Bertha Ella RAY

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Bertha Ella RAY (010203060912)

Born: 02/08/1883 Gainsville, TX
Died: 09/05/1963 Hawthorne, Los Angeles Co., CA
Submitted by: Pat Allred Burnell Scheib 06/11/1999

BERTHA ELLA RAY 1883 - 1963

Ella was born in Gainsville, Texas on February 8, 1883. She was the fourth child of Emiline P. Ray and Eli Ray. Ella had two brothers and one sister. At the age of 2 1/2 Ella's mother died and her father was in despair. Eli buried his wife Emiline just a few miles outside of Gainsville Texas and then put all the children out to earn their own way.

No one wanted a toddler so little Ella went to live with a grandparent. She never knew whether it was a grandmother or a great-grandrnother or if it was on her father or her mother's side of the family. She never knew the lady by any name but "granny". Ella's sister and brothers were probably also left with various relatives on farms in the surrounding area. The photo is the only known photo of little Ella at the age of about seven. It was probably taken at the funeral of the grandparent. This was the last time she was to see her brothers and sister again until years later at the death of her father, Eli.

The only information we have concerning her family is as follows: John Wesley Ray (born 1872 Mo.): To baby Ella he was considered a grown man. He worked the fields with his father. Amand Mary Ray (born 1875 Ill.) Ella loved her big sister and looked up to her. She was heart broken when they were separated, her sister cared about her and Ella called her 'Mandy".

Benjamin Frank Ray (born 1878 Ill.): Ella loved Frank the most because they were closest in age and they would play together. He had blue eyes and blond hair. When the children were scattered little Ella missed him the most. She later named one of her own children after him.

At the age of about seven her beloved Granny died and she went to live with an aunt (probably the sister of her father) The aunt was kind but she soon married and her step-uncle didn't want a little girl who was not his around. As a child I (Pat Allred Burnell) recall her telling me the story of her little chick. She had found a little chick and made a pet of it. One day her uncle came upon her with her little pet and deliberately squashed it with his boot. He told her she wasn't allowed to have a pet. The step-uncle made her leave and she was given to various farm people to serve as kitchen help.

At an early age we find her going to work for a wealthy family in Cottage Grove, Mo. The family consisted of a widow lady, Ellen Virginia Hall MacDonald and two of her three children, Virginia May and Ernest Crockett MacDonald. Ellen Virginia Hall was the widow of Crockett MacDonald who had died during the Civil War. Crockett (related to Davy Crockett) came from a wealthy Virginia family, and had been an Attorney in Virginia. He had owned a large plantation in the Shenandoah Valley in Botatort Co. which was burned when Sherman came through. They had lost a lot of their wealth in the war but still had their land. Ellen's father, John Hall was a Judge , also in Virginia.

Ellen had an older son by the name of John Hall MacDonald who had left home at an early age to make his own way. John Hall MacDonald later returned with his wife to live on a nearby farm. At the age of 12 or 13 young Ella was made a ward of the court and because her employer was a widow, the eldest son John H. MacDonald was made her legal guardian. Ella continued to live with and work for the widow Ellen V. MacDonald and two of her three children.

John's wife was well loved by the widow Ellen and her daughter Virginia May, however things were not well between John and his wife, probably because she was unable to have children. John divorced his wife Lucinda (Lucy) when Ella was about 12 or 13. When Ella was 15 or 16 John took her for his wife. Because Ella had been a servant in the home of John's mother and sister they were never were able to forget from whence she came. They blamed the young girl for the break-up of John's first marriage. Ella was very kind to her new in-laws but was never quite able to live down the fact that they were southern aristocrats and she was just a poor motherless farm girl.

When Ella was a young married woman with a new son, (Ernest Crockett MacDonald) she was to see her brothers and sister for the last time in her life. Eli, her father had died and Ella was instructed by her husband to go the funeral and collect her inheritance if any. Her father's farm had been sold and the money (several hundred dollars was to be shared and brought back and turned over to Ella's husband, John). She was instructed by her husband and mother-in-law not to let her own family know that she was married and had a child because she was still just a young girl. Her new family wanted her to have nothing to do with her brothers and sister since they were just poor farm folk. Ella did as she was told and visited her family for the last time. She felt bad about it all her life.

John and Ella were to have a long marriage despite the considerable differences in their ages. He was 19 years older than she. All their lives were spent in moving from one place to another because of John's wanderlust. Mary Allred, their daughter recalls that they never had a permanent home or friends due to the many moves. John was a jewelry man and watch maker by trade. From time to time he would feel like moving. He would go on ahead to wherever he wanted to settle for a year of so and then would send for the family. Often the instructions to come would arrive without the necessary funds to make the trip.

Mary recalls the times they either walked or followed behind a covered wagon to be reunited with their father. One particular time on their way to Kansas City they crossed the Mississippi with their wagon on a plank ferry. Another time they walked from North Little Rock Arkansas to Austin Texas while their mother carried the cast iron Dutch oven on her back. The distance was over 500 miles. The family never stayed more than 1 year in any one place.

The couple had eight children in all. The first child was Ernest Crockett born in 1900. Then came John Hall in 1902 who only lived 1 week and probably died from his mother being fed tainted fish which she believed had poisoned her milk. The next child was William Robert born in 1905, Ellen Virginia was born in 1907 then came Mary Emily in 1909. The next child was Charles Franklin in 1910 and then Herbert Lee 1912 The last child was a little girl named Margaret Jewel born in 1917. She died at birth from influenza and possibly due to the extreme hard work of her mother who worked in a laundry right up to the birth. John Hall MacDonald died at the age of 75 of a stroke a week or ten days after being struck by a car.

Ella's daughter, Mary (my mother) recalls her mother as a very hard working woman who loved and sacrificed for her children all her life. She was a religious woman who especially loved all animals. She could never bare to see anything hurt of suffer. If her children found a little house spider they were told to take it outside and set it free. "The good Lord made us all and that includes every species" said her mother.

Ella lived to the age of 81 and died of kidney failure while living her remaining years in the home of her daughter, Mary Allred.

Ella suffered from arthritis for many years but remained active and independent throughout her life of hardships and hard work.

She had never had a real home until 1940 in California. But her last years were happy ones spent raising vegetables, parakeets and roses. She loved to sew and she especially loved her little dog, Pal. As Bertha Ella Ray MacDonald lay in her casket Mary recalls the most touching thing about her mother were her hands. "When I looked at those hands all I could think of was dear God take a look at those hard working hands and I knew my mother was alright now".

Written by Mary Patricia Allred Burnell (granddaughter) from personal knowledge and from the oral history of Bertha Ella Ray MacDonald by her daughter, Mary Emily MacDonald Allred as told to me. December 22, 1990

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