Albert S. Wray was born 21 September 1865 in Belle Prairie Township, Morrison County, Minnesota. His father is believed to have been William S. Wray, born 1833 in Henderson, Pennsylvania. Albert’s mother, Sarah Ellen Reid, was born 1843 in Kentucky. Albert was the fifth of her ten children.
By 1875, the Wray family was farming in Lake Mary, Douglas County, Minnesota. However, by 1880, the family had broken up. Albert’s father William was still married but living in the household of his parents, Robert and Mary Wray. Albert’s mother Sarah was committed to an insane asylum in 1883.
Left to make his own way in the world, Albert S. Wray enlisted in the U. S. Army at St. Paul, Minnesota, on 4 February 1890. At that time, he was described as having blue eyes, blonde hair and a fair complexion. He gave his occupation as ‘clerk’. Albert was assigned to the 8th Cavalry at Fort Yates, North Dakota. On 15 December 1890, the great chief Sitting Bull was killed on the nearby Standing Rock Reservation. Family stories say that Wray helped carry Sitting Bull’s coffin, made by the post carpenter, to his grave. Wray was discharged in April 1891 with a disability for which he later received an invalid pension.
On 10 August 1898, Wray married Isabelle Grantham in Phoenix, Arizona Territory. Isabelle had been born in Canada to Irish immigrant parents. A photograph of Wray taken around this time shows a bespectacled young man with wavy hair and a luxuriant mustache. The couple eventually had a daughter, Myrtle, born May 1899. By 1900, Wray was the proprietor of the West End Dairy. Paradoxically, it was located east of town.
Wray was killed 26 June 1900 in a runaway accident . Around 4 PM, Mr. Wray was driving east on Washington Street in a one-horse open buggy. With him was a friend, Thomas Treadwell . As they passed in front of the Gazette newspaper office, the horse began to kick and plunge. Although Wray endeavored to quiet the animal, the breeching strap broke and the buggy pushed against the horse, spooking him into running north on First Avenue. Seeing the buggy about to collide with another, Treadwell jumped out. The ensuing collision threw Wray partway out of the buggy, although he held onto the lines and tried to crawl back in over the dashboard. The horse meanwhile was kicking furiously. Another jerk threw Wray completely out of the buggy, and he landed on his head so hard that bystanders heard the thud.
Dr. Wylie, the first medical man on the scene, assisted Wray into Mr. Melezer’s store. Although Wray had not suffered any obvious injuries and was able to speak, albeit in a somewhat incoherent manner, he was taken around 5 PM to the office of his family physician Dr. Hawley on West Washington for further observation. His condition deteriorated, and his wife was called. She and little Myrtle arrived shortly before Wray expired at 8:45 PM, presumably from a concussion or subdural hematoma caused by the accident.
Wray, being an Army veteran, was buried in Porter Cemetery, Lot 10, Grave C.
Less than a month after his death, a posthumous son, Albert Steven, was born to Isabella.
-By Debe Branning
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