George Washington RAY, Congress, NY (1844-1925)

RAY, George Washington, a Representative from New York; born in Otselic, Chenango County, N.Y., February 3, 1844; attended the common schools and Norwich Academy; private in Company B, Ninetieth New York Volunteers, and brigade clerk, First Brigade, First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, during the Civil War; discharged at the close of the war; studied law and was admitted to the bar in November 1867; chairman of the Republican county committee of Chenango County; member of the Republican State committee in 1880; elected as a Republican to the Forty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1883-March 3, 1885); member of the board of education of Norwich Academy and Union Free School; elected to the Fifty-second and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1891, to September 11, 1902; chairman, Committee on Levees and Improvements of the Mississippi River (Fifty-fourth Congress), Committee on Invalid Pensions (Fifty-fifth Congress), Committee on the Judiciary (Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses); resigned from Congress to accept the United States judgeship for the northern district of New York, in which capacity he served until his death in Norwich, Chenango County, N.Y., January 10, 1925; interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present