Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Ray, Joseph H ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 14, 2008, 3:08 am Author: Past & Present Will County IL 1907 Joseph H. Ray, of Joliet, figures as one of the most prominent, progressive and prosperous citizens of Will county, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of the section. The county has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have controlled its affairs in official capacity, and in this connection the subject of this review demands representation as one who has served the county faithfully and well. He has recently retired from the office of sheriff, which he filled from 1902 until 1906, and in political circles he is a recognized leader. Mr. Ray was born in Wilmington, this county, May 17, 1859, and is a son of Wesley P. and Sarah L. (Turtle) Ray, both representatives of old New England families. The father was a prominent business man of Wilmington, who for years was a member of the firm of Ray & Thompson, dealers in grain, coal and live and dressed hogs. He was born in Monroe, Saratoga county, New York, December 28, 1825, and when about seven years of age was taken to western New York by his parents, who located in Chautauqua county. In 1840 W. P. Bay removed to Michigan and in 1844 became a resident of Illinois, settling at Lockport. In 1848 he went to Wilmington, where he remained until 1850, when, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he went to the far west by way of the isthmus route, reaching San Francisco, then a city of tents, in November of that year. He engaged in mining on the Pacific coast until 1855, when he returned to the states. The second trip to the Pacific slope was made in 1860 by the overland route, and he spent considerable time in the mining districts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Montana. In 1862 his exploring party, led by Mr. Grimes, who was afterward killed in an encounter with the Indians, discovered the Boise mines of Idaho. Mr. Ray was also among the first at Owyhee mines, and in 1863 he discovered the Poor Man's mine, which proved to be one of the richest silver mines on the Pacific slope. He was married January 1, 1850, to Miss Susan L. Tuttle, who was born near Portland, Maine, and they became the parents of five children, of whom three are yet living, while Frank died in 1876 from injuries sustained while getting off the cars near Joliet. The daughters are: Mrs. Belle Corliss, a resident of Petaluma, California; Mrs. Georgia Dahlman, who died at Petaluma in 1904; and Mrs. Susie Cooley, a resident of Chicago. The death of the father occurred in 1891, when he was sixty-two years of age, while his wife passed away in 1902, at the age of seventy-two years, having been among the victims of a railroad wreck near Marshall, Missouri. Joseph H. Ray was reared in Will county, where he has spent his entire life, the public schools affording him his educational privileges. He is engaged in the lumber and coal business at Wilmington and has always taken a very active part not only in business life but in community interests, especially in the lines of political activity. Thoroughly conversant with the questions and issues of the day, he has done much to mold public thought and action in his locality and his fellow townsmen recognizing his public spirit and devotion to the general good, have frequently called him to office. He served as alderman and as supervisor in Wilmington, and in 1902 was elected sheriff of the county on the republican ticket. Although Wilmington is strongly democratic he received a heavy plurality, showing his popularity in the place of his nativity, where the greater part of his life has been passed. He entered upon the duties of the office in 1902 for a four years' term and proved prompt and fearless in the performance of the tasks which devolved upon him, so that he retired from the position as he had entered it—with the confidence and good will of all concerned. In 1905 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the office of chairman of the republican central committee and in 1906 was elected to that position. Mr. Ray is an exemplary and valued Mason, having joined the order at Wilmington in 1881. He has attained the Knight Templar degree in Joliet commandery and is also a member of the Medinah Temple of the Mystic Shrine in Chicago. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Joliet, and to the Modern Woodmen camp and the Knights of Pythias lodge at Wilmington. He is also a member of the New Illinois Athletic Club, of Chicago, and of the Commercial Club of Joliet. In the field of political life and commercial activity he has won distinction and is numbered among the leading, influential and valued residents of his native county. There is manifest in him a fidelity of purpose that commands the respect of all and his indefatigable enterprise and fertility of resource have enabled him to carve his name deeply on the record of the political and business history of the county, where he has won many friends among those who have known him from boyhood and also among the acquaintances of his later years. Additional Comments: PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/ray2659nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 5.9 Kb