180. Martha Holmes WRAY
She studied in Germany, where she also taught. After teaching in England she came to Canada some time before 1890. She taught German at Helmuth College, London Ontario, for a number of years, then went to Winnipeg, where she taught for three years.
275. John Charles HOBSON
No family.
181. Jane King WRAY
She came to Canada, accompanied by her sister Isa, landing at Montreal. She married James Roulston, whom she had known in Ireland, the family farms adjoining. He had been several years in Canada before her arrival. They were married in Montreal at Knox Church, the day after she landed. They lived at St. Thomas, Ontario.
He married Jane King Wray, whom he had known in Ireland, the family farms adjoining. He had been several years in Canada before her arrival. They were married in Montreal at Knox Church, the day after she landed. They lived at St. Thomas, Ontario where he worked as a locomotive engineer for the C.P.R. He lost a leg while operating a snow plough near Winnipeg.
Divorced, no family.
Her name appears in the Toronto Directory of 1,890 as "tailoress" for J. J. Ward and the following year for Southcott and Sons. She then worked for T. Eaton as 'saleslady" until she married James Brent. There were two children, Kathie and Wray. In later years, Annie lived as a widow with the children on Christie Street. After her death, both of the children died within the year, presumably suicides.
185. Rev. John WRAY
John Wray, the seventh child of W. J. A. Wray and his wife Elizabeth McCurdy was born 5 April 1873 at Buchna, County Antrim, where his father had been born and from whence his maternal forebears came. The place was close to the foot of the Mount of Slemish, where, tradition says, Saint Patrick herded sheep as a youth.
Most of his boyhood was spent in Donegal at the family home, Bannstown, Carnone a few miles north of Castlefin. This lay almost midway between the Finn and Deel (Da1e) rivers, each of which had many small tributaries. I recall his speaking of fishing in these streams as a lad, and I still have a small leather pocket case, holding a number of the feathered flies which he used, and several blank forms for fishing licence application. Part of his schooling, if not all, was taken at Lifford during this period. As his older brother had left home when John was twelve, and his younger brother was nine years junior to him, it is obvious that at home he was surrounded by sisters during the growing up years.
Family discipline was strict and unbending. Frivolous reading was frowned on, in fact forbidden, so he and a neighbouring lad pooled their resources to buy copies of the Boy's Own Paper, which at that time was issued as a weekly paper. This illicit treat was stored and read at the neighbour's home. With this as background he made the decision that, if he ever had sons of his own, they would have access to the Boy's Own publications, Starting in 1914 Christmas brought me a copy of the Boy's Own Annual (by then the publication had become a monthly item, and these were bound as an annual) and I continued to receive it each Christmas until we moved from Alderson to Medicine Hat, where the monthly copies were available in the public library.
I have limited memories concerning any talks with him concerning his boyhood pastimes and schooling. It was evident that he took part in the routine work of the farm, and had his own specific chores to do around the house, which was standard procedure for that time, and for the time when I was growing up. I can recall seeing him tie a loose armful of cut wheat using a handful of the same straw as a cord, and making a neat and effective sheaf from it.
His father's farm was probably fairly self sufficient in providing for the family's needs and allowing enough spare cash that the growing members of the household could receive education not available locally. It was by no means a one crop type of farm. Potatoes, oats and flax were standard crops. Since the establishment boasted a horse powered churn, there must have been a considerable amount of milking of cows. At that time that involved personal participation and I presume that dad did his share, although I do not remember him displaying any great enthusiasm Or dexterity for that occupation during the time that I knew him. The flax was raised for the linen industry. The proper processing of this crop was very labour intensive and demanded considerable care and competence in its preparation. The sharing of these farm based chores was an accepted part of the process of growing up in that time and region.
It seems apparent that from quite early times he was destined to be exposed to higher education. The study of law did not appeal to him, and I suspect that there was a deep feeling in the family that it was a haven for rogues and shady characters. Personally, he had an antipathy towards touching dead bodies, so that ruled out the study of medicine. So, bound by the restricted outlook of that time the ministry was the final alternative. So we find him studying at Magee College in Derry during the period from 1888 to 1892. I can recall no comments or anecdotes dealing with this time I have the various cards which credit him for the attendance of lectures and the successful writing of examinations in his required courses while he attended Magee College.
