2021 In Review/ Goals for 2022

2021 was another year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a silver lining for genealogists who avoided becoming sick. I personally found time at home allowed me more time to do research online. The Ancestry Library edition continued to be available free at home, which allowed me to access the full site and save money. I generally just subscribe to trees. Most of what I've found at Ancestry was attached to trees. Photos and documents attached to trees have been the most useful for me. My areas of research aren't well represented at Ancestry. 

On January 1st of 2022 free access to the Library addition of Ancestry ended. I think I've found everything available in those databases at this time and don't need a full subscription. 

FamilySearch is actually where I find most of the original documents online for my family. This past year was no exception. 

Top finds at FamilySearch in 2021 were:

I discovered Pullman, Chicago employee cards. I found out these cards were available by searching through the FamilySearch catalog. They aren't indexed so you have to search the digitized microfilms. I've found cards for my great-grandparents and grandparents. 

I noticed most Virginia records are now online and viewable at home. I spent many hours and days researching these records. I didn't realize there was a will for a Francis Ray who might be the progenitor of my Wray family in Franklin County, Virginia. I've been able to make a better timeline for the Wray/Morris family based on the court and land records I've found in these digitized microfilms. 

Based on this research at FamilySearch I discovered the family lived in Lunenburg County, Virginia in the late 1740s and early 1750s. I ordered copies of tax lists from the Library of Virginia based on this. I noticed a book transcription of the lists wasn't accurate. The original lists provided important information not included in the book.

  

 Reviewing old photos

I have spent some time this year looking at Kapple family photos trying to figure out the location they were taken at. I used Google street view for that. I had thought the family house in the photo below had been torn down. 

Going street by street in the area of Chicago my family lived in I found the houses in these photos (below). Across the street I found the house in the photo above still standing. So it wasn't torn down after all. 

 DNA Cousin

A paternal aunt had a first cousin match. I contacted the match and they said they never heard of my family? Ancestry Library Edition came in handy researching this match. I found birth, death, and marriage records at Ancestry that helped me determine this match was the illegitimate son of one of my great-uncles. 

Goals for 2022

• I need to attach records and photos I've collected to trees. I'm way behind on that.
• I will be continuing my Wray family research. I've already ordered more tax records. 
• Another important goal is trying to locate more family photos.
• I would like to locate more land records for my Irish ancestors and photos.
• I'm hoping to find full Pullman files this year also, not just cards. 
• Still tackling my Campbell family brickwall

2021 Exploring California

Since it is difficult to travel at this time I'm spending time exploring my home state of California. Even though I was born in California in 1963 I still haven't seen all of it. As I explore I remember my family members and the photos of their California travels. 

I visited Yosemite in June of last year and Kings Canyon National Park in October

I visited Knott's Berry Farm around Christmas 2020. I've spent a great deal of time visiting there since my parents first took me in a stroller back in the 1960s. I've been to birthday parties, the Halloween Hunt at Knott's, and have spent many summer days there. My Aunt Rosie was a dancer in the saloon, which I thought about as I sat in the saloon watching the Christmas show. 

Aunt Rosie on Saloon bar

We'll see what surprises 2022 has in store? Where new leads might take me?

Examining Wray Family Circumstantial Evidence Part 4: Comparing a Tithe List book to the Original List/ Is there unimportant information?

The importance of looking at the Original Lists

Yesterday I received copies of the original tithe lists for Lunenburg County, Virginia from the Library of Virginia. I ordered them to make sure the format of the lists were the same in the book "Sunlight on the Southside" and the original lists. I was only interested in two lists my ancestor was named on. He disappears from the lists in 1750, which is the year he likely relocated to a place up near the James River. Joseph continues to be named on the lists until the county of Bedford is formed from Lunenburg County.

The individual original lists take up about 2 pages on 11x17 paper. Each list covers a specific geographical area of the county. My ancestor only appeared on the lists in 1748 and 1749. 

The lists I was interested in were for the area called "mouth of the falling water upwards", which covered the Maggoty Creek area of today's Franklin County, Virginia. 

