The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was a tobacco manufacturing operation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It was chartered in 1890 and for a period of time (1899 to 1912) was part of the American Tobacco Company trust owned by James B. Duke. The… Read More

Matthew Rabun was born in Virginia in about 1744. A resident of Halifax County, North Carolina, Rabun owned enslaved people. In about 1765 one of Rabun's enslaved people, a woman named Rose, was found guilty of burning down a barn. During the… Read More

George Washington Raby was born on April 20, 1870, in Lenoir (Caldwell County), North Carolina. Raby was a practicing physician in Hickory, North Carolina. He died in Hickory on May 31, 1935.

Jesse Radford was born in Virginia in about 1790. A farmer in Buncombe (later Yancey) County, North Carolina, he married Anna Edwards in about 1813. Anna's mother, Ruth Crabtree Edwards lived with them and when Ruth died Radford acted as the… Read More

John Pittman Ragan was born on January 6, 1883, in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Ragan was an employee of the Tallassee Power Company plant at Badin, North Carolina, around 1919. He died in Fayetteville,… Read More

Thomas Orell Ragan was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on June 2, 1891. Ragan moved to Badin after being employed by the Tallassee Power Company in February 1918. In July 1919, he provided testimony… Read More

Thomas Ragland was born in Chatham County, North Carolina on November 17, 1800. He served as the clerk of the Chatham County Court in 1833 and also worked as a farmer. He died in Chatham County on June 20, 1862.

Avin Raines was born in North Carolina in July 1891. Raines was a farmer in Wake County who was admitted to the state hospital in Goldsboro (Wayne County) for an unnamed psychological disorder. He died there on December 19, 1921.

William Thomas Rainey was born on July 7, 1892, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Rainey was a physician in Badin, North Carolina, when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. He died in Durham (Durham County) on September 22, 1961.… Read More

Henry Rains was born in Virginia in about 1715. A resident of Johnston County, North Carolina by 1754, he was a member of the local Committee of Correspondence in 1774. A longstanding justice of the peace, Rains also represented Johnston at the… Read More

The Raleigh Sentinel was a Democratic newspaper that was established in 1865, and run by William E. Pell, and… Read More

Lawrence Rambo was a resident of colonial Orange County. In an undated petition, Alexander Mebane requested Rambo be commissioned a captain in the county militia.

Mary Ramsay was a signer of a 1774 nonimportation agreement that later became known as the Edenton Tea Party Resolves. She may have been a relative of… Read More

James Coleman Ramsey was born in Walnut (Madison County), North Carolina, on August 10, 1879. Ramsey was an attorney in Marshall (Madison County) who served as judge of the recorder's court, legislator, and mayor of Marshall. He died in Marshall… Read More

John Ramsey (d. 1806) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence.

William Ramsey was a lawyer residing in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1852 Thomas Yarborough appointed Ramsey as the power of attorney for Mary Yarborough's pension application. Ramsey may have moved elsewhere, as he was not listed as a resident of… Read More

Erwin Mark Randall was born February 22, 1891, in Worley, North Carolina. Randall was a laborer in Hot Springs, North Carolina, when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. He was subsequently inducted into the service in May 1918… Read More

Stephen A. Randall was a Shaw University student who signed a letter to the governor of North Carolina pledging allegiance and support of the United States following its entrance into World War I. His… Read More

Peter Randolph (1717-1767) was a Virginia-born politician who served as a member of the Council of Virginia from 1752 to 1767 and as Surveyor General for the Southern District of America from 1752 up through 1762.

Thomas Richmond Randolph was born in Yancey County in April 1863. He moved to Black Mountain (Buncombe County) by 1900, where he worked as a farmer. Randolph evidently fell on hard times during the Great Depression, as by 1930 he was living in… Read More

James Eugene Rankin was born in Cocke County, Tennessee, on April 27, 1845. Rankin was a prominent banker in Asheville, where he served as mayor, as Chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, and as president of the Buncombe County… Read More

John C. Rankin was born April 27, 1853, near Mount Holly in Gaston County, North Carolina. Rankin was a prominent textile mill executive, serving as President of Avon Mills in Gastonia, among others. He died on May 3, 1928, in Mecklenburg County… Read More

Watson Smith Rankin was born on January 18, 1879, near Mooresville, North Carolina. Rankin was a physician and professor who served as the state's chief public health officer and secretary of the State Board of Health from 1909 to 1925. He died… Read More

James Ransom was born in Brunswick County, Virginia in about 1740. A resident of Bute County, North Carolina, he served as a local justice of the peace and became sheriff in 1771. Ransom represented Bute at the 2nd North Carolina Provincial… Read More

Edward Rasor was a resident of Bertie County, North Carolina. A sheriff for Bertie, he also served as a local justice of the peace. He died in Bertie in about 1775.

Martin Frederick Rasor was born in Germany in about 1680. A Lutheran schoolteacher, he immigrated first to England in 1709 and later to North Carolina, settling in Chowan Precinct by 1711. In 1721 he was part of the grand jury that indicted John… Read More

Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings was born in Ireland on December 9, 1754. Originally a lieutenant in the British 5th Regiment of the Foot, he saw combat at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775. He then served as General Sir Henry Clinton's… Read More

James Rawlings (b. c1737) moved to Martin County around 1775, where he established himself as a lay reader in the local Protestant church. Rawlings was among the first men to join the Gourd Patch Conspiracy when… Read More

Priscilla Blount Rawlings was a resident of Martin County along with her husband James Rawlings, a… Read More

Amos Lafayette Ray was born in North Carolina on November 15, 1802. Ray was a farmer in Pensacola Township (Yancey County) who owned several thousand acres on Mount Mitchell. He died on December 14, 1888.

Anna Liza "Annie" Ray (née Wilson) was born in Yancey County, North Carolina on August 6, 1872. Ray was a daughter of mountain guide "Big Tom" Wilson who married her cousin Jesse W. Ray in 1888. She died in Burnsville (Yancey County) on October… Read More

Daniel Jefferson Ray was born in Burnsville (Yancey County), North Carolina on February 25, 1862. Ray was a farmer in Pensacola Township (Yancey County). He died there on April 26, 1936.

George M. Ray was born in North Carolina in about 1775. A farmer in Jackson County, he was the son of a Revolutionary War veteran and wrote an affidavit in support of his mother's widow's pension claim. He died sometime between 1840 and 1845.

James Ray was born in Orange County, North Carolina in about 1771. The oldest child of Lydia and Joseph Ray, he died of illness in about November or December of 1780.

James A. Ray was born on August 23, 1872, in Alamance County, North Carolina. On the night of July 19, 1920, he and two others—William W. Phillips and Clem William Bradshaw—were shot by national guard soldiers with the Durham Machine Gun Company… Read More

James Ray Sr. was born in Orange County, North Carolina in about 1752. During the American Revolution, he and his wife Jane went and stayed with his brother and sister-in-law, Joseph and Lydia Ray. He died in Jackson County, Tennessee in about… Read More

Jane Allison Ray was born in Orange County, North Carolina in about 1749. During the American Revolution she and her husband James Ray stayed at her sister-in-law Lydia Ray's house in Orange County. She and her husband later moved to Jackson… Read More

Jesse W. "Jess" Ray was born in North Carolina on September 13, 1868. Ray was a farmer in Burnsville (Yancey County) who served as police chief in the 1920s. He died on August 19, 1935.

John Ray (d. 1801) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence.

John Bispham Ray was born on June 27, 1873, in Yancey County, North Carolina. Ray was a state legislator and judge for the eighteenth judicial district of the superior court. He was known popularly, and signed his name frequently, as "J. Bis… Read More

Joseph Ray was born in about 1750. A resident of Orange County, North Carolina, he married Lydia Miller in March 1771 and the couple had five children together. In the summer of 1779 he may have enlisted as a private in the North Carolina Light… Read More

Lydia Miller Ray was born on April 4, 1752. She married Joseph Ray in Orange County, North Carolina in March 1771 and the couple had five children together. During the American Revolution, Lydia remained at their homestead in Orange County while… Read More

Mattie E. Ray (née Riddle) was born in Pensacola Township (Yancey County), North Carolina on December 30, 1877. She married Daniel Jefferson Ray in December 1893 and died in Pensacola Township on September 29, 1935.

Parrish Ray was born around 1858 in North Carolina. Ray worked as a laborer and resided in Durham (then Orange County) and Forsyth County, North Carolina. Ray was charged with larceny on May 13, 1878, and sentenced to one year… Read More

William Ray was born around 1854 in Virginia. Ray worked as a laborer and resided in Camden County, North Carolina. Ray was charged with larceny on January 25, 1875, and sentenced to two years in the North Carolina State… Read More

William Brevard Raymer was born in Iredell County on July 7, 1876. He served in the U.S. Army from 1902 to 1905. He moved to North Wilkesboro around 1910, when he opened a barber shop with Solomon A. Holler. He later worked in the dry cleaning… Read More

Amos Rayner (1760-1843) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence.… Read More

John Rayner (c1721-1796) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence… Read More

Samuel Rayner (d. 1817) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence.… Read More

William Rayner (d. 1827) was a resident of Bertie County. In 1778 he signed an oath swearing his allegiance to the State of North Carolina and promised to report any treasonous conspiracies that might threaten North Carolina's independence. Later… Read More

Adonijah Raynor was born on January 22, 1888, in Cumberland County, North Carolina. At the outbreak of World War I, Raynor was a tenant farmer in Cumberland County, North Carolina. He died in Erwin (Harnett County) on December 14, 1944… Read More