Rev. Joel P. Wray. The agricultural interests of Bethel township have a capable and worthy representative in Joel P. Wray, a resident of this county for a quarter of a century and since 1908 the owner and operator of a well cultivated farm of 110 acres. Mr. Wray is one of the contributions of the old dominion state to the Miami valley, and was born May 24, 1851, son of Benjamin and Mary (Angle) Wray. The members of this family for the most part have been agriculturists and the parents followed farming throughout their lives in Virginia. They had eight children. Joel P. Wray had a public school education in his native state and when he reached his majority embarked in farming ventures on his own account. He lived in various communities until 1895, at which time he was attracted to the Miami valley, which has since been his home. He has operated several farms in Miami county, and since 1908 has lived on his property in Bethel township, with his residence on New Carlisle R.F.D. No. 5. Mr. Wray is a farmer and stock raiser of practical ideas and progressive methods and his success has been won on merit. He has made his property attractive by the process of installing good buildings and other improvements, and in his community is generally regarded as a good farmer, a public spirited citizen, and a man well-informed on subjects of interest and importance. Mr. Wray married, November 26, 1873, Sarah C., daughter of William and Mary (Graybill) Bowman, an agriculturist of Virginia, where the latter was born, and was married. She was one of ten children, of whom nine are now living,, and to Mr. and Mrs. Wray there have been born five children: Mary S., who married Charles Franz, of Clark county, Ohio; Daniel P., who died in 1888; Glenn I., who married Thomas Lynch, of Bethel township, and they are the parents of four children, Mary F., William, who died at the age of seventeen, Ella and John J.; Benjamin W., who is engaged in farming, and married Fern Roof. They have two children, Olen and Dewitt, and Joel C., who farms with his father. During the World war, Joel C. Wray was called into the United States service, and was absent from home from October 3, 1917, to March 15, 1919. He did not get overseas, but trained at Camp Sherman, Camp Green, Little Rock, Ark., and Charlotte, N. C., and finally returned to Camp Sherman for his honorable discharge. He is accounted one of the enterprising and progressive young farmers of his community. Joel P. Wray is a Republican, but has never sought an office. He is a member of the German Baptist church, in which he was ordained as a minister in 1875. His first charge was in Franklin county, Virginia, and he has been a minister in Miami for twenty-five years.