Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 83

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(X) Joseph Gordon, son of Edgar Knapp Ray, was born at Franklin, March 26, 1879. He attended the district school until he was thirteen years of age, and then went to the Mitchell School for Boys, at Billerica, Massa- chusetts, with a year at Mowry and Goffs' private school at Providence, Rhode Island. He remained on the farm for one year and then entered the New York Military Academy, at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, remaining three years to prepare for college. In 1898 he enter- ed Tufts College for a special two years course, but remained and graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1902, and marshal of his class. He subsequently entered the law school at Colum- bia University, but owing to his father's im- paired health remained only a year, and went home to take up some of the responsibilities of his father's business. Upon his father's death, he being made trustee by the terms of his father's will, Mr. Ray took the entire charge of the many enterprises, thus assuming many of the offices his father had held. In addition to the care of the property and investments, Mr. Ray has devoted his leisure time and at- tention chicfly to his dairy farm in Franklin. He has kept pace with the progress of agri- culture and adopted the most advanced meth- ods and machinery. The farm is beautifully located at Unionville near the electric car line and consists of five hundred acres of land, most of which is under cultivation, producing corn and hay. The fine old mansion house

has been kept up carefully and fitted with modern improvements. The sanitary milk barn for which the dairy is famous was built in 1907. Mr. Ray breeds Guernseys, Ayr- shires and Holstein, and his stock is known throughout the state. The barn is well lighted and ventilated and kept scrupulously clean, and the cattle themselves are scrubbed twice a day. The milking is done by machinery, the attendants clothed in sterilized white duck suits, and everything is done to avoid infection or contamination and produce perfect, sani- tary milk. Mr. Ray built a modern residence on the farm in 1906, to the west of the old house. In the spring of 1908 he erected the new Ray Block in the village of Franklin, on Main street, with stores on the street floor and offices on the second floor, where he spends a part of each business day at his desk. He attends the Universalist church, where his father and grandfather worshipped. In poli- tics he has always been a Republican. In 1904-05 he was on the board of selectmen of Franklin, and he takes a keen interest in town affairs. He is a member of Excelsior Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Miller Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Delta Tau Delta frater- nity ; Squantum Club of Providence, Rhode Island : Cotton Manufacturers' Association.

Joseph Gordon Ray married, May 17,1905, at Bangor, Maine, Martha Pember, born May 17, 1879, daughter of Rev. Elmer F. and Mar- tha (Andrews) Pember, of Bangor. Her father was a clergyman at Bangor, and is now a real estate agent and breeder of Ayrshire cattle.

(For ancestry see preceding sketch).

(IX) James Francis, second son RAY of James Paine Ray, was born at Franklin, March 1, 1847. He at- tended the public schools of his native town, the Green Mountain Academy at Woodstock, Vermont, and Dean Academy at Franklin, Massachusetts, finishing his education at Scho- field's Commercial College at Providence, Rhode Island. Having learned the making of cotton twine in his father's factory at Woonsocket, he was engaged in this business until 1871, when he came to Franklin, and be- came a partner in the firm of J. F. & L. P. Ray, operating a cassimere mill. He left this firm to engage in the grocery business, and during the next fourteen years conducted a flourishing business on Main street, Franklin, then established a coal and grain business on Depot street in November, 1894, and has the

WILLIAM FRAY

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leading store in his line. He lives in a beau- tiful house built by his father on Main street, opposite Dean Academy, and has a fine dairy and poultry farm at Unionville, near the old Ray homestead. Attends the Universalist church, in which he has held various offices of trust and responsibility. In politics is a Re- publican, and has often served his party as delegate to nominating conventions. Was a selectman of the town of Franklin in 1907-08. Was made a Mason in Morning Star Lodge, No. 13, of Woonsocket, June II, 1868; and took his degrees in Woonsocket Commandery, Knights Templar, June 21, 1870; is a charter member of King David Lodge, No. 71, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Franklin, and was first noble grand of that body. Is a member of the Franklin Business Men's Club ; the Universalist Men's Club; the Massachu- setts Republican Club of Boston ; a life mem- ber of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- ciety of Boston ; and a director in the Citizens' Bank, Woonsocket, and the Franklin National Bank of Franklin.

