Additional Games
- Chessgames
- Game, Benjamin Altman vs. Robert J. Ray, National Correspondence Chess Association tournament, 1918
Robert J Ray
December 07, 1864 - June 02, 1931
First, Middle and Last Name: Robert J Ray |
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Date of Birth: December 07, 1864 |
Date of Death: June 02, 1931 |
Name of Father: John Clay Ray |
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Name of Mother: Alcy Jane Ray (born Reagor) |
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Birth: Flat Creek, Bedford, Tennessee |
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Education: |
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Military Enlistment: |
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Occupation(s): Attorney |
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Residence(s): Lawton, Oklahoma; (d.) Highland Cemetery |
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Spouse(s): Olive Ray |
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Siblings: Alvin S. Ray; Albert A. Ray; Watson Floyd Ray; Mary Elizabeth Ray; Kittie Ellen Ray; John Bell Ray; Jennie Myrtle Ray |
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Children: Kenneth |
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Other: |
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June 15 1911
The Lawton Constitution, Lawton, Oklahoma, Thursday, June 15, 1911
One Chess Game Runs Five Hours
A chess game lasting from 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon to 7:05 yesterday evening at the Lawton Chess club resulted in a victory for J. W. Martin over Professor Howell and set up a record for lengthy games for the newly organized club.
Martin and Howell met in the City National bank yesterday afternoon and Howell declared that for fifty cents he would prove to the satisfaction of Mr. Martin that he (Martin) was an amateur at chess. Martin accepted.
The game drew a crowd of rooters who insisted on offering advice to the players—a crime in chess circles where conversation is not considered in good form.
The chess club is flourishing these days. The members are: Professor Howell, John White, J. W. Martin, W. M. Buell, J. N. France; F. Woodhouse, Charles Wolf, J. A. Mangan, C. G. Joy, Col. R. A. Sneed, F. M. Dyer, Dan Andrews, C. M. Myers, T. B. Orr, A. D. Lawrence, R. J. Ray and C. D. Smith.
1916
HISTORY OF OKLAHOMA, by Joseph Bradfield Thoburn, 1916
ROBERT J. RAY, Judge Ray of Lawton, now presiding over the County Court, is an Oklahoma eighty niner. He has been identified with all the more important openings in Oklahoma Territory, and resided successively in the original Oklahoma at Oklahoma City, then at Woodward, and finally became a pioneer and prominent settler at Lawton with the opening of that reservation. His career as a lawyer covers a quarter of a century and with a successful practice he has long been a power in democratic politics, and is well known by all the prominent men in public life in the state.
Robert J. Ray was born in Bedford County, Tennessee, December 7, 1864, and the Ray familing originally lived in North Carolina. His father, John C. Ray, was born in Tennessee in 1827 and died in 1895 at Flatcreek, Tennessee, where he lived for many years, combining the business of millwright and miller with that of farming. The old mill which he opened and operated is still standing, and its machinery is occasionally turned even at the present time for the grinding of grist. The maiden name of the mother was Elsie Jane Reagor, who was born in Tennessee in 1833, and is still living on the old farm at Flat Creek. There was a large family of children, mentioned briefly as follows: David G., who was a newspaper man and died at the age of forty-five in Texas; Dr. H. F., who graduated from the Franklin Osteopathic Institute in Kentucky and is now in practice at Charlotte, North Carolina; Albert, a mechanic at Birmingham, Alabama; Alvin, a twin brother of Albert, who was drowned in Texas at the age of twenty-one; Judge Robert J.; Watt F., lives at Flat Creek and is a stock trader; Mary who died at the age of twenty-five; Kittie, who married Fin Gowan, and they live on their farm near the old homestead; John B., who lives on the old home place where the family has lived for over fifty years; and Myrtle, who died at the age of four years.
Judge Ray grew up in Bedford County and his early recollections center about the old farm and the mill at Flatcreek. He attended the common schools until seventeen years of age and then run away from home, eventually finding work in a sawmill in Arkansas. From work as a common laborer he qualified and taught school, and studied law at every possible opportunity. He taught in Arkansas and for one year in old Indian Territory, having come to what is now the State of Oklahoma in 1888. In the fall of 1889 Judge Ray came to Oklahoma City, a few months after the opening of the territory, and was a participant in the eventful life of the capital city almost from the beginning. On June 10, 1890, the day the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory was organized, he was admitted to practice, and forthwith took up the active work of his profession. Judge Ray practiced at Oklahoma City two years, and served as city attorney in 1891-92. In 1892 he removed to Cheyenne in Roger Mills County, and in September, 1893, went into Cherokee Strip, locating at Woodward until 1901.
Judge Ray has the distinction of having been the only democrat elected to the Territorial Senate in 1894. He was sent up from Woodward, and gave some efficient service during 1895-96. President Cleveland appointed him register of the Woodward Land Office, and he held that position from 1895 to 1897.