Princeton Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey was chosen for the final two years of his theological studies. So, as a student, in the autumn of 1892 he left Ireland for the new world.
An anecdote which he once told to me, serves to approximately date his arrival in America. The ship on which he travelled had left port before the championship bout was fought between John L. Sullivan and "Gentleman Jim" Corbett. That bout took place on 7 September 1892. For its time at sea the ship moved on in stately isolation from all outside affairs. Throughout the crossing the passengers were enmeshed in a cloud of excited uncertainty over the outcome of the fight which had already become fistic history. Hence the first question bellowed from the ship' to the men in the pilot boat which met them at the harbour mouth was "Who won?". Yet I do not know what port he sailed from, on what vessel, or where he landed, although I would assume that the latter was New York, since his immediate destination was Princeton.There he resumed his studies, to graduate in May. 1894. At some time during the summer of 1893 he was in Chicago and attended the Columbian Exposition, from which he brought away a small soapstone carving of a monkey as a souvenir (this carving is presently (2005) held by Eric Wray).
We never played cards at home, in fact there never were playing cards officially in the house. Sometime after I had left home, probably in the mid 20s I had made a reference to this situation, and dad told me that he had played cards as a student. However, he stopped cold after a game which caused a rather nasty rift with one of his confreres. Then he added, that decades later he met his erstwhile opponent, and somewhere in their conversations he found out that the other party, on his own, had also permanently forsaken the pasteboards~I researched the significant copies of the Minutes of Assembly for the Presbyterian Church in Canada and learned that on 14 June 1895 the Assembly received an application from the Presbytery of Minnedosa on behalf of Mr. John Wray, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. On 17 June the record shows that the Assembly moved "that the application of the Presbytery of Minnedosa for leave to receive and ordain Mr. John Wray as a minister of this church, be approved. Adopted."
The Minutes of Assembly for 1896 show John Wray, catechist, as pastor at Yorkton, Assiniboia, N.W.T., serving 42 households and 11 single members, with a Sunday School of 40 pupils. This was as of 31 December 1895. He was ordained as a minister of the Presbyterian Church at that station on 6 August 1896.
On 24 November 1896 he married Margaret Wilhelmina Simpson. Her father was one of the Board of Managers of the church at Yorkton.
The Minutes of Assembly for 1897 show the Wrays at Pierson, Manitoba, a somewhat larger congregation. Around this time he also preached at Basswood, Manitoba. His name does not appear among the list of Canadian ministers as of 1 April 1898, although he is shown as pastor at Pierson on 31 December 1897. So it would seem that he removed to the adjoining North Dakota region early in 1898.
In North Dakota he served his church at Steele, Stirling, Williamsport and Glencoe. He filed on a homestead near the latter community. There was never much mention made of his farming experiences in Dakota.
From the references made concerning him in the "History of Hazelton, 75th Anniversary" it is evident that he was still conducting religious services at the time when he moved his household into Hazelton when the town was established in 1903. There he established and operated a feed grinding mill, and gradually his pastoral activities were phased out as far as actual preaching was concerned. However, he did maintain an active interest in the Presbyterian Church and when a church building - which is still very much in use - was erected he was serving as Clerk of Trustees. His name appears in this capacity in the printed memorial issued for the ordination service held 28 March 1909, but he is not listed with the attending clergy.
He was an active member of the School Board from 1904 to 1910, during which time a two storey, two room schoolhouse was built. All four of the Wray children received some part of their education in this building.
John Wray made two trips to Ireland, the first after his mother's death, which occurred 6 June 1897, when, I believe, he travelled alone. The second journey was made late in 1905, when he was accompanied by his wife and children Mary and William. While the rest of the family traveled, Grace remained with the maternal grandparents at Yorkton and attended school. During this last trip Christmas day was spent aboard the "Tunisian" on the high seas.
In the late summer of 1912 he returned to Canada, in search of a suitable location on which to resume farming. He visited his sister, Mrs. Hobson, at Grenfell for a short while. At the same time Charlie Wray, described as a cousin, was present, and the presumption is that he was travelling with John. This Charlie Wray could have been a son of Rev. Wm. Wray of Orritor, who, through marriage to Catherine McCurdy, was a brother-in-law of W. J. A. Wray. From Grenfell he resumed his search, deciding to look at available land near Edmonton. To break the journey he stopped to visit with friends from Dakota who had taken up farms near the town of Carlstadt, Alberta.