James Francis Ray married, June 15, 1892, at Worcester, Edith Maria, daughter of Henry Allen and Lydia Maria (Burrill) Hollis, of Worcester. They have no children.

(For ancestry see Daniel Ray 1).

(VIII) Francis Baylies Ray, son of RAY Joseph Ray, was born at South Mendon, May 15, 1823, and died November 29, 1892. He was educated in the public schools of Mendon, and at the age of fifteen began to assist his father in his mill construction business. In 1839 he removed to Franklin with his parents, and at the age of eighteen started in business for himself, buy- ing and selling cotton waste from the mills in the vicinity. In 1844 he became a partner in the firm of J. P. and F. B. Ray, successful manufacturers of batting, twine, wicking and other cotton products. Their younger brother, Joseph G. Ray, was admitted to the firm in 1852, and it was at about that time that the Ray brothers began the manufacture of wool shoddy and introduced what is claimed to be the first rag picker successfully operated in this country. In 1860 Mr. Ray retired from the firm and began business for himself. From 1860 until 1880 he operated woolen mills at Stafford, Connecticut and Caryville, Massachusetts, and shoddy mills at Wrentham, Norfolk, Bellingham and Union- ville, Massachusetts. During the last ten years of his life Mr. Ray devoted his time to

the manufacture of felt goods and horse blan- kets at his mill in Unionville, his son, William F. Ray, taking over the management of the shoddy mills. He was especially fond of farming, and was one of the first in Massa- chusetts to become interested in Jersey cattle and these, with his fine horses, were his pride. He was prominent in the town and was an ac- tive Republican in politics. He served the town as selectman in 1877, 1858 and 1877, and was representative to the general court in 1865. He did all in his power for the upbuild- ing of the community in which he lived, and was a valuable and useful citizen. He was an earnest member of the First Congregational Church, and in 1872 was one of the committee which had charge of the building of the new church edifice which was burned in 1893. He was a member of Excelsior Lodge of Free Masons at Franklin. He married, May 25, 1853. Susanna Bailey Rockwood, born March 17, 1824, daughter of Asa and Julia (Thurs- ton ) Rockwood, of Franklin. Her father kept the general store in Unionville. They had one son, William Francis, mentioned below.

(IX) Hon. William Francis Ray, son of Francis Baylies Ray, was born at Franklin, March 2, 1854, and died there May 24, 1898. He was educated in the Franklin public schools and at Dean Academy, where he graduated in 1870. He was graduated from Brown University in 1874, the youngest in his class of forty-nine, with the degree of A. B. He intended to take up a profession, but was induced to put aside this ambition for the time and engage in the woolen business with his father. After learning the manufacturing part of the business he acted in turn as clerk and salesman, and later became superintendent of the mill at Norfolk. In 1887 he formed the Norfolk Woolen Company, manufactur- ers of wool substitutes and shoddies, of which he was president and treasurer, with mills at Unionville, Norfolk and Bellingham. In 1893 he succeeded his father as president and treasurer of the Ray Fabric Mills in Frank- lin. He was also treasurer of the Franklin Cotton Manufacturing Company. He was vice-president and director of the Benjamin Franklin Savings Bank; director of the Dean Co-Operative Bank, and of the Franklin Na- tional Bank. His ability, sound judgment and energy made him a welcome factor in enter- prises of every .nature. From the first he took an active interest in town and state affairs, and the confidence and esteem in which

