Brief Life History of William Martin
When William Martin Wray was born on 3 June 1897, in Springfield, Clark, Ohio, United States, his father, James William Wray, was 37 and his mother, Mary Ellen Bowman, was 34. He married Mary Ellen Riffey on 14 May 1918, in Isabel, Barber, Kansas, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. He lived in Kansas, Kansas, United States in 1930 and Pottawatomie, Kansas, United States in 1940. He died on 5 August 1985, in Pratt, Kansas, United States, at the age of 88, and was buried in Sawyer, Pratt, Kansas, United States.
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Family Time Line
Sources (20)
- Wm Wray, "United States Census, 1940"
- William Wray, "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages 1980-2014"
- W M Wray, "Kansas, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945"
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
Siblings (12)
+7 More Children
World Events (8)
1898 · War with the Spanish
After the explosion of the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor in Cuba, the United States engaged the Spanish in war. The war was fought on two fronts, one in Cuba, which helped gain their independence, and in the Philippines, which helped the US gain another territory for a time.
1900 · Gold for Cash!
This Act set a price at which gold could be traded for paper money.
1920
The Prohibition Era. Sale and manufacture of alcoholic liquors outlawed. A mushrooming of illegal drinking joints, home-produced alcohol and gangsterism.
Name Meaning
English (northern):
from Middle English wra (Old Norse vrá) ‘nook, corner of land’, a topographic name for someone who lived at or by a nook, corner of land, or isolated place, or a habitational name from a place so named, such as Wray in Tunstall (Lancashire), Wrea in Kirkham (Lancashire), and High and Low Wreah in Hensingham (Cumberland). The name was taken to Ulster by a Yorkshire family in the reign of Elizabeth I, and was used interchangeably in the counties of Derry and Donegal with Raw, Ray, Rea, and occasionally McRae .
common post-medieval spelling of Ray , Rae , or Ree .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
Possible Related Names
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