After reviewing the two original lists I ordered I noticed immediately that the originals aren't formatted exactly like the book "Sunlight on the Southside". 

First of all the original 1748 tithe list has Moses Wray, or Ray, on the top line and because of lack of space to list more than two on a line Joseph Ray is below them. 

The 1748 list in "Sunlight on the Southside" lists the men differently which created confusion. Moses Ray is listed first with Benjamin and Joseph listed next, and their names are indented. If your ancestor isn't listed with others then this isn't a problem. The fact our Rays were recorded as a family and they formatted the names differently than the original records led us to believe the first name listed was the head of the household and likely the father of the other two. 

In 1749 again the list was formatted differently. This time only Joseph and Moses appear on the lists. I believe Benjamin probably aged out of paying tithes? Below we see Joseph and Moses listed on the same line. 

In the book "Sunlight on the Southside" the formatting has Joseph above Moses, instead of on the same line like the original. Again creating confusion regarding how the men are related? Also we see the last name is spelled differently than in the book. It's spelled Raa in the original and Rea in the book. 

The book "The Genesis of the Virginia Frontier: The Origins of Franklin County, Virginia, 1740-1785, by T. Keister Greer copied their information from "Sunlight on the Southside" which led them to draw the wrong conclusion about the possible relationship of the men. The snippet below does state that it is confusing regarding the order of the men on the tax lists, but the author assumes there is a problem with the tithe lists. Actually there is just a problem with the list copy in the book. 

What do the lists tell us?

The most important thing the tithe lists tell us is that Benjamin, Moses, and Joseph all lived in the same household, in 1748 and 1749, because they are listed and numbered as a single family unit. Either they were brothers or Benjamin was their father and Moses and Joseph were brothers? I do believe Benjamin was the father of Moses and Joseph, and possibly of Benjamin. We know from the traveler who visited Benjamin in the 1750's he was an older man. He doesn't appear on tithe lists in the 1750s, even though we know he lived in that county then, likely because he aged off lists. My ancestor Moses Wray had a son named Benjamin, who I believe he named after Moses' father. 

I also noticed the surname Anderson on these lists. I previously thought my ancestor Anderson Wray's first name was of Scottish origin. This may not be the case since there are some researchers who say they have traced a maternal line back to an Anderson family. So the name Anderson may actually come from a surname?

 

The lists also tell what general area the family lived in at the time these tithes were taken because each tithe taker was assigned to a specific area. There is a map showing the area each tithe taker covered.

Unimportant Information?

The more I work on my family history the more I understand any piece of information on a document could turnout to be important. Even a piece of information on a document that may not seem to be helpful on first examination may later turn out to be useful. We know that he format of transcribed information is important.

Reading through the introduction to the "Sunlight on the Southside" book the paragraph below states the names of slaves were omitted from the book because they were unimportant. 

I am seeing the names of slaves on these original lists (see images below). There are only first names, but even first names are important from a genealogical standpoint. Former slaves often took the surname of their masters, for instance, which could help their descendants trace their families using these records. Even for descendants of slave owners this information could help in identifying an ancestor through the names of their slaves. 

Since all information on a document can be relevant it is important to get a copy of the original document, if it still exists, and not rely on a transcribed copy. 

How do we confirm the relationships of the Ray or Wray men?

I think the only hope for establishing the exact relationship of these men would be if something like a family bible surfaces or a court document? Church records for the mid 18th century were likely destroyed during the Civil War. Something that might surface at this point would probably be from a Wray descendant who migrated out of the area. 

 

Examining Wray Family Circumstantial Evidence Part 3 : Information from the book "The Genesis of the Virginia Frontier"

Richard Randolph 
I believe our Wray family bought land from his estate? This was mentioned in the book.