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he was held in his own town is shown by his elcction to various offices of trust and re- sponsibility. He served for several years on the school committee and as selectman, also as chief engineer of the fire depart- ment, moderator of town meetings, and as chairman of the building committee of the Franklin high school. In 1885 and 1887 he was elected representative to the general court, and served on the committees on manu- factures, pay roll and public service, and on the child labor commission. In 1892 he was elected state senator, and for a second term in 1893, when he served as chairman of the committee on railroads. He was mentioned prominently as a candidate for congress at the end of General William F. Draper's term, but declined to permit the use of his name on account of business cares. While he was always a Republican, he was independent and liberal in his political views. His work for the prosperity of his town state and country was steady earnest and strong. He was a member of Excelsior Lodge of Free Masons, and Miller Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of King David Lodge of Odd Fellows, and of the Rebekah Lodge. He was a charter mem- ber of the Ancient Order of United Work- men and the Knights of Honor. At the time of his death he was a trustee of Dean Acad- emy. At the age of seventeen he united with the Congregational church and was a faithful and useful member of that church. He was superintendent of the Sunday school for many years. He was chairman of the parish com- mittee, and in all matters pertaining to the church he was a valued adviser. He was chairman of the building committee of the present church, completed in 1896. The an- cient saying that "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country," was over- thrown in the case of Mr. Ray. His warmest friends and neighbors, his closest associates and townspeople paid him his greatest honor and respect. The pride of his townsmen in his splendid abilities and achievements was phenomenal. Comparatively young in years, yet by the measure of noble dceds and lofty aspirations his life was rounded and filled by forceful virile achievements. In church, secret societies, town assemblies, and in busi- ness organizations, hc was ever ready to give his best services. The uncompromising op- ponent and enemy of wrong and injustice, hc was a fearless antagonist and a generous focman.

He married, December 25, 1875, Harriet

Phipps Richardson, of Chelsea, born in Everett, Massachusetts, daughter of Charles A. Rich- ardson, of Chelsea, for forty years proprietor and managing editor of the Congregationalist. Children : I. Mabel, born December 22, 1876; married, June 1, 1904, Charles T. Wolfe, of Louisville, Kentucky. 2. Maude Louise, born January 10, 1879; married, December 12, 1907, Dr. Arthur S. Hartwell, of Norwood. 3. Charles Addison Richardson, born June II, 1880, mentioned below. 4. William Francis, March 23, 1882; mentioned below. 5. Alice Marjorie, May 3, 1884.

(X) Charles Addison Richardson Ray, son of Hon. William Francis Ray, was born in Franklin, Massachusetts, June 1I, 1880. He attended the public schools of his native town, and after a preparatory course at Dean Acad- emy, from which he was graduated in 1898, he matriculated at Brown University, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1902. He then entered the employ of the Norfolk Woolen Company and Ray Fabric Mills in Franklin. He was made a director of these concerns in 1906, and president in 1907, his father having been president and treasurer at the time of his death in 1898. The Norfolk Woolen Com- pany, with mills in Norfolk, Massachusetts, manufactures shoddies, their product being used throughout the United States, they being pioneers in this field of industry. The Ray Fabric Mills, in Unionville (a part of the town of Franklin), manufacturers of horse blankets and robes, the output being sold through the jobbing trade throughout the country. Mr. Ray is also treasurer and di- rector of the Ray-Shiner Manufacturing Com- pany, which manufactures box toes and in- ner soles for the shoe trade, and is located at Franklin. He is a director of the Puritan Cordage Mills, of Louisville, Kentucky, manufacturing cotton cordage and ropes. He is a member of the First Congregational Church of Franklin, having served as its au- ditor and in other offices; has been treasurer since 1905 of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation of Franklin, and director since 1904. and is a member of the Congregational Club of Boston. In his political affiliations Mr. Ray is a Republican, and has served his party as delegate to its various conventions ; also as chairman of the board of registration of vot- ers several years, and as secretary of the senatorial district committee three years. While a student of Brown University he was a member of the Delta Phi Fraternity and of

tot &. Pray

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the Cammarian Club, and is at present a mem- ber of the following organizations: Excelsior Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and Miller Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, both of Frank- lin; St. Elmo Club, of New York City ; Uni- versity Club, of Providence, Rhode Island ; Wannamoisett Country Club, of Providence ; Franklin County Club ; Business Men's Asso- ciation, of Franklin; Norfolk Political Club; Massachusetts Republican Club.

Mr. Ray was married, June 2, 1909, to Frances Key Duke, of Louisville, Kentucky, born October 9, 1882, daughter of Basil W. Duke. She is the niece of General Morgan, the famous Confederate raider, of whose staff her father, General Duke, was chief.

