Person:James Wray (7)

"He was named after his grandfather Moon. However, he changed his name from Zimri to James and went by the name of Jim all his life. He was 5 when the family moved back to Michigan and when his mother died he was placed in the Shaker Farm in South Bend, Indiana for 2 years. After his father got a housekeeper and bought a home, he returned home. As soon as he was old enough to work, he worked with his father in the brick and tile yard and learned about steam engines which he operated the rest of his life from time to time. The summer after his marriage, he began a series of job changes that continued for most of his life by traveling to Kansas to visit his sister, Jennie, who had married Wayne Burk. He stayed on for awhile working around Seneca. By the time his first child, Jesse, was born he had moved to Pana, Illinois. Jesse died when he was a year old. Laurie arrived in 1882 in Pana and Vinton arrived when he was back in Buchanan in 1885.

In the spring of 1887 he went to LaGrace, South Dakota and joined his father, Caleb. He bought a steam engine and harvested grain in the area as far east as Aberdeen, South Dakota. He settled on his own place 4 miles north of Caleb's. Wayne Burk arrived and cooked for his threshing crew in 1888. He used his steam engine to operate a sawmill and sold lumber locally.

In 1890 the Jim Wray family moved to Seattle, Washington to work at a sawmill, then on to Stanwood and on to Coupeville on Whidbey Island. In 1891 the family took a boat to San Francisco. Jim worked at a sawmill in the Sierra Nevadas out of Porterville, California. In the fall of that year, he joined his family in Lakeport, Lake County, California where his brothers Edwin Perry and George Peabody were living. He moved the Tunis sawmill from Elk Mountain to a place 16 miles north of Upper Lake. In 1893 he built a sawmill on Middle Creek near Upper Lake and EP and George helped him operate it. Later he built and operated other mills in that area.

In the fall of 1910, he sold out and left Lake County for Portland, Oregon where he operated a garage in St. John across the river from the city, with Vinton, his son. Next they went to Bend, Oregon where they operated a freight line to Burns some 150 miles away. By 1920 they were in Yakima, Washington on a fruit ranch where they developed a hitch for Fordson Tractor to prevent it from tipping over. They patented it^N1 and opened a factory in San Jose, California. It sold very well until the crash of 1929.

Father and son went into defense work at Bremerton Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington and they moved to Port Orchard, Washington. Jim passed away in 1942 and Vinton stayed on until 1945 and retired to Alderwood Manor, just north of Seattle where he died."^S6

1. ↑ Death Records, in Washington (State). Bureau of Vital Statistics. Washington Death Certificates [Index], 1907–1960. (FamilySearch, 2016)
   1263/94/cn 117.
2. ↑ United States. 1930 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T626)
   Roll 2506; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 3; Image: 28.0, 1930.
3. ↑ United States. 1920 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T625)
   Roll T625_1493; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 32; Image: 344, 1920.
4. ↑ United States. 1900 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T623)
   Roll T623_88 Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 45, 1900.
5. ↑ United States. 1910 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication T624)
   Roll T624_78; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 38; Image: 316, 1910.
6.   Clayton Wray. Descendants of Moses Wray I
   pgs. 6-7.
7. ↑ Tractor hitch patent