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ROBERT J. RAY
Vol. 3, p. 1233-1234

Judge Ray of Lawton, now presiding over the County Court, is an
Oklahoma eight-niner. He has been identified with all the more
important openings in Oklahoma Territory, and resided successively in
the original Oklahoma at Oklahoma City, then at Woodward, and finally
became a pioneer and prominent settler at Lawton with the opening of
that reservation. His career as a lawyer covers a quarter of a
century and with a successful practice he has long been a power in
democratic politics, and is well known by all the prominent men in
public life in the state.

Robert J. Ray was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, December 7,
1864, and the Ray family originally lived in North Carolina. His
father, John C. Ray, was born in Tennessee in 1827 and died in 1895
at Flatereck, Tennessee, where he lived for many years, combining the
business of millwright and miller with that of farming. The old mill
which he opened and operated is still standing, and its machinery is
occasionally turned even at the present time for the grinding of
grist. The maiden name of the mother was Elsie Jane REAGOR, who was
born in Tennessee in 1833, and is still living on the old farm at
Flat Creek. There was a large family of children, mentioned briefly
as follows: David G., who was a newspaper man and died at the age of
forty-five in Texas; Dr. H. F., who graduated from the Franklin
Osteopathic Institute in Kentucky and is now in practice at
Charlotte, North Carolina; Albert, a mechanic at Birmingham, Alabama;
Alvin, a twin brother of Albert, who was drowned in Texas at the age
of twenty-one; Judge Robert J.; Watt F., lives at Flat Creek and is a
stock trader; Mary, who died at the age of twenty-five; Kittie, who
married Fin GOWAN, and they live on their farm near the old
homestead; John B., who lives on the old home place where the family
has lived for over fifty years; and Myrtle, who died at the age of
four years.

Judge Ray grew up in Bedford county and his early recollections
center about the old farm and the mill at Flatcreek. He attended the
common schools until seventeen years of age and then run away from
home, eventually finding work in a sawmill in Arkansas. From work as
a common laborer he qualified and taught school, and studied law at
every possible opportunity. He taught in Arkansas and for one year in
old Indian Territory, having come to what is now the State of
Oklahoma in 1888. In the fall of 1889 Judge Ray came to Oklahoma
City, a few months after the opening of the territory, and was a
participant in the eventful life of the capital city almost from the
beginning. On June 10, 1890, the day the Supreme Court of Oklahoma
Territory was organized, he was admitted to practice, and forth-with
took up the active work of his profession. Judge Ray practiced at
Oklahoma City two years, and served as city attorney in 1891-92. In
1892 he removed to Cheyenne in Roger Mills County, and in September,
1893, went into the Cherokee Strip, locating at Woodward until 1901.

Judge Ray has the distinction of having been the only democrat
elected to the Territorial Senate in 1894. He was sent up from
Woodward, and gave some efficient service during 1895-96. President
Cleveland appointed his register of the Woodward Land Office, and he
held that position from 1895 to 1897.

With the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche reservations in 1901
Judge Ray moved to Lawton, and as a lawyer has since enjoyed a large
general, civil and criminal practice. He was elected county judge
November 3, 1914, for a term of two years beginning January 1, 1915.
He was a member of the first school board at Lawton. He has long been
prominent in the democratic party, and he attended every democratic
state convention in territorial days. He has hosts of friends all
over Oklahoma and his name among them all is plain "Bob."

On January 20, 1895, at Winfield, Kansas, Judge Ray married Miss
Olive B. SMITH, daughter of B. B. and Susan Smith, of Woodward,
Oklahoma. Her father died December 25, 1913, having been an attorney
at Woodward. Judge Ray and wife have one son, Kenneth, now a student
in the Cameron District Agricultural School at Lawton.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, October 18, 1998.