James J. RAY, attorney-at-law of Fayette Court House, Ala., was born in Fayette county, Ala., July 31, 1857.  He was the sixth of seven children born to Elijah and Lucy A. (WRIGHT) RAY, both natives of Virginia.  The former was one of the early settlers of the county, having come to Alabama sixty years ago.  His father was one of the first men to open up a farm in this section of the state.  The parents of Mrs. Lucy A. RAY were Jesse and Elizabeth WRIGHT of Virginia.

James J. RAY was reared in Alabama, and educated in the private schools of the state.  At the age of twenty-three he entered the law department of the university of Alabama, and graduated therefrom in 1881.  He began the practice of the law immediately in the town of Fayette, and has been continuously engaged there ever since in the practice of the law.  He is prominent in the politics of the county, and is now register in chancery, having held the office for nine years.  He is also a notary public, and a justice of the peace.  He educated himself by teaching school to earn the money to pay his way through the university, and he is in every way a self-made man.

He has been married twice, first in 1884 to Miss Ida I. JONES,* a native of Alabama, and a daughter of Dr. W.W. JONES, who died August 31, 1887.  To this marriage there was born one son, Alex. Bismarck RAY.  Mr. RAY was married May 1, 1890, to Miss Ella E. EDNEY, a native of Alabama, and a daughter of John M. EDNEY, by whom he has one child.

The RAY family is of English origin.  Mr. RAY is well known, and is one of the prominent and popular men in the county.

Source: Memorial Record of Alabama: A Concise Account of the State’s Political, Military, Professional and Industrial Progress, Together With the Personal Memoirs of Many of Its People, (Brant & Fuller, Madison, Wisconsin, 1893), Vol I: Fayette County, pp. 1025-1026.


* Ida I. RAY, wife of James J. RAY, b. 10 Oct 1866, d. 31 Aug 1887, bur. Shepherd Baptist Church Cemetery, Fayette Co., AL.