HON. FINDLEY R. DRAY
There are no abstract rules sufficient for building
character: none for achieving success. The man who can rise from the
ranks to a position of eminence is he who can see and utilize the opportunities
that surround his path. The essential conditions of human life are ever
the same, the surroundings of individuals differ but slightly; and, when one
passes another on the highway to reach the goal of prosperity before others who
perhaps started out before him, it is because he has the power to use
advantages which probably encompass the whole human race.
To-day among the most prominent business men and political
leaders of Sacramento stands Findley R. Dray. At a very early age he
started out upon an independent business career, and his diligence and
enterprise have enabled him to overcome all the obstacles in his path and
secure a leading position in the ranks of the prosperous business men of the
capital city. He is also a potent factor in political circles and his labors
have today largely advanced the growth and success of the Republican party.
A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Dray was born in Bedford,
October 23, 1833, and the genesis of his family line, so far as accurately
known, is as follows: Edward Dray and Nancy Dray, his wife, about the
year 1740 in Pennsylvania. Thomas Dray and James Dray, sons of Edward
& Nancy Dray (James Dray being born in year 1767 and died in the year 1867
at Niles, Ohio), both of whom became early settlers of the Western Reserve,
Ohio. Thomas Dray married Miss Elizabeth Thompson and was finally drowned
in the Mahoning river, in March 1812. The children of Thomas Dray and
Elizabeth nee Thompson were Moses, Joseph, Thompson and Margaret, the last
named becoming the wife of Amos A. Stoddard of Cleveland, Ohio. Moses
Dray was born in Youngstown Ohio, and married Eliza, a daughter of Abel
Findley, of Mercer County, Pennsylvannia, and the children of Moses Dray and
Eliza Findley were: Findley R. Dray of Sacramento, California, Caroline E. who
married P. J. Miller of Athens, Illinois; Walter S. of Chicago, Illinois;
Sherman B. of Browning, same state; W. H. H. and Thompson. Walter S.,
W.H. H., and Thompson are deceased.
Findley R. Dray married Miss Mary F. Orrick, of Missouri, in
the year 1861 in Sacramento, California, and the names of their children are as
follows: Laura E., who married George H. Perry of San Francisco; Caroline
E. who married Charles A. Culver, of Mount Vernon, New York; Mary F. deceased;
Anna B who became the wife of James H. Warrack of Sacramento, California; Bruce
L, married to Mabel A Johnson of Sacramento; and Dr. Frank R. Dray of San
Francisco, single.
Findley R. Dray, whose name introduces this review, first
attended school in New London, Iowa, and later pursued his studies to a limited
extent in Missouri; but his mother, who was a very intelligent and cultured
lady, taught her children their first lessons, instilling into their minds
principles of noble manhood and womanhood. They were taught to be truthful,
industrious, and self-reliant, and the lessons of usefulness which Findley R.
Dray thus learned in his youth have influenced his entire career and made him a
man of firm purpose, of strong character and inflexible integrity. Although he
never served a regular apprenticeship, he worked at the carpenter's trade with
his father. When he came to California across the plains, arriving in
Hangtown July 17, 1850, and in Sacramento Sept 10, 1850, he was in his
seventeenth year, and from that time he was practically dependent upon his own
exertions.
After many varied experiences mining at Drytown, Amador
County, in the fall of 1850; at Rabbit Creek, Sierra County in 1851; Shasta in
1852; and Bear River, Nevada county in 1853, he returned to Sacramento and
engaged in farming in connection with George L. Clarke, and about eighteen
months later bought out his partner and carried on agricultural pursuits alone
until 1857, when he sold out and returned to Sacramento.
After his marriage, Mr. Dray again engaged in mining, near
Austin, Nevada, until the summer of 1864, when he returned to Sacramento and
entered the office of James McClatchy as deputy sheriff. This was his
first official position and his initiation into active connection with
political affairs. He afterwards served for two years as the public
administrator and was then elected county assessor, in which office he served
most acceptably and efficiently for eight years. Later he was appointed a
supervisor to fill out an unexpired term and on his retirement from that office
he entered the real estate and insurance business, with which he was connected
one year. Since that time he has been a prominent representative of
the Sacramento Bank, acting as a surveyor of the lands belonging to that institution
for about ten years, and since the second year of his connection with the bank,
he has been a member of its directorate. He is a man of sound judgment,
keen sagacity and unquestioned probity, and his opinions are highly valued in
financial circles.
His prominence and special fitness for office also led to his
selection for higher political honors than had theretofore been accorded him,
and in 1886 he was elected a member of the state senate, in which he served two
terms. He was a member of various important committees, including those
on finance and the judiciary. He has always been a stalwart Republican
since casting his first presidential vote for the pathfinder, General John C.
Fremont in 1856. His labors in the campaign of 1896 were most effective.
He was instrumental in organizing the Sacramento McKinley League,
composed of fifty of the most prominent Republicans in this section of the
country, and largely through the efforts of this organization many Republicans,
who were in doubt as between Allison of Iowa, Reed of Maine and McKinley of
Ohio, came over and the vote of California delegates was given to President
McKinley. Mr. Dray is the president of the League, and the executive
committee is composed of the following named: William Beckman, W. B. Thorpe, T.
R. Dray, E. S. Hadley, C. T. Jones, W. A. Anderson, Judson Brusie, J. H.
Batcher, George C. McMullen, C. F. Gardner, and J. B. Devine. Under the
administration of Mr. Dray and the able work of the secretary, W. B. Thorpe,
the work of the league was most splendidly planned and carefully executed and
was productive of most desirable results.
Mr. Dray has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
for forty-two years, and has passed through all the degrees of the subordinate
lodge. His family attend the Congregational Church and occupy a very
prominent position in social circles in the Capital City. He is a well
informed man possessed of broad general information and in his nature there is
nothing narrow or contracted. He has a spirit that while devoted to his
community, is liberal enough to recognize and appreciate advancement and
progress in any other part of the world. He has the esteem and confidence
of all with whom public or private life have brought him in contact, and his name
is now inseparably interwoven with the history of the state's advance, and with
the financial annals of the Capital City.
Source: “A Volume Of
Memoirs And Genealogy of Representative Citizens Of Northern California” Standard
Genealogical Publishing Co. Chicago. 1901. Page 60.
Submitted by: Betty Tartas.
© 2002 Betty Tartas.