During my recent reexamination of the Wray family history I forgot the family was mentioned in a Franklin County, Virginia history book called "The Genesis of the Virginia Frontier: The Origins of Franklin County, Virginia, 1740-1785, by T. Keister Greer (you can borrow the book from archive.org). In my previous blog posts I lay out the numerous county changes as southwestern Virginia is settled. The book, referred to above, begins with the earliest county formations and ends with the actual formation of Franklin County, Virginia. 

We have the Wray family traced back to the 1740s when they lived in the area that would later become Franklin and Bedford Counties, Virginia. In order to trace the family farther back we need to know the relationship of 3 Wray, Ray, or Rea men who were listed on the Lunenburg County, Virginia tithe lists for the late 1740s and early 1750s. As I explained in my previous blog posts their names were Benjamin Ray, Joseph Ray, and Moses Ray. 

My own theory is that Benjamin Ray was likely the father because according to a visitor to the Ray cabin on Maggoty Creek, in what is now Franklin County, Benjamin Ray and his wife were older people, and maybe even elderly in the early 1750s? Moses and Joseph were not that old because they had young children in the 1750s and 1760s. 

Looking at the sketch of the family found in "The Genesis of the Virginia Frontier" it is odd that on different tax lists Joseph and Moses were listed as if they were heads of the household? The passage below lays that out. 

I wrote to Virginia to try to get copies of the original tithe lists. Since we are in the holidays I don't expect to get the copies for a week or two. 

Rethinking the tithable lists problem I surmise that since Benjamin isn't on the lists in the 1750s he aged out of paying tithes. Since he was described as old by visitors in the 1750s that would make sense. Also if he aged out of paying the tithes in the 1740s the Benjamin Ray on the tithe lists in that decade might be a son. So it's possible Joseph, Moses, and Benjamin Jr. were brothers and their father was Benjamin Sr.? A younger Benjamin does show up in court records in the 1760s, he was too young to be my ancestor Benjamin son of Moses. 

Digging through the records I have access to from California, basically those on the internet, I've only found the older Benjamin mentioned by the visitor, and he is possibly on one tithe list. 

As the author of the book said, the Ray family of Maggotty Creek constitutes a real problem as far as establishing the relationship of the men. Hopefully we can work this out eventually?

Another interesting fact brought up

Joseph Ray or Wray was a vestryman which would mean he belonged to the Church of England. This might suggest the family was English, not Scottish or Scots-Irish as some thought? That might be the case, but the official church of Virginia in Colonial days was the Church of England. In order to hold an office like sheriff he may have had to belong to the official church, and may have converted? We do know there was a Francis Ray of eastern Virginia who left a will and had sons named Joseph and Benjamin, which would be a good match as the book relates below.. Francis' son Joseph was certainly not the same man, but it's interesting both families used the names Benjamin and Joseph.

I loved visiting England and would love to find ancestors from there but it is very difficult to trace colonial Americans back to England. 

I will post copies of the original Lunenburg tithe lists when I get them. 

Examining Wray Family Circumstantial Evidence Part 2/ Taking the Wray family farther back

 

I've been able to document my Wray family back to Moses Wray of Franklin County, Virginia. He left a will mentioning my ancestor Benjamin Wray as his son. Moses was likely born in the 1720's, where isn't known. He died in 1802 in Franklin County, Virginia. There was another Moses Wray about the same age as my Moses who lived in Amherst County, Virginia. The two Moses Wrays are often confused with each other. 

Tracing the family farther back requires looking at county changes. In order to do this I used an interactive county map at Rootsweb to follow the county changes. The Wray family lived in the Maggotty Creek area of today's Franklin County as early as the 1740's. This was the frontier of Western Virginia. The fact they lived on the frontier meant they lived very far away from their county courthouse and seldom appear in the county records until new counties are carved out from the old large counties that stretched west over 100 miles. 

In the early to mid 1740's, when the Franklin County, VA, area was first settled, it was a part of Brunswick County. The courthouse was about 129 miles away, over 40 hours walking. They may have been able to travel by river for part of the distance cutting down on the travel time?

