RHEA-L Archives

From: "Pam Stone" <>
Subject: [RHEA-L] Sanders RAY/REA/RHEA/RHEA
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 19:43:46 -0400

This is a long posting, so look it over before you
print or copy! :-)

Sandrous RAY is listed on the Tithables list of Mr. Charles
Hamlin in 1774 in Lunenburg Co., VA, living in the
same area as a Lond. [Loud.?] RAY [who had a son? living
with him named Jacob RAY. This father MAY be the
Loudevic RAY who became the Sheriff of Rutherford Co., NC?]
Living in this area on earlier lists was a Francis WRAY
[whom I believe moved to Brunswick Co., VA? I don't know
if these persons were connected or not.] Before 1783, this
Sandrous RAY had apparently moved, but I have not yet
found proof that this was the same Sanders/Saunders
RAY/REA/RHAE/WRAY/RHEA who was in the Spanish
Territory of San Esteban de Tombeche (later MS & AL).

Sanders RAY was recorded on the 1797 census with his wife
and 2 children in this Spanish Territory. In 1804 in what by then was
the Mississippi Territory of the U.S., he obtained a land grant based
on pre-exemption [granted those already homesteading or having
obtained a grant from Spain for land prior to the Spanish cession.]
His petition stated that he was living on the same land during the
required period in 1802. This area later became northern
Washington Co., AL, where Elijah RAY m. Nancy Ann MARTIN
in 1831, and even later became southern Choctaw Co., AL, where
my REA/RHAE/RAY family owned land prior to the Civil War.
Chain carriers listed in Sanders RAY's petition for pre-exemption
in 1804 were Jonas REA and Samuel BOYKIN.

The land Sanders RAY lived on was on Johnson's Creek west of the
Tombigbee River, and his immediate neighbors in the early 1800's
were Wiley BARKER [to the south & southeast,] Ephraim BARKER,
[to the west] and John BREWER [to the north].
Living nearby were the heirs of Charles BREWER, dec'd., [don't
know if this was the brother or the father of John, but Charles'
land adjoined John's to the north,] Nathan BLACKWELL, Richard
BRASHEAR, William BURK [Burke, Bourk, Bourke], James
CALLIER [Collier?], the heirs of James COPELEN [Copland, Coplan,
Copeland], Lewis CRANE, Seth DEAN, Thomas GOODWIN,
Ransom HARWELL, James HUCKABY [HUCBEE], Daniel JOHNSON,
Benjamin KING, Ann LAWRENCE, Edward LEWIS,
Figures [Fergus?] LEWIS, Richard LIGON, Jordan MORGAN,
Hiram MOUNGER [Munger], William MURRELL [MURRIELL], George
ROBBINS [ROBYNS], James SCOTT, Elisha SIMMONS, Francis STRINGER,
Thomas SULLIVANT [Sullivan], Sr. & Jr. [chain carriers for Thomas,
Sr., were Owen SULLIVANT and Thomas SULLIVANT], Jesse
THOMAS, James WATKINS, Wyche WATLEY, Edward Lloyd
WAYLES [Wailes, Wales, Wails], John WHEAT [and his
apparent father or brother, Solomon WHEAT, who may have d. by
1804] and William WILLIAMS. (Some of these names I have seen
on the Tithables lists for Lunenburg and other VA counties, but
have no documents to prove they were the same persons.)

Sanders RAY/REA/RHEA is the ONLY Ray found in this area during
this time period, and my Elijah, and the D. RAY/RHAE listed next
to Elijah on the 1850 census are the only Rays in Choctaw Co.
for the first 50 years it existed, EXCEPT that, in 1837, a Matthew RAY
obtained a land grant. I don't know if he was related to Sanders or Elijah,
but I don't find him on any census records there. [Next door, though,
in 1816, Clarke Co., MS, were a Charles, Sr., Charles, Jr., Henry, and
John RAY. Don't know if they were related or not.] Interestingly,
both Elijah and this D. RHAE were b. in TN, so, if Sanders was
their father, he must have been in TN in 1799 or 1800, and again
about 1807-1809.

I am convinced that Sanders was the father of my Elijah of Choctaw
Co., AL, and also Clarke Co., MS. [I do not have a will to prove this
connection, as of yet; the records for Choctaw Co., AL, have been
decimated by repeated courthouse fires, so I may never find absolute
proof.] I am hoping to find the father of SANDERS/
SAUNDERS/SANDROUS, whom I believe may be somehow
tied to Lunenburg or other areas of VA..

Elijah and Nancy's children were Robert Andrew RAY
[m. Susan M. WRIGHT], Martha Ann RAY, Thomas RAY,
and Mary Jane RAY [m. Silas Anderson WRIGHT.]
Children of D. RAY & his, wife, Lurana [b. 1810/11],
all b. AL, were James L. [b. 1837/38, AL], Thomas M.
[b. 1839/40], Tabitha [b. 1842/43], Martha J. [b. 1843/44],
John J. [b. 1844/45], and Nancy A. [b. 1846/47.]

If anyone has access to Clarke Co., MS, census records,
I surely would appreciate a lookup on the early censuses of that
area, as Elijah and his family were recorded there in 1840 [and these
families moved back and forth between AL & MS a LOT;
many descendants are found in Lauderdale & Clarke Co., MS,
and my Robert A. RAY is buried in this last MS county.
I know there was a James RAY in Clarke Co., MS, in 1845
who was the Clerk of the Court, but don't know if they
were related or not. This James RAY appears to have obtained
a land grant in 1845 in Lauderdale Co., AL, so I am particularly
interested that he may have been the brother of Elijah.

I find land grants in the early 1860's in Barbour and Fayette
Cos., AL, and Okettibah Co., MS, for Elijah RAY, and I THINK this
is my Elijah, so his children or other relatives may have
been living in one of those places. [His daughter in law,
Susan Wright RAY, d. in Clay Co., MS, so it seems very
likely someone from this family was there in the first
part of this century.]

Any connections out there? The parents of Sanders?
Descendants of Elijah or his possible brothers, James
or D. [may have been Daniel?]

Look forward to hearing from all,

Pam


Pam

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• [RHEA-L] Sanders RAY/REA/RHEA/RHEA by "Pam Stone" <>