Nance Notes
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Photo of Mary "Maggie" Nance Ray, husband - James Buchanan Ray, and my grandfather Lew Wade Ray |
Mary Magelena Nance Ray
August 1872 - July 31, 1919
My Great Grandmother was Mary Magelena "Maggie" Nance. "Maggie" married James
Buchanan Ray and had 5 children. Only 3 lived to adulthood, Elmer, Lew, and Ruby.
The Nance family can be traced back to Rueben Nance who like the Ray family came from
Virginia. Allen Nance was in Wayne County, Tennessee about the same time as some of the
Ray family was in Wayne County, as well. But James Buchanan Ray and "Maggie" Nance Ray lived and
married in the Marshall County, Kentucky area. At some point in time, this family moved to
Camden, Arkansas and this is where "Maggie" died in 1919. She was buried in Camden and I
have a copy of the death certificate but do not know what cemetery she was buried in. With her
death, James Buchanan Ray moved onto Texas to be near other Ray relatives, but I have not been
able to locate him. James died in 1922. Lew lied about his age and joined the Navy, Elmer cared
for the youngest child, Ruby. Ruby eventually was placed in a girl's boarding school in Georgia -
not because she was a "bad girl" but because her mother had died. Some think that her Aunt
Rosa paid the costs of Ruby's education. No one is really sure why she was sent to Georgia, but I
believe that some of the Nance family had been in Georgia at one point in time.
The Nance family is well documented and there are several books written on the family.
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