My father always shared that his parents were born in South Carolina and moved to Arkansas. His father (Allen Berry Owens) was born in 1857 and mother (Rebecca Ray) in 1870. It is has been passed down through the Ray family that the slave master's name was Rayford and after the Emancipation the family changed their name to Ray. In 1880, both families (Owens and Ray) moved to Arkansas. Another story passed down through the family is that Allen Berry Owens provided the land for an AME Church in Littel River County, Arkansas and to ensure that the children in the community went to school the community pooled its money to hire a teacher for their children.