If your family lived in the 
six counties of the Unassigned Lands prior to statehood, 
and you have stories, letters, photographs, 
or other information pertaining to their experiences,
please e-mail your posts to me for inclusion on this page.

Thank you for sharing your family histories with others.

This Family Story was submitted by Charles Ray...

Charles Ray, Oklahoma Pioneer and Homesteader

My name is Charles William Ray, Jr. I was named after my Father, Charles, Sr. who was named after both of his grand fathers, Charles Ray b. 1858 in Texas and William Hammon b 1870 in Missouri. 

After starting my family tree in 1969, I decided to also write the family history as I learned about each member of the family. The history and the genealogy have gotten out of hand, I added names and places and wrote and wrote and have hundreds of pages of history. That is with one exception, I have very little information on Charles Ray.

Charles was born in 1858 in San Antonio, Texas and died in Guthrie Oklahoma in 1946. He married Ida Burnison, whose parents, James and Lucinda Burnison, were from Decater, Iowa. James worked on the railroads and this may be where Charles met his bride Ida. 

Charles and Ida were married and on April 22, 1989 and they were in Oklahoma for the first Great Land Run. They homesteaded 160 acres in Meridian, Logan County, Oklahoma. (photo) I am not certain of the location of the homestead but I understand that they had 5 years to make improvements, such as building a house and planting a crop. I have enclosed a photo of the house with the Ray family standing in front of it.

They also raised a family. My great uncle, James Ray, was born in Guthrie, on May 9, 1889 so he was one of the first children to be born in the Territory of Oklahoma and only 17 days following the Land Run. His name appears on the First Territorial Census for Oklahoma. James die in Grants Pass Oregon in in 1981 when he was 92 years old.

My grandfather Jesse Roy Ray was born in Guthrie as well on June 5, 1891. 

My aunt, Ella Mae Ray was born in Indian Territory, probably also in Guthrie, on April 14, 1898. Ella would be their last child. For a few more years, the family lived on the homestead and for some reason, they "up and left" and went to Homestead some land in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada after the turn of the century (maybe in 1903/4) but before 1913 because that is when Ella married Andrew Jolin in Edmonton on June 18, 1913. Ella and Andrew Jolin had 7 children.

In 1916, for whatever reasons, James and Jesse deserted the Canadian Army. I was told that they were informed that even if they went to Europe to fight in the War over there, the Canadian government would not give them any kind of pension. That's when the two boys "up and left."

Jesse returned to Gross, Kansas and on August 9, 1917, he married Bessie Ann Hammon b. Vinita, Oklahoma on September 4, 1896. They moved to Sallisaw, Oklahoma for a while and then moved to Arcadia, Kansas where my father, Charles Ray, Sr. was born on March 26, 1920 They had 6 children.

Uncle James may have stayed briefly in Kansas but he moved back to Meridian. I am not sure if he went back to his father's homestead or just lived in the town. I am looking for records. While there, Uncle James married Edna Flora Dancy, Frank and Nellie Dancy's daughter. I was told that the Dancy's were an Indian Family that lived in Meridian. He had 3 children with Edna. Edna died in 1938 and in buried in Sheffield Cemetery in Arcadia, Kansas.

Ida Ray, passed away somewhere along the way and I think it was in 1916 and after the family returned to Oklahoma. Some think they remember seeing her name on a gravestone in the Rosebank Cemetery in Mulberry, Kansas but a fire in 1955 destroyed all the records and there are thousands of headstones out there and I couldn't find hers.

I was told that Grandpa Charles Ray made rocking chairs in Guthrie and had a shop in the town square. I once saw a photo of him sitting in one of his rockers up on the porch in the town square but have forgotten who has the photo.

Charles Ray was an early pioneer of Logan County who was living on Cleveland Street in Guthrie (photo) when he died at the age of 88. He is buried in Summit View Cemetery just outside and to the right of the caretakers building located in the cemetery.

I am working on the family history as often as possible but I have come to a dead end on the Ray family. If anyone who reads this can set me on a new path for the Charles Ray line of ancestors, I would be so thankful.

-Charles Ray

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