Rockbridge Co.,
VA. Records pertaining to the estate settlement of Mary Paul's father,
John Paul, in Rockbridge Co., VA in 1810 name all the children of James
and Mary (Paul) Rhea: Jesse, John, Rebecca, Peggy (Margaret), Esther
and Sally. We may someday find a connection between my Jesse Rhea and
your Obediah Ray, but I don't see it now.

Worth S. Ray mentioned that there was another "family of Rays in Monroe
Co." He thought they might be connected to his family. However, there
were at least THREE Rhea/Ray families in Monroe Co.! I guess this is
what keep genealogists interested!

Hope this helps you.

Sincerely,

Polly Dixon - Team Leader, James/Jesse Rhea group (RHEA-L)

My two Rhea descendancies:
(Line #1): James Rhea/Mary Paul; Jesse Rhea/Margaret Blair; John
Rhea/Jane "Jany or Jinney" Cameron; Onslow Murrell Dixon/Margaret Ann
Rhea; James Harvey Dixon/Mary Ann Wright; Robert Onslow Dixon/Nina
Pauline Brown; Polly Dixon (nee Mary Pauline).
(Line #2): Archibald Rhea; Robert Rhea, Sr.; Robert "Bobbie" Rhea,
Jr./Mary Stephens; James C. Wright/Elizabeth Rhea; Robert Rhea
Wright/Mary Jane Wilson; James Harvey Dixon/Mary Ann Wright; Robert
Onslow Dixon/Nina Pauline Brown; Polly Dixon

This thread: