Alex L. Ray is a citizen of the Seventh District and a farmer, and is a son of Clabum and Susan (Chitwood) Ray. He was born in Dyer County, in 1838, and is one of ten children, six of them still living. The father was of English descent, and was born in Virginia in 1809; and his grandfather, Andrew Ray, was also born in Virginia, but moved to Michigan, where he spent the rest of his life. Clabum Ray received but a limited education. When twenty-five years of age he moved to Dyer County, and soon after married Miss Susan Chitwood, and engaged in farming. In 1844 he bought 125 acres of land, which he afterward increased to 255 acres. He is held in high esteem by all who know him, and is full of energy. Mrs. Ray was a native of Virginia, and was born in 1816. Alex L. Ray our subject, was raised and educated at home. In November, 1860, he married Miss Nannie E., daughter of Kannon and Mary Walker, and farmed for several years as a tenant. He purchased 182 1/2 acres in the Seventh District, and lived there until 1873, when he sold it and bought his present farm of 177 acres of fine land seven miles northeast of Dyersburg. In the fall of 1863 he enlisted in Company E, Fifteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and served as a teamster. He was taken sick at Nashville, and returned home after more than a year of hardship and suffering. In 1859 he was elected constable, and served two years. He was formerly a Whig, and his first presidential vote was cast for John Bell. He is an influential member of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Ray is a self-made man, and has accumulated a nice property by his own efforts. Mrs. Ray was born in Dyer County, in 1841, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.