John A. Floray was born in Brunswick on December 13, 1854, and lived there until he was a young man. He was employed by the Santa Fe Railroad and he worked as far as Marceline and stopped off to stay in 1874. He and John Lynn started a brickyard, a part of which can still be seen, east of Marceline on the water tower road near the first branch. Some of the first buildings were made of the bricks that they made. There are a few of the old bricks still remaining in the buildings along the block where Hayden’s Butcher Shop was located.
Mr. Floray met and married Julia Ann Snider on January 1, 1891. They moved to a farm east of Marceline and lived there until his death in 1942. Mrs. Floray’s folks came from Baltimore, Maryland, to Bucklin in 1859. Her father operated a blacksmith shop there until 1866 when he moved his family to a farm east of Marceline on the county line road. Mr. Snider died in 1898 and Mrs. Snider in 1900.
Mr. Floray’s grandson, Ola Floray, Jr., lives on the old Snider farm now.