Profiles in OC Pioneers Who Were Klan Members: Newton E. Wray, Santa Ana Rancher, Failed Council Candidate

By Gustavo Arellano Mon., Jun. 20 2011 at 5:00 PM

Most of what passes for the early, non-Mission or -Anaheim history of Orange County has come out of Samuel Armour's 1921 History of Orange County, California: with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present. There is a lot of valuable information in there, written by Armour--a former OC supervisor--and a collection of other people. But most of the book is a load of crap, especially when it came to the "leading men and women" profiled in the massive tome. The book belongs to a literary genre whose name I always forget but were popular from the late 1800s through the mid-1950s: municipal histories that carried biographies of whoever paid to get into the book, a literal case of the victors writing history.

And that's exactly what Newton E. Wray of SanTana did.

"A rancher, who is well pleased with his realty investments and with whom, as a capable and faithful public official, the public is quite as well satisfied, is Newton E. Wray," read his bio, and it just became more hagiographic from there. For some bizarre reason, Wray made it a point to let people know that his place of birth, Placerville, "used to be known as Hangtown, on account of the vengeance meted out to culprits there by citizens who finally took the law into their own hands." Now, why would a good Klansman want the OC populace to know that?

Wray's sole claim to fame is that he was part of the Klan slate in 1923 that tried to take over SanTana politics but publicly claimed they weren't KKK. His fellow Klukkers, Roy Horton and Marshall Keeler, won spots on the SanTana School District board of trustees; Wray, in his push for the City Council, finished dead last.

Tune in every Monday around 5 p.m. for the latest entry exposing Orange County city fathers who were Klan members!

Previous entries:

Samuel F. Hilgenfeld, Buena Park Minister, Founder of Anaheim's Hilgenfeld Mortuary
Elmer E. Heidt, OC's First Scout Executive for Orange County Boy Scouts Council
James W. Newell, Fullerton-area Miner/Mason
Garland C. Ross, Santa Ana dentist, batted against Walter Johnson
Ferris F. Kelley, San Juan Capistrano Postmaster
Clyde Fairbairn, Longtime Olive resident/nice guy
Charles McClure, Brea's first police chief
John F. Pieper, Tustin feed-store owner, councilmember
William Starbuck, Fullerton school trustee, druggist
Hoyt Corbit, Yorba Linda pioneer, fan of Richard Nixon
Lucien Proud, La Habra mayor/school trustee
Albert Hetebrink, Fullerton rancher
Henry W. Head, Orange County godfather
Dr. Roy S. Horton and Marshall Keeler, Santa Ana Unified trustees
Sam Jernigan and Jesse Elliott, Orange County sheriffs
Herman Hiltscher, Fullerton bureacrat

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gustavoarellano

Sorry, but calling your right hand "Maria" doesn't count!

909Jeff

That actually made me chuckle...

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Culichi1967

let's have roundup of all pendejo, history hating skins. mongols (and society) are ready to go to bat on them.

mitch young

I'm going to prepare a Hangtown Fry this weekend in Wray's honor.

Culichi1967

that is sooo funny: A "Who's Who" biographical effort that showcased klansmen accomplishments. What a hoot and a holler! In my church we call them indulgences....Keep 'em coming, primo....hahahah

lydiawow

Man, that's just gonna piss him off more -- ever since Hernán 'Llámame papi' Cortés cornholed La Malinche, the Mexica male has suffered from feelings of inadequacy.I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Andromeda2002 on--s'e'ek'c'ou'ga'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck it out or tell your friends!

909Jeff

A who's who???? Nobody knows who the hell these people are? The fact that your amused by these stories shows your simple mindedness! Remove your lips from Gustavo’s Culo and realize that he's wasting your time! and feeding you bullshit! Gustavo believes somehow if he keeps spinning yarns of an era long past he can draw parallels to modern day. He has been challenged time and time again and all he says is "It’s all in the Library" yet no one can seem to find this mythical library he goes to! Then he rolls with the name calling... troll.... skinhead... racist, just to name a few of his favorites. As if just because he says it, that makes it true. Another one of the logical fallacies that constantly plague his so-called work. So go ahead little puppet or should I say little ratas... Keep dancing along behind the pied piper of Santa Ana as he leads you down the path of ignorance.

gustavoarellano

I told you skins exactly where to find the list—but, then again, the truth doesn't matter to Armenian genocide deniers such as yourself.

CHS

The only one in my home who is an anti-Mexican bigot is my Mexican wife!

909Jeff

And again here is a typical response from you... More Ad Hominem attack... It suits your arguement to call anyone who disagrees with you names but you refuse to address the merit of the arguement... All the while being a short sighted bigot yourself. And as you can see below your stormtrooper Coochi is ready to "Go to Bat" for you over this... So apparantly violence against "Whitey" in 2011 is appropriate recompense. This is what your endorsing? You already wanted me to go to glendale to get my ass kicked? Go on the record... Say it. You hate whitey and you want us beaten!

And Mitch your right I'm suprised he hasnt called my Wife a sell out!

mitch young

"I'm married to a Mexican"

Man, that's just gonna piss him off more -- ever since Hernán 'Llámame papi' Cortés cornholed La Malinche, the Mexica male has suffered from feelings of inadequacy.

gustavoarellano

Ooo, you're married to a Mexican! That makes all your bigotry okay! Typical logic from a pendejo...

909Jeff

Below is all you have ever said about the list and im pretty sure no one has been able to substatiate its existance. But thats niether here nor there. I frankly could care less about some yokels from a hundred years ago that ran a feed store or failed at a bid for a city council seat... As far as being a skin its funny how you remember that I talked shit about Armenians to explicitly get under yours and Cokers skin (Which seemed to work) but conveiniently forget that I'm married to a Mexican! and I did apologize to a person who knew the decesed as making a poor choice to use that forum to piss you off.

So, The balls in your court race baiter...

gustavoarellano 16 hours ago in reply to John J. "Go to the Anaheim Public Library and you'll find the information you need... "No source for this story? Did you just make it up? All I am asking for is the proof that you must have seen to write this story.