When Lunenburg was formed from part of Brunswick County the county courthouse moved a little bit closer to Maggotty Creek. It was still over 100 miles away at about 103 miles away. We don't see the family mentioned in these records.

When Bedford County was formed in 1754 the county courthouse was much closer but still miles away. Even so we begin to find the Maggotty Creek Wrays in the county records. The New London courthouse was still about 57 miles away. 

A Benjamin Wray is listed in court orders as working on a road in Brunswick County in 1733. Since my ancestor was also named Benjamin there could be a relationship. My ancestor Benjamin was born in 1756 so this wasn't him.  

In 1746 Lunenburg County, Virginia was carved out of Brunswick County, Virginia and the Maggotty Creek area was now in this county. We know the Wrays were in this county by 1748 because they appear on tithe lists for that county beginning then. In that year Moses, Benjamin, and Joseph Wray (they appeared on the Lunenburg lists under Rae or Ree) first appear on the lists in 1748 (beginning in 1738 settlers of the area that became Lunenburg County were exempted from paying tithes for 10 years). 

The ages of the men Moses, Benjamin, and Joseph on the tax lists are unknown? We do know they would have all been over 16 years of age, based on the fact you had to be over 16 years old to be included on the tithable lists. We also don't know how these men are related to each other? We can only use circumstantial evidence found in records to surmise their ages and draw a tentative conclusion regarding their relationships based on that. 

We don't know for sure if they were living on Maggotty Creek in 1748? We do know they were living in that general area according to the area covered by the person in charge of taking the tithables. Below you see a map of the areas covered by the men taking the tithables. John Phelps was in charge of taking the titables near Maggotty creek and Joseph, Moses, and Benjamin appear on his list in 1748. 

Map from usgwarchives website

From Lunenburg County Court orders book 1749

We do know Benjamin Wray was living on Maggotty Creek in the early 1750's because he is mentioned by someone traveling in the area, along with his wife, as having a cabin on Maggotty Creek. In 1753 Moravian travelers stopped at the cabin of  Benjamin Wray and his wife. They were described as elderly, but I doubt if they were 90 and 100 years old as recorded in one of the men's diaries. I'm sure living on the frontier aged people resulting in them looking older than they were. 

Mereness, Newton. Mereness's Travels. United States: Applewood Books, 2007.

Based on records of Bedford County, after it was created from Lunenburg County, and the Moravian Diary Benjamin Wray was likely the oldest of the 3 men listed on the tithable lists. He disappears from the records in the 1750's, he likely died during that decade but Joseph and Moses continue to appear in  records until their deaths. They both are younger men with young children in the mid 18th century according to their participation in the community and their wills. 

There was a younger Benjamin who appeared in Bedford County records in the 1760's. He was married at that time so he wasn't my Benjamin born 1756. His wife's name was Mary and he may have been another brother of Moses Wray.

Benjamin Wray and wife Mary 1768 Bedford County, VA court orders 

The evidence suggests the  older Benjamin was likely the father of Joseph, Moses, and possibly Benjamin. In order to take the Wray family back another generation I need to find a possible father for Benjamin. There was a Benjamin Wray doing road work in Brunswick County in 1733 before the Maggotty Creek area was settled and the bulk of the population of the southside of Virginia was farther east. I wasn't able to find out anymore about this Benjamin Wray in the Brunswick records. Brunswick had been carved out of Prince George County, Virginia. Checking those earlier records I found a will for a Francis Rea or Ray who had sons named Benjamin and Joseph. 

Francis Rea or Ray died in 1718 in Prince George County, Virginia. Children listed in his will were Mary Wiggans, Jane Cooper, Benjamin Rea, Jone Nicholson, Joseph Rea, and Francis Rea.   

Francis Wray Will Prince George County, VA

Below is a chart showing county formation as the area southwest of the James River began to be settled. 

