William Ray of Texas County, Missouri

William Ray, manager of the Diamond Flour Mills, of Licking, was born in Phelps County, Mo., April 15, 1848, and is the son of David and Elizabeth (Crow) Ray, natives of Kentucky, though they lived for some years in Tennessee. They came to Missouri in 1847, and after living a short time in Greene County moved to Phelps County, where the mother died in 1851, leaving six children, two sons and four daughters. After her death the father married again, and became the father of nine children by his last union. He was a well-to-do farmer, was a Democrat in politics, and lived to be sixty-five years of age. The mother was a member of the Baptist Church. William Ray was the youngest but one of the children born to the first marriage. He was educated in the old subscription schools, but the war coming on cut short his school life. At the age of twenty he began for himself by tilling the soil, but has had a general experience in business. He ran a livery stable for some time, then a grocery store in Rolla, and in 1874 he came to Texas County, where he established a grocery store in Licking. He ran a mail line from Rolla to West Plains, and afterward engaged in the hardware business at Licking, then dry goods, and in 1887 he took charge of the above mill. He owns 360 acres of good land. November 4, 1874, he married Miss Emma Halburt, a native of this county. Five children were born to this union: Lizzie F., Sanford D., Theale V., Alra and an infant. Mr. Ray as a business man has been quite successful, and is one of the representative men of the county. He is a Democrat in politics, is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he and wife are members of the Baptist Church.