(X) William Francis Ray, son of Hon. William Francis Ray, was born at Franklin, March 23, 1882. He attended the public schools and Dean Academy, after which he entered the New York Military Academy at Cornwall, New York, remaining a year. He then took a course at Bryant & Stratton's Business College at Providence, Rhode Island, at this time being seventeen years old. He spent eight years in the mill of the Norfolk Woolen Company at Unionville, Franklin, and mastered all the details of woolen manufactur- ing. Since 1896 he has been a stockholder and director and active in the management of the Norfolk Woolen Company, of which Charles A. R. Ray is president and Bradley M. Rock -. wood treasurer, operating woolen mills at Nor- folk. Bellingham and Unionville. In Febru- ary, 1908, Mr. Ray was one of the organizers of the Ray-Shiner Manufacturing Company (incorporated), manufacturing box toes, inner soles, carpets and pads, in the factory for- merly occupied by the Hood Rubber Company. The goods of the concern have already found a market all over the world. The idea is original and is admirably adapted for its pur- pose. Mr. Ray is at the head of this company, which has a promising future. Four genera- tions of this family have been manufacturers, and Mr. Ray's business is but a step forward in the industries in which his family and an- cestors have been prominent for a century. Mr. Frank A. Shiner, his partner, is a skillful chemist, and the material manufactured by the company is the result of experiments and in- ventive genius. William F. Ray is president of the company, Frank A. Shiner, vice-presi- dent, and Charles A. R. Ray, treasurer.

Mr. Ray took a great interest in and was one of the instigators of the two hundredth anniversary celebration of the birth of Benja-

min Franklin (1907) for whom the town of Franklin was named. Mr. Ray resides at Franklin. He attends the Franklin Congre- gational Church. In politics he is a Repub- lican. He is a prominent Free Mason, a member of Excelsior Lodge, of Franklin; Miller Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Frank- lin ; Milford Council, Royal and Select Mas- ters; Milford Commandery, Knights Tem- plar; Massachusetts Consistory, up to the thirty-second degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry, Boston ; Aleppo Tem- ple, Order of the Mystic Shrine, Boston. He is also a member of the National Fraternity of the Phi Phi, of which he has been presi- dent ; also a member of the Franklin Busi- ness Men's Association.

Mr. Ray, married, November 12, 1908, Isa- bella Walker Kenney. born August 30, 1886, daughter of John Kenney. She is prominent in musical circles and a member of the famous Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. She is a niece of Governor Colby, of New Hamp- shire, and descendant of a revolutionary sol- dier of the same family who crossed the Dela- ware with General Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Ray have one child, Gordon Baylies Ray, born June 18, 1909.

(For ancestry see Daniel Ray 1).

( VIII) Joseph Gordon Ray, son RAY of Joseph Ray, was born in

South Mendon, October 4, 1831, and died in Franklin, February 24, 1900. His education was limited to that afforded by the primary schools of his native town and to the public schools of Nashua, New Hampshire, which he attended for one year, at the age of twelve, and to the public schools of Walpole, New Hampshire, which in his fifteenth year he also attended for a year. In 1839, at the age of eight years, while his brother, James P. Ray, was engaged in the manufacture of batting, wicking and cotton twine in Unionville, a part of Franklin, he entered his mill and in light work spent such time morning and evening as he could spare from school, and from service for his father at home. The remuneration for this labor enabled him to attend the Nashua school, and continued service in the mill furnished him the means of further instruction in the Wal- pole school. In 1850, at the age of nineteen, having mastered the methods of manufacture, he was employed by his brothers in the firm of J. P. & F. B. Ray, at a salary of four hundred and fifty dollars a year. In 1851 he was ad-

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mitted to the firm, which took the name of Ray Brothers. Later he became treasurer and general manager of their two largest cor- porations-the Ray Woolen Company and the City Mills Company.

With the lapse of years his business inter- ests grew wider and wider, and the mere ent- meration of those concerns with which he was connected shows how far his business insight reached, and in how many interests he was a leading and active spirit. He was president of the American Felt Company, an organiza- tion which is due largely to his foresight and energy ; also vice-president of the American Woolen Company, one of the largest corpo- rations in the country ; president of the Mil- ford, Attleboro, and Woonsocket Street Rail- way Company; formerly president and large owner of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Railroad Company ; president of the Franklin National Bank; director of the Boston and Montana Copper Company ; vice-president of the National and Providence Worsted Com- pany ; director of the Old Dominion Copper Company ; director of the Citizens' National Bank of Woonsocket : director of the Woon- socket and Pascoag Railroad; director of the Charles River Woolen Company, now operat- ing the North Bellingham mill ; large owner in the Woonsocket Electric Light and Power Company-all these positions and many others made his business life an unusually active and far-reaching one.