From "Origins of the Virginia Southside, 1703-1753 : a social and economic study" by Mike Lee Nicholls 

 

The Benjamin Wray of Brunswick county disappeared from the area after he 1730's. His brothers Francis and Joseph remain in that area. The area of Brunswick they lived in apparently is the area that became Lunenburg County. According to local records Francis Wray lived near the Meherrin River in Lunenburg;this area remained in Lunenburg after the county was carved up. Francis and Joseph are often mentioned in Lunenburg records. 

A Joseph Ray absconded from the area near the courthouse in Lunenburg, before 1752, according to court records.. I wonder if he ended up in the area near Maggotty Creek? He did seem to return to the area farther east shortly after absconding to report the theft of his doubloon. He was likely the son of Francis Ray and mentioned in his will. 

Joseph had a Doubloon stolen at one point. Since the area where Joseph Ray of Maggotty Creek was so far from the courthouse I don't believe the reference to Joseph in the Lunenburg court records relate to him. I'm fairly positive they relate to Joseph living near the courthouse. 

Actually there is no way of knowing how many Wray men were in Bedford County at the same time because in the 1750's, when that county was created, many of the tithe lists have been lost. There was a Joseph Ray described as living on Maggotty creek, so was there another one living in the area too? This entry in court orders regards Joseph being added to the tithe list. It could be that he was just asking to be added to the list for that particular place?

The Joseph Ray who served as sheriff of Bedford County appears to be around the same age as Moses Wray and is likely his brother. He was also a Vestryman for Russell Parish Church of England. Moses and Joseph appear together as witnesses of a deed in Bedford County in 1761. 

 

Moses doesn't name any children after his likely brother or he did and the son died before his will was created? It is odd but Moses' wife Elizabeth Morris had a brother named Joseph so you would expect a Joseph based on that fact alone because she used sibling names to name her children. 

We really need to prove Benjamin was the father of the younger men on Maggotty Creek on the tithable lists. 

My ancestor Benjamin Wray apparently was Moses Wray's 2nd son. Although some believe he was his first son? It would make sense that Moses would have named one of his first sons after his father.

Was the Benjamin Ray son of Francis Wray old enough to be the father of Moses and Joseph Wray? We can surmise Moses Wray's age because he was exempted from having to pay levies in 1787. His age isn't given but he was likely over 60. We can surmise he was likely born before 1727. 

I believe Benjamin Wray, son of Francis, is mentioned in court records in 1717 for Prince George County. He is married to a Sarah who was accused of theft. Benjamin must have been at least in his 20's by that year. His wife Sarah is a witness of Francis her father-in-law's will. She witnessed it in January 1712, so if she was Benjamin's wife this couple was married by then. 

I would surmise Benjamin Wray, son of Francis, was born about 1790? 

His brother Joseph apparently wasn't of age when his father died in 1718. The settlement record of his father Francis' estate stated money was paid for "keeping Joseph Ray for two years". He must have been born in the mid to late 1790's. 

Benjamin Wray could have been in his 30's when Moses and Joseph were born? 

A gift deed mentioned in court orders could prove Benjamin was the father of the other men. There was a Ray gift deed to Ray in 1759 mentioned in Bedford county court orders. This could be a deed of Benjamin Wray to a son or sons? I have not been able to find the actual deed. 

As I said Moses Wray had a son named Benjamin. Joseph Wray (husband of Martha) didn't have any sons named Benjamin however. His 1766 will lists sons Andrew and John. His daughters were Mary and Priscilla. The children seem to have been young at the time of Joseph's death. Joseph was supposed to have been an overseer on a road just before his death and he was replaced according to court orders for Bedford County, so my guess is he wasn't an elderly man and could have been born in the 1720's.  

Age wise I would say it's definitely possible that Benjamin Wray, son of Francis, was Moses and Joseph Wray's father. The older Benjamin also would be about the right age to have been the son of  Francis Ray and his wife Mary. 

The conclusions in this post are all based on circumstantial evidence. More research is needed to prove or disprove these suppositions. 

Examining Wray Family Circumstantial Evidence Part 1 : Is Elizabeth Morris mother of all the Wray Children?

Was Elizabeth Morris the mother of all of Moses Wray's children?

