The previous post, Ray City Land Passed Through Many Hands, discussed ownership of the land where Ray City is situated going back into the 1870s. By 1895 150 acres of this land had come into the possession of James S. Swindle.
Dr. Charles X. Jones, First Mayor of Ray City
In 1903, James S. Swindle sold four acres of this land to Dr. Charles X. Jones. “All that tract or parcel of land lying and being in the County of Berrien, containing four acres, more or less, at the north end of Card the Card dam, and running northward to the Rays Mill and Adel Public Road; thence westward to the southwest corner of Chas. A. Knight and J.J. Swindle land, thence southward to the corner of the lands of I.H. Sutton, M.S. Knight and J.S. Swindle, thence Eastward to the starting point.”
“…in the year 1908 the said tract was cut up into town lots, by the surveyor of Berrien County, T.I. Griffin, and platted for the Town of Raysmill, and that the said town of Rays mill, afterwards became incorporated as the town of Ray City, Ga.”
The newly platted town of Ray City experienced a real estate boom. On March 9, 1909 the Atlanta Constitution ran an article that included the following account of the new town:
“Rays Mill, a very new town on the Georgia and Florida Railroad, ten miles south of Nashville, is in this section, and is proud of its location. Less than six months ago there was no town and no sign of it. Today there are at least a half a dozen new store houses completed or being built, and probably twenty-five new residence buildings completed or planned, to say nothing of a half a hundred new cabins for the colored laborer. A two story hotel building is near completion and will soon be occupied. M.E Studstill has a new sawmill here and J.H. Crenshaw has another. Charles H. Anderson and Dr. Guy Selman are putting up a drug store. Mr. Anderson is postmaster and Dr. Selman practices his profession here. A.L. Bridges is another young merchant who will soon move his store to town. Louis Bullard is completing a two story house. And so on — all in five months. The truth is, Rays Mill, the town, has just about ‘arrived,’ or will soon.”
About Charles X. Jones, the article said, “It will not, I believe be improper to say that Dr. C. Jones, an older citizen here, is the leading spirit of this town. Dr. Jones has for years served these people, and has done business and owns considerable of the land around here, and he proposes to help his new town along. He is clever and generous and disposed to serve his community. “
Another Berrien County title document goes on to describe specific Ray City lots owned by Dr. Jones, “That the said Chas. X. Jones sold off city lots and sold lot No I in block No. 2 to J.F. Buckholtz…”
Buckholtz sold this lot on March 18, 1910 to J.M. Deloach. Within a month J.M. DeLoach flipped the lot, selling it to Levi J. Clements on April 11, 1910. Clements was a well-to-do planter who owned a home on the town’s newly designated Main Street , and who later owned the Clements lumber mill at Ray City. Perhaps he purchased the lot intending it for one of his sons.
Clements held the lot for about a year and a half but then sold out to William Lawrence Swindle. W. L. Swindle was born and raised in the Rays Mill District, a son of pioneer settlers James Swindle and Nancy Parker. He served three terms as Sheriff of Berrien County.
W.L. Swindle quickly closed a deal conveying the land to Riley M. Green on Dec 19, 1911. Riley M. Green was an investor and one of the incorporators of the Bank of Rays Mill.
Three years later Riley M. Green sold the lot to F.D. Clifton for $150 dollars. In 1917, F.D. Clifton doubled his money, selling the lot to Jasper Nobles for $295.00.
Jasper Nobles constructed a home on the site at a cost of $1200 dollars. In 1919, he mortgaged the house and property for a $1000 dollar loan from the Georgia Loan and Trust Company. In the 1930s the house and lot was sold at auction on the Berrien County courthouse steps for $100.
Jasper Nobles built this house on Jones Street, Ray City, GA on land that once belonged to Thomas M. Ray.
Related articles
- Ray City Land Passed Through Many Hands
- Dr. B.F. Julian Burned Out at Ray’s Mill
- Obituary of Dr. L.S. Rentz
- Dr. H.W. Clements and the Doctor’s Roadster
- Lawson Rentz Serves Country and Ray City, GA
- Dr. Guy Selman
- Feb 4, 1911 Ray’s Mill News Items
- Medical Men of Ray’s Mill
- Jasper Nobles ~ Ticket to the Past
- Dr. Charles X. Jones ~ Ray City’s First Elected Mayor
- Dr. A. L. Johnston and the 1913 Possum Supper
Ray City History Blog 