Person:Nancy Wray (1)

"She was called Jennie. She was a beautiful child and also when grown, wearing her hair long. Her hair reached the ground when she was 11. She was sick at sea all the way from California to New York when her family returned to Michigan in 1864. In school for two years she sat at the same desk in which her mother had sat. Her mother died Christmas eve in 1868 and she was sent to the Shaker Farm in South Bend, Indiana with several of her brothers and sisters. When she married Wayne Burk, she wore her mother's wedding dress. Her little sister, Sena, lived with the Burks until she got married at the age of 14, as did her brother Jim, part of the time.

In 1878 they moved to Seneca, Kansas to Grandfather Burk's home until August 1886 when they returned to Michigan. In December of 1888 she took her family to LaGrace, South Dakota as her husband had gone there during the summer to cook for her brother Jim's trashing crew. The following year they built a house using lumber from Caleb's sawmill. The family became very friendly with the local Indians and traded with them. In December of 1890, her husband took her to Mound City, South Dakota for medical treatment. This was the closest doctor to LaGrace. It was found she had diabetes. In those days there was little treatment and no cure of diabetes and in April she died. The children were left alone at this time and Sitting Bull and his Indian followers went on the warpath. An Indian policeman, High Eagle, came to the children and said he would protect them. Jennie's daughter reported, many years later, that they could hear the battle between the soldiers and Sitting Bull across the river."^S2

1. ↑ United States. 1860 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (National Archives Microfilm Publication M653)
   Series: M653 Roll: 60 Page: 743.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Clayton Wray. Descendants of Moses Wray I
   5-6.