With the opening of the Kiowa and Comanche reservations in 1901 Judge Ray moved to Lawton, and as a lawyer has since enjoyed a large general, civil and criminal practice. He was elected county judge November 3, 1914, for a term of two years beginning January 1, 1915. He was a member of the first school board at Lawton. He has long been prominent in the democratic party, and he attended every democratic state convention in territorial days. He has hosts of friends all over Oklahoma and his name among them all is plain “Bob.”
On January 20, 1895, a Winfield, Kansas, Judge Ray married Miss Olive B. Smith, daughter of B. B. and Susan Smith, of Woodward, Oklahoma. Her father died December 25, 1913, having been an attorney at Woodward. Judge Ray and wife have one son, Kenneth, now a student in the Cameron District Agricultural School at Lawton.
January 18 1921
The Lawton Constitution, Lawton, Oklahoma, Tuesday, January 18, 1921, pg. 1
Correspondence Chess is Fad of Local Players
Tournament Between Lawton Men and Players Scattered Over County Now In Progress.
Courtship by mail is no uncommon thing. Correspondence classes in every trade and profession are carried on by mail. In fact Uncle Sam's postal service is used for practically every thing. But the most unusual use yet recorded in the annals of the postal service is “correspondence chess.”
A game of chess by mail is now in progress between four Comanche county players and four other players scattered over the union from Washington, D.C. to Nebraska. The game has been in progress several months and will probably continue several months more before completed.
Judge R. J. Ray, Dr. Andrews, J. B. France and Dr. Burnett of Hulen, are the four local “chess fiends” who are engaged in a tournament by mail with William Neff, Muskogee; A. Schuyler, Washington, D.C.; H. S. Sharp, Illinois; and Matt Sterup, Nebraska. J. B. France and H. S. Sharp organized the game.
June 03 1931
The Daily Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Wednesday, June 03, 1931
Judge Robert J. Ray Is Dead At Lawton
Pioneer Jurist Succumbs To Paralysis Stroke.
Lawton, June 2.—(Special)—Judge Robert J. Ray, pioneer Oklahoma jurist and Democrat leader, died here Tuesday afternoon after an illness of ten days, following a stroke of paralysis.
Judge Ray had been a resident of Lawton since the opening in 1901. He served in the first Oklahoma territorial senate, was county judge of Comanche county for a number of years, and a member of the supreme court commission. He retired from the supreme court commission to enter into a law partnership with John F. Thomas of this city and in the last campaign made the race for supreme court justice against Judge Fletcher Riley.
Judge Ray is survived by his wife and one son, Kenneth. Funeral arrangements had not been completed Tuesday night.
June 04 1931
Lawton News-Review, Lawton, Oklahoma, Thursday, June 04, 1931, p. 1
Judge R. J. Ray Answers Call
Lawton streets and places of business were deserted this afternoon while citizens paid their last respects to one of the city's most highly esteemed pioneer citizens, Judge Robert J. Ray, who died at the family residence on Fort Still boulevard Tuesday afternoon, following a stroke of apoplexy sustained some ten days previously.
Funeral services for Judge Ray were held from the Centenary Methodist church, the vast auditorium of which afforded insufficient space to accommodate the many mourning friends who desired to do honor to the memory of the man they had loved and respected for over thirty years.
The funeral service was conducted by Rev. John D. Salter, presiding elder of the Southern Methodist church, with Rev. R. H. Lewelling, Rev. Powell Smith, and Rev. T. J. Irwin, pastor friends of the deceased, assisting. A fitting eulogy of the character and integrity of the deceased was given. Floral offerings were beautiful and profuse.
The passing of Judge Ray is genuinely mourned by the community. Since Lawton was established as a community he has been identified with Lawton history and his life has been an open book in which no deed was recorded which could bring rebuke or censure With charity for all and an enmity toward none, Judge Ray went the even tenor of his way, an exemplication at all times of sterling citizenship and unimpeachable character. He was outspoken his his beliefs but reserved to every citizen the right to think as conscience dictated.
Judge Ray was a native of Tennessee but came to Oklahoma in the early days. He was one of the first commissioners at Woodward where he met and wed the good woman who is now desolated by his passing. He leaves only one child, a son, Kenneth.
Judge Ray served as a member of the supreme court commission for a period of four years, from 1923 to 1927, returning to Lawton at the close of this service. His fellow citizens of Comanche county honored him three times by electing him county judge. At the time of his death he was associated with Hon. John F. Thomas, in the law firm of Ray and Thomas.
Judge Ray is survived by three brothers, W. R. Ray of Nashville, Tenn., Albert Ray of Oklahoma City and John Ray of Flatneck, Tenn.
Many telegrams of regret and condolence have been received by the family from every part of the state.
The body of Judge Ray lay in state Wednesday and Thursday at the Lawton Funeral Home, which was visited by many friends of the deceased. The body was laid to rest in Highland cemetery.
Ray, Robert J ➦ bio + additional games
December 07, 1864 - June 02, 1931