Elizabeth Morris, wife of Moses Wray, was the daughter of  Daniel Morris and Tabitha (possibly Anderson). She may have been born in the 1730's. Her father was a resident of Augusta County, Virginia in the 1750s (now Botetourt County, Virginia) and he also had land in Bedford County, Virginia. The children of Moses Wray were born between the mid to early 1750s into the 1770s. 

The best evidence to answer the question, as to whether Elizabeth was mother of all the Wray children, would be a marriage record for this couple. I have not been able to locate a marriage record. In areas and time periods when marriage records weren't kept or they were lost it's always been a challenge determining whether all of the children mentioned by a father in his will belong to one wife. Women sometimes died young and many died from childbirth. 

Looking at some previous research for this couple there is speculation that Elizabeth Wray may have been a 2nd wife. This speculation seems to arise from the fact Elizabeth wasn't referred to as Elizabeth Wray or Ray in her father Daniel Morris' will. None of the children were listed with a last name and likely that has no significance. Also we don't know when the will was written. The date recorded was 1767 but was added in 1951, and was said to come from the original will.

Below is the will of Daniel Morris. He didn't state the year when he made out this will.

Below is the note added by the clerk in 1951 said to be from the original will.

Daniel Morris' wife Tabitha died in 1778 and has a will recorded which names her daughter as Betsy Ray so we know for certain that she is married to Moses Wray by this date. (of course Betsy is a nickname for Elizabeth). 

Some people have speculated that Elizabeth Morris married Moses Wray some time after the 1767 date on Daniel's will?

Another reason why there is speculation about whether Elizabeth was mother of all the children is the fact that Moses named 17 children in his will. Is it likely one woman could have given birth to this many children? If she were a very young woman when she first married it is possible, rare, but possible. A woman can give birth up until menopause although the likelihood diminishes with age. My mother was 43 when I was born and here I am. 

Multiple births did occur in the past like they do today. Just because a woman had 17 children doesn't mean she gave birth 17 times. A neighbor of mine had 8 children and all of them were twins. 

Elizabeth provided some clues as to when she married Moses by naming some of her children after her parents and siblings. Since there are no birth records available for that time and place establishing the ages of the children named after her family members would have to come from marriage records and when the males appeared on tax lists. 

Daniel Wray, Moses and Elizabeth's son,  would likely have been named after Elizabeth's father. He first appears on Bedford tax lists 1782. He was over 16 that year. 

The categories at the top of the tax list indicate that the 2nd to the last row gave the number of white males over 16 on this 1782 tax list. 

 

Daniel doesn't appear on tax lists again until the area the family lived became a part of Franklin County, Virginia. In 1786 he was over 21 so he must have been born in 1765 or 1764. 

Elizabeth Morris also had a brother named Ezekiel. She named a son Ezekiel also. Her son Ezekiel was first listed in tax lists as over 21 in 1787. He was likely born about 1766. 

It definitely is possible that Elizabeth Morris married Moses Wray just before Daniel's birth in 1764 or 1765? But it's also possible the family waited before they named a child Daniel after Elizabeth's father or there was a Daniel born earlier who died? 

The eldest daughter of Elizabeth and Moses has been speculated to be Mary. She was married to John Wright but exactly when is not known? According to several trees posted online at Ancestry.com she was born between 1753 and 1756. Three of the children said to belong to John Wright and Mary Wray are Tabitha Wright, Ezekiel Wright, and Elizabeth Wright. The use of these names would suggest Elizabeth Morris likely was Mary's mother and Tabitha her grandmother. Since I can't confirm when John and Mary were married I have not been able to document the trees I've found. According to Tabitha's tombstone she was born in 1771. If I could confirm she is a daughter of Mary I could surmise when Mary was born?

Were Daniel Morris and Tabitha old enough to be grandparents of the Wray children born in the mid to early 1750s? Daniel Wray definitely does sound like he would be old enough because he aged out of taxation back in 1753. According to court orders he is exempted from being taxed due to his great age and infirmity. 

