Résumé

Chief Draftsman and Structural Engineer, Hunt and Burns, Architects, Los Angeles, CA, c. 1913-1916 (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1915, p. 2126.) By 1916, Wiley served as Chief Draftsman in the Hunt and Burns office. (See University of Illinois Directory, Vergil V. Phelps, ed., [Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois, 1916], p. 762.)

Principal, Raymond S. Wiley, Architect, Los Angeles, CA.

High School / College

Graduate, University Academy (High School), Champaign-Urbana, IL, c. 1896.

B.S., Architectural Engineering, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, 1900. (See University of Illinois Directory, Vergil V. Phelps, ed., [Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois, 1916], p. 762.) Wiley participated on the University of Illinois track team, and recorded the longest discus throw at the school between 1899 and 1903. (See "1435. Raymond Sly Wiley," The Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, James Herbert Kelley, ed., [Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, 1913, p. 249.)

Relocation

Raymond Sly Wiley was born in Rockbridge, IL, on 10/05/1878 to Benjamin Wiley and Josephine Carson Wiley. Rockbridge was a small, agricultural town located in Greene County in west-central IL. In 1880, Raymond lived with his parents in Shipman, Macoupin County, IL. His father worked as a teacher in Shipman. The household also included a cousin, Martha Bartow, who worked as a domestic worker for the Wileys. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Shipman, Macoupin, Illinois; Roll: 232; Page: 309a; Enumeration District: 125, accessed 02/12/2026.)

In 1910, the architect lived with his wife Ruby and her mother Sarah S. Tilson (born c. 1859 in OH) at 4 East 6th Street in Chattanooga, TN. A 1913 University of Illinois Alumni directory indicated that Wiley continued to live at 4 East 6th Street, but that he had obtained a new job with Hunt and Burns in Los Angeles, CA. (See "1435. Raymond Sly Wiley," The Alumni Record of the University of Illinois, James Herbert Kelley, ed., [Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois, 1913, p. 249.)

Wiley moved his family to AZ by 1920. He, his wife, daughter and mother-in-law resided at 905 1st Street in Clarkdale, AZ, where he worked as a structural engineer for a copper smelting company there. (See Ancestry.com. Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Clarkdale, Yavapai, Arizona; Roll: T625_52; Page: 23A; Enumeration District: 102, accessed 02/12/2026.) William Andews Clark, Sr., (1839-1925), the MT copper king, bought 4,000 acres of land outside of Jerome, AZ, and platted a planned company town called Clarkdale beginning by 1912. Here erected a huge copper smelter for the United Verde Copper Company, a firm that he acquired in 1888. The United Verde Copper Company had significant land holdings outside of Jerome, AZ, mines that yielded gold, silver, maganese and huge amounts of copper