Ray, Lavender (Lavender Robinson), 1842-1916.

Lavender R. Ray was born and lived most of his life in Newnan, Coweta Co., GA. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over the objections of his parents, he volunteered for service in Company A, 1st Georgia Regt. Vols., and saw action as a private in Stonewall Jackson's Corps. He transferred to Company H, 1st Georgia Cavalry, in 1862, again seeing action. In 1864 he was promoted to lieutenant and placed in charge of the Atlanta ammunition and powder magazine. After the fall of Atlanta, Ray was among the troops who pursued General Sherman's Army and participated, as part of Wheeler's Cavalry Corps, in the battle at Boykin's Mills, SC, the last battle of the war fought east of the Mississippi River.

After the war Ray returned to Newnan, read law with his father, and in 1866 was admitted to the Georgia Bar. Ray, whose law practice was active and successful, engaged himself in local affairs and politics. In 1880 he served a term in the Georgia House of Representatives, and in 1884 he served in the Georgia Senate. During his two terms he introduced several bills that became law, including one that established the office of county administrator in each county. In 1891 Ray moved his home and law practice to Atlanta, GA, where he resided until his death in 1916.

...