The Quest

The Quest: to find John W. Ray and wife Elizabeth Noble(s) parents and grandparents and any friends and relatives along the way.

Briefly, at our John Ray's death (1821 in Lawrence Co., MS.), he was married to Elizabeth Nobles and they had several children the oldest named Jonathan (born 1803).   Descendants living currently in Carroll Co, MS reported that the family rumor was that our John Ray and Elizabeth Nobles from the Baldwin and Clarke Co., GA area prior to Lawrence Co., MS.  The story is that our John Ray's parents were Joseph and Ann Ray and the father of our Elizabeth Nobles was Jonathan Nobles.  Reportedly, Jonathan Nobles was the son of William Nobles born 1686 in Somerset Co., Md.  This has been our best lead. We have proved that a Joseph Sr. and Ann Ray with children: Joseph Jr. and Robert did live in the Freeman Creek area (south of what is now the town of Bishop) along with John Ray and Jonathan Nobles. Stephen Nobles was a witness on a land sell for this Joseph Ray Sr. They lived in this area as early as 1799 when it was part of Jackson County until about 1807 where they moved to a plantation on Jack's Creek in Baldwin County. This was later in the 20th district of Morgan County when its boundaries were determined.

It looks pretty good. John Ray's land on Freeman Creek was adjacent to Joseph Ray, and a court allowed John to accept payments inbehalf of Joseph Ray in 1810 perhaps after his possible father's death. In October of 1807, Joseph had sold his land on Freeman Creek to William Wright/Right (an adjacent land owner) when moving to the Ray family plantation on Jack's Creek a few miles away in Baldwin/Morgan County. Apparently Wright didn't pay Joseph all the $800 for 203 acres that was owed Joseph and in court, John Ray, who we think is Joseph's son, accepted the payment for Joseph. [Click Research Library tab at top of page and search for more details.]

John W. Ray appears in Lawrence County, Mississippi in close proximity to Stephen and Levi Nobles (as well as Richard Sparks, Richard Fielder, and Wm and James Goodson) around 1816 to 1818. His brothers Robert Ray and Joseph Ray Jr. also moved to the Lawrence Co. area about the same time.

We are identifying family and friends in the area.  Note:  If you have information about the John and Elizabeth family (of early 1800 in Mississippi) and descendants/ancestors please share it. Using the new searchable research library, you can search for names/places/dates/subjects you are interested in and view/zoom into the images associated with the data.

Click HERE for more detailed information or if you want to help research

OnLine Computer
14064 Friendship Dr.
Herriman, Ut 84096

EagleQuestPro@gmail.com
(801) 738-5182

If you have any questions please contact us