That year had been one of abundant rainfall in the region, and there was unprecedented growth on the short grass prairies. So, ignoring. the warning implied by the obvious treelessness of the district, he committed his resources to a partially developed half section of land less than a mile north of the main C.P.R. line and situated half way between Suffield and Carlstadt. The land chosen was the west half of section 13, township 15, Range 10, west of the 4th Meridian.
The major move was made early in 1913 when he and his family left Hazelton for Carlstadt. He travelled ahead, with his livestock and household furniture and equipment, while the family followed a few days later. That was to be a busy season, breaking (ploughing) the virgin prairie, getting the crop sown, a house built (for which he hired a carpenter) and a well drilled. I think that he had over a hundred acres of wheat sown that year.
The newly cultivated land produced well, and a satisfactory harvest was obtained that fall. John Wray was unable to take active part in the harvesting, having to enter the Medicine Hat Hospital for the removal of a goitre.
Harvesting at that time was entirely by threshing machine. The crop was cut by horsedrawn binders, the sheaves handbunched in stooks on the field, to await the arrival of the threshing machine. Normally this involved hiring extra help for the harvest, an annual event whereby many a transient single man made a sufficient stake to see him through the winter months. When the threshing machine, usually the property of some farmer in the district, arrived at the designated farm, the crew comprised one or two regulars, usually related to the owner, and the farmers, with their hired help and teams, who used, or would use, the service of the machine. The farmer's wife fed the crew, a major operation as well as a diversion from the daily grind.
Drought plagued the district during 1914 and the sown grain failed to grow. However, 1915 was a year of ample rainfall, sufficient to bring in a bumper harvest for that year, and to ensure a good harvest in 1916. Confidently he invested his profits from these crop returns in an adjoining half section of land. From 1917 the rains failed, and the persisting drought prohibited any possibility of making a living from the land. Faced with this situation he abandoned the farm in the late summer of 1921 and moved to Medicine Hat where his second daughter was a probationer, training at the General Hospital.
During the winter of 1922-23 he suddenly began to lose weight, and it was discovered that he was afflicted with diabetes. He attempted to cope with this situation by dieting.
He was bereaved on 25 November 1925, his wife dying from cancer at Medicine Hat, with internment at the Yorkton Cemetary. In 1926 he moved to the U.S.A., living at Poplar Grove, Illinois and Chicago until his death 22 April 1941. A half century after his wife's death his ashes were scattered on her grave.
Obituary notice in the Hazelton Independent May 8, 1941
Was early day Minister, Homesteader and Business man here.
John Wray, one of Emmons County's early day homesteaders, minister of the Gospel and. business man of Hazelton, passed away on April 22 at the home of his daughter Mrs. Elmer Dyvig, 3435 No. Ozanam Ave., Chicago, Ill., from heart trouble, from which he had been a sufferer for two years.
Long before the village of Hazelton was founded Rev. John Wray came out to these Dakota prairies to minister to the then scattered settlers around the old town of Williamsport which was Emmons County's first county seat. He homesteaded a quarter section northeast of where Hazelton now stands where he lived for several years with his family, and later left the ministry and the homestead and went into business in Hazelton shortly after the town started in 1903. His feed grinding plant was located on the site of the present Roxy theatre.
Shortly before the World War the family moved up into Alberta, Canada, where they remained for several years, and where Mrs. Wray passed away. Mr. Wray and the children then came back to the States and he eventually settled at Poplar Grove, Ill., where he operated a pet farm for a few years.
In December 1939, Mr. Wray had a slight stroke and after leaving the hospital made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Grace Dyvig. On Sunday, April 20, of this year he took a turn for the worse and passed away peacefully at 3.45in the afternoon of April 22 of heart trouble.
In a letter to the Independent his daughter, Grace, said that her father often spoke of his many old time Hazelton friends, and felt keenly the passing of his good friend, Mr. R.I. Beale.
Funeral services were held at the Daniel J. Murphy funeral home in Elmwood Park, Illinois, and the body was cremated at Arcadia Park.
He leaves to mourn his demise two sons and two daughters, Robert, William, Mary and Grace, and three grandchildren.
He was a founder and long time Secretary of the Braid Co-operative Dairy Society, Ltd.