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.