With these large business activities he still had time always to be interested in everything that pertained to the well-being of the town in which he lived. He resided in East Black- stone until 1861, and for several years was assessor and chairman of the selectmen. At the age of twenty-eight he represented this town in the house of representatives, and was the youngest member of that body. Remov- ing to Unionville, he first began that active in- terest in the life of Franklin that has contin- ued to the present time. In 1870 hc bought a place in Franklin proper, a part of the old Emmons farm, and built the house which he occupied till his death. He represented the Norfolk county senatorial district in the leg- islature of 1869, and was a delcgate to the Republican national convention held in Chi- cago in 1884. He was a member of Excel- sior Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Franklin, and of Woonsocket Commandery; also a Sir Knight of the Boston Commandery, and was a 32d degree Mason.

It is rare to find a man who so thoroughly exemplified the qualities of a good citizen as did Joseph G. Ray. For more than forty years he was actively identified with every- thing that would make for the prosperity of the town and its citizens. He was the trusted coun- sellor and the financial supporter of every considerable activity in all these years. In company with his brother he entered upon the building of railroads that should connect Franklin with outside points, not because he was sure of financial profit, but because they seemed to him to be a public benefit. If we study any phase of town development we are sure to find his money, his hand and his heart behind the work. He was early interested to bring the Worcester County National Bank, then located at Blackstone, to Franklin, and through his efforts a congressional act was passed allowing this to be done and changing its name. He was president of this institution after the death of James P. Ray, and active also in the Franklin Savings Bank and the Co-operative Bank. He was also president of the Franklin Library Association and the Franklin Cemetery Association. Though averse to holding public office, he gave to every detail of municipal affairs his time and attention as a good citizen should. Officials looked to him always for advice and support and never failed to find in him a firm sup- ·porter. The moral welfare of the town was even closer to his heart than its financial pros- perity, and his time and money were given freely to anything and everything that looked to the uplifting of the community life. He was a politician in the best sense of the word, active and earnest in his Republicanism, and a generous contributor to the success of that party through all his life. He never sought office, and even declined to become a candidate for congressional honors, but his voice was a potent one in the councils of the party, and fcw men in Massachusetts were more influen- tial in his own quiet way than he. .

As a business man Mr. Ray had excep- tional qualities. His success was due to qualitics inherent in the man himself. He was a hard worker, desiring always to master thoroughly cvery enterprise in which he em- barked. He was gifted with a marvelous mem- ory for the details of a business that enabled him to keep ready in his mind matters which would baffle most men. His success was helped, too, by a wonderful foresight as re- gards business conditions; there have been

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few changes that his alert mind has not an- ticipated, and thus he was able to take ad- vantage of conditions rather than to follow in their wake. A man of sterling integrity and business honor, he expected and generally found the same qualities in those with whom he had business dealings and those whom he trusted as subordinates. He was an inde- fatigable worker always, and his business suc- cesses were due to this as well as the other traits mentioned. His name stands as a syn- onym of business honor, business fair dealing, and business charitableness, as well as of busi- ness success.

Dean Academy had no stauncher friend than Mr. Ray. As the counsellor and helper of Dr. Dean, he was actively interested in the inception of the school and was a member of the building committee. From that time his zeal neither flagged nor wavered. In the darkest times of its history he always supplied courage ; in times of financial trouble he was the stay and support. It is hardly too much to say that Dean Academy would not exist to-day if it had not been for his wise and de- voted friendship. His name will be indissol- ubly connected with the school. Few can realize how much time and effort he put into its work. Busy as he was, he was ready to give his attention to the smallest details and to spend money freely in anything that per- tained to the well-being of the academy. The administration of the school, the investment of its funds, the care of its buildings, the wel- fare of its students, were constantly on his mind and heart ; it was his expressed desire to be useful to it in every way possible. He took much pride in it and was such a friend as few institutions ever have.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 83

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1008

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008