ISAAC ERNEST RAY	ETTA L. CRAMER
1883 -- 1938	1888 -- 1983

   
Isaac Ernest Ray was the youngest and only one of the six children of Isaac P. and Nancy Ann Ray to live in Shasta County all his life. He was born May 12, 1883 at Burney Falls. As soon as he was old enough, he went to the Fall River area to work from sun-up to sun-down for board,
room and $.25 a day. He received his pay in sacks of the grain he had helped harvest; these he took to the mill and received part of the resulting flour which he carried home to his family. He worked on other farms and was a good blacksmith but he enjoyed working in sawmills.

In February 1907, Ernest's father sold him the part of the ranch which had been his grandfather, Ernest Ray's original homestead. At this location, he operated a sawmill (not known if he built it or assumed ownership.)

On March 1, 1908, Ernest married Etta L Cramer, daughter of James and Minnie Opdyke Cramer, and built a house for their family. Though they moved to other locations as he worked at sawmills, this was the family home for the next twelve years. The couple had two girls while they lived in that area and one son born after they moved to Twin Valley:
 

Velva	b. Oct. 1, 1909	d. Oct. 15, 2000	m. Wallace Heryford
Iva	b. Aug. 20, 1911	d. Sept. 27, 1997	m. Dozier Long
Ivan	b. May 9, 1920		m. Louisa Jensen

 
The ranch was short of water so they could not have flower and vegetable gardens; they were buying a ranch on the Pit River when P.G.& E. bought it and they moved to Twin Valley Ranch near Whitmore. Here they had a family garden and were one of the early rural homes to have electricity.

While still in the Burney area, Ernest had served as Constable and acted as Deputy Sheriff. In 1924, he was persuaded to run for County Supervisor; in the November run-off, Charley Heryford beat him by just six votes.

Ernest had a rheumatic heart condition which slowed his activities -- running a service station in Burney, working in a lumber mill and finally a five-acre place, with a garden, at Montgomery Creek. Ernest died in this home on January 26, 1936 and was buried in Burney Cemetery.

Sometime after Ernest's death, Etta married Leslie Ralston; in 1943 she took a job in a restaurant in Chico where she made a new life for herself.

She died August 19, 1983 and was buried in Burney Cemetery.

Source:  Shasta Historical Society - May, 1999