Ceremony honors service of frontier-era Texas Ranger

A small group gathered recently off a quiet dirt road in northern Young County, shaded from a clear autumn sky by the welcoming arms of oak trees, to honor a man none of them had ever met – Charles Lemuel Ray, Texas Ranger. Jon Garvey opened the Oct. 6 ceremony at Farmer’s Cemetery with a few comments and a prayer. He was joined by three retired Texas Rangers and about 20 descendants of Charles Ray, who came from Oklahoma, New Mexico, Lubbock, Fredericksburg and other parts of Texas to be a part of the ceremony. Retired Ranger Ralph Wadsworth, who helped research Ray’s time in the Rangers, then shared the history of the Former Texas Rangers Association and the purpose of the Ranger Memorial Cross that would be placed beside Ray’s tombstone. Charles Lemuel Ray was born March 4, 1844 to Benjamin Ira Ray and Louisa Chapman, in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. In 1874, at age 30, Charles and his brother, 23-year-old Joseph Warren Ray, enlisted in the Texas Rangers. They were assigned to Company B of the Frontier Battalion, serving in North Central and Northwest Texas, including Young County. Their mission was “to protect settlers and travelers from Indians and other marauders,” Ray descendent Kay Dosher said. Although many of the men in Company B were killed in the line of duty in the ensuing year, Charles and Joseph were both honorably discharged in May 1875, then married and had families. Charles Ray died June 10, 1893 at age 49 under mysterious circumstances, and was buried at the Farmer Cemetery. His four children went to live with Joseph’s family in East Texas, since their mother, Cynthia Lewis Ray, had died years earlier. Dosher, of Fredericksburg and great-granddaughter of Charles Ray, explained at the dedication ceremony how she only recently came to find out about her ancestor’s past. She noted the family had come together Sept. 29 at the Plainview City Cemetery to place a Ranger Memorial Cross at Joseph Ray’s gravesite. Dosher said that finding out about the Ray brothers has made her “feel our Texas roots are even deeper.” The group then walked to Charles Ray’s simple white marble headstone, where they unveiled the memorial cross, placed between his grave and that of his wife, Cynthia. Ray’s headstone bears a simple epitaph, one that still rings true: Gone, but not forgotten. More information on the Ranger Memorial Cross Program is available at formertexasrangers.org.