Since women were seldom recorded in colonial records in Virginia it's impossible to determine the age of Elizabeth Morris. Looking at the possible ages of her brothers her eldest brother Ezekiel could have been born in the 1730s? If his sister was also born in that decade she definitely would have been old enough to have been the mother of the eldest Wray children. 

This is important to me because my ancestor Benjamin Wray was born in 1756 and I would like to confirm Elizabeth Morris was his mother, as has been assumed. 

My ancestor Benjamin Wray's, born about 1756, son of Moses Wray and maybe Elizabeth Morris, full name is often recorded in online trees as Benjamin "Oat" Wray. Actually I believe my Benjamin is being confused with a descendant named Benjamin Oat Wray. It was very uncommon for someone to have a middle name in the mid 18th century.

A descendant of Benjamin Wray named Benjamin Oat Wray was born in 1855 in Franklin County, Virginia. 

Benjamin Wray's brother James, who likely was a year or two older, had some connection to an Otey family. The name Otey was used by his family for generations as a first name or middle name. It could be a wife of James Wray was an Otey? If it comes down through the Wray family is it related to Benjamin's descendants using the name Oat as a middle name. Could James and Benjamin's mother have been an Otey instead of Elizabeth Morris?

There was an Otey family living in Franklin County, Virginia but they didn't show up in local records until after the birth of both James and Benjamin Wray. So I'm tending to think there is another relationship with these families that occurred much later. 

James Wray, likely being the eldest male also gave me pause for thought. Where didn't the name James come from? It didn't come from Elizabeth Morris' family, apparently. Thinking about it, it is possible James was named after the river he was probably born by. The James River could have been the inspiration for the name?

 

So is Elizabeth Morris my Benjamin Wray's mother? Benjamin never names his mother in any documents I've seen. In his Revolutionary War pension file Benjamin states he was born in James River, Virginia. I always felt like he must have been born in eastern Virginia because I had never been to that part of Virginia didn't know the river ran through todays Bedford and Botetourt counties. The Wray family lived on Maggotty Creek in today's Franklin County, Virginia. This area was previously in Bedford County. The county seat of Bedford County wasn't far from the James River which formed a boundary between Bedford and Albemarle, now Amherst County. 

Elizabeth Morris' father owned land on the James River in what was Augusta County, Virginia and now is Botetourt County. This suggests that Elizabeth Morris could be the mother of my Benjamin Wray. 

Daniel Morris had his land surveyed on the James River in 1753 which was before the birth of my ancestor Benjamin Wray. We know the location of the land because it is on the James River at Catawba Creek. 

Moses Wray appears on tax lists for the Maggotty Creek area in 1749 with Joseph "Rae" or Wray and then disappears from the lists. He disappears from the lists in the 1750's and doesn't appear in local records again until about 1760. I believe he was living on the James River, possibly near Daniel Morris. There was a gap in the mountains in what is today Franklin County which would lead up to the James River in today's Botetourt County which at the time was Augusta County. The James River would have been a good waterway to transport crops farther east to places like Richmond. The Wray and Morris family were pioneers in western Virginia. The markets for their crops would have been farther east. 

A likely brother of Moses Wray named Joseph owned some land near Daniel Morris in Bedford County. The Morris family had land on Elk Creek and Joseph Wray purchased land on Elk Creek in 1756. The question is did Moses Wray meet and marry Elizabeth Morris after Joseph Wray bought land on Elk Creek or did they meet in the area of James River or in Bedford County earlier? Did Elizabeth give birth to Benjamin on the James River land her family owned?  

Another thing I discovered during my years of genealogy research is names like Mary, Sarah, and Elizabeth were very common. One of my ancestors lost his first wife Mary and then married another woman named Mary. So it's not impossible for a man to marry more than once with a wife who has the same first name adding more confusion to the situation. 

It's definitely a guess that Elizabeth Morris is the mother of all of the Wray children. It has not been proven without a doubt. If anyone has any additional information please leave a comment below.