Ellis Rayle Family

Ellis Rayle was born on May 18, 1872, the son of Jackson and Rachel Fleming Rayle. His grandfather, William Noble Rayle, 1800-1867, and his wife, Nancy Daringer Rayle, 18071904, were both from Pennsylvania. His maternal grandparents were John and McClure Fleming. With the aid of old family records, and diaries, and other aids, we have learned that some of William Rayle's brothers and sisters were Henry, Sarah Rayle Thornton, Hannah Rayle Bayham, and Debbie Rayle Stilwell. Sarah's husband was Kenneth Thornton.

Ellis Rayle married Mary Alice Edwards on October 6, 1892, in Henry County, Ohio. Mary was born, on April 15, 1874. They were the parents of eight children, one stillborn. The other children were Nora Alice Rayle, born January 27, 1904, died February 10, 1943. Nora married Bert Edwards on June 18, 1917. Bert was born June 12, 1885, and died in 1958. They had two daughters, Helen Irene, and Edith Mary. Helen was born on October 21, 1918, married Edward Tyler, and had four daughters, Nancy, Phyllis, Judy, and Joanne, and has several grandchildren. Edith married John Copin and has one son, John, Jr., and Jeanne, Teresa, and Susan, and four grandchildren. Edith was born on February 5, 1921. They all live in Michigan.

Guy Ellis Rayle was born on October 4, 1895, and died on October 23, 1975. He married on September 27, 1921, Carrie Schaubla Reed, born October 6, 1898. They are parents of four children, two of whom died in infancy, living are Virginia and Betty, and Pauline Delores, born May 11, 1924, married to Rev. Kenneth Santee, and has two sons Guy Ellis Rayle, Jr., born April 4, 1935, married Lois Putney and has three sons. Guy, Jr. is a minister of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.

Bessie May Rayle, born January 13, 1898, died April 30, 1958, married Lyle E. Gray, born September 25, 1898 and died on February 7, 1970. They were parents of six children: Ellis Ray Gray, born June 7, 1920, and died while in the service on November 15, 1941, married Audrey Bowen, and left two daughters. Wayne L. Gray, born July 23, 1924, died on November 3, 1948, married Jane Sikorski. He had one son, Daniel. Audrey Arlene Gray was born on July 28, 1927, and married Raymond Ansorge in 1946. They have ten children, and have grandchildren. Betty May Gray was born on March 4, 1930, married Eldee Swanson in 1950, and has one daughter, Vicki. Dean Gray was born on September 9, 1932, married in 1952, to Jean Buell and had one son, Dennis; they were divorced in 1955; he remarried, and has two more children. Dean is a career man, now retired from service. Kent Lyle Gray, born on October 11, 1937, married Judith Bushey in 1959.

Bert Jackson Rayle was born on September 20, 1900, and he married Myrtle Neva Vincent on June 27, 1927. Myrtle was born on May 20, 1909. They were parents of nine children. Wilma Jean Rayle Wright, born May 23, 1928, had three sons. Robert Lynn Rayle, born August 29, 1933, married in 1975 to Lorita Acha, had one daughter, Lori Lynn. William James Rayle, born August 17, 1934, married in 1957 to Reatha Lentz and had three sons. Donald Lee Rayle was born March 16, 1936, and died September 19, 1936. Derry! Frank Rayle was born February 2, 1938, he married and had three daughters. Dorothy Marie Rayle, born April 16, 1942, married Clyde Bjorkman and has three girls. Roy Allen Rayle was born May 22, 1943, and was killed in an auto accident at the age of eighteen. Barbara Ann Rayle Harvey has one son and one daughter.

Ethel Ann Rayle was born June 7, 1902, and married January 10, 1922 to Nathan Ivan Jaquish who was born on October 31, 1900. Their children are Rev. Phillip Ivan Jaquish born April 18, 1923, who married Wanda I. Eley and has six children and several grandchildren. Ellis Leon Jaquish was born on October 5, 1926 and Ruth Lamb in 1946, and has one daughter and two sons, the eldest son dying in the Viet Nam War, and grandchildren. Marilyn June Jaquish was born on Oc tober 27, 1935, and married Jay Eckstein in 1954. They have three daughters and two sons, and grandchildren.

Rachel Erma Rayle was born on April 20, 1908 and married on March 8, 1932. Archie John Nichols was born on October 17, 1906. They have two children, Agnes Mae, born May 27, 1929 who married Rev. David Lee Robertson in 1952, who was born on December 16, 1931. They have two sons and one daughter. Rachel's other child is Ronald Dean Nichols who was born on March 9, 1944. He and his wife, Marie, have two sons and one daughter.

Lynn Thomas Rayle was born on August 2, 1915. He married, on April 15, 1939, Shirley Louise Barber, born February 8, 1918, in Kalkaska County, Michigan. They have three children. Lynn Thomas Rayle, Jr., was born on May 16, 1940, and married in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 8, 1966, to June Ethel Bell, born on Feburary 9, 1942. Their children are Angela Louise Rayle, born August 1, 1969, and Andrew Lynn Rayle, born March 27, 1971. Shirley Eileen Rayle was born on January 15, 1942, and she married Daniel Orson Clark on September 3, 1966. Daniel was born on August 16, 1936, and died on May 21, 1974, leaving an adopted son, Ronald Gorden Flaska Clark. Shirley re-married on October 11, 1975. Her husband, Steven Duane Johnson, was born on July 16, 1947. They have two children, Stephen Andrew Johnson, and Mary Alice Johnson. Stephen was born on August 27, 1976, and Mary Alice on October 21, 1977.

Roger Melvin Rayle was born to Lynn and Louise Rayle on September 26, 1947. He married Linda Ruth Hong on April 30, 1971. She was born on January 20, 1950. They make their home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he is a consulting engineer, and both are University of Michigan graduates.

They are now over one hundred direct descendants of Ellis and Mary Alice Rayle. Most of them live in Michigan where the Ellis Rayle family moved with their five children about 1903 with a team and covered wagon and settled in Benzie County. Erma and Lynn were born in Michigan, the rest in Henry County, Ohio.

The Rayle family attended many of the Rayle-Lieb Reunions at Deshler, Ohio. The older generation were all upright, hard working people who handed those virtues on to their children.

There are at least five ministers in the family - Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist, and Friends.

The Lynn Rayle, Sr.'s live west of Traverse City, Michigan, and own a sawmill and sell wood stoves. All three of their children graduated from the University of Michigan.

Ethel Rayle Jaquish died on January 22, 1978, leaving thirteen grandchildren and twenty great-grandchildren.

Carrie Rayle, Guy Rayle's widow, lives in Traverse City.

Bert and Myrtle, and Erman and Archie Nichols live west of Lake Ann, Michigan (Empire address), near their parent's old home place.