This collection (90 items) contains correspondence and other items related to the family of Lavender R. Ray of Newnan and Atlanta, Georgia. The Correspondence series (85 items) contains personal letters between Lavender R. Ray, his wife, Annie Felder, and their daughter, Ruby Ray. From the late 1870s to early 1890s, Lavender Ray corresponded with his wife and daughter about family news, usually during their visits to Americus, Georgia. Ruby Ray wrote a series of letters to her parents about her studies and social life while attending Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, and the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia, from 1889-1890. Ruby also received 7 letters from a suitor, Crawford Wheatley, from 1892-1895. An envelope postmarked November 27, 1892, contains 2 printed advertisements for Georgia O. Teasdale, a gymnastics instructor.
Additional items in the Financial Records series (2 items) and Ephemera series (3 items) include a statement of state and county taxes owed by Lavender Ray (December 23, 1893), a wedding invitation (November 10, 1886), a 15-day admission ticket to the Atlanta Athenaeum (June 1890), and notes about a piece of land (undated).
Lavender R. Ray was born in Newnan, Georgia, on December 15, 1842, the son of John Ray (1794-1868), an Irish immigrant, and Bethenia Gilliam Lavender (1803-1867), a native of Virginia. In 1861, he was a student at the University of North Carolina; he left to join the Confederate Army. He served in an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment throughout the war and returned to Newnan in 1865, where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and practiced law in Newnan; he also held several public offices, including seats in the Georgia legislature. After 1891, he lived in Atlanta, Georgia, where he continued to practice law. On June 20, 1871, Ray married Annie Felder, the daughter of Calvin W. Felder and Mary Ann Jackson of Americus, Georgia. They had one daughter, Ruby, who attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, and the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens, Georgia, in the early 1890s. Lavender Ray died on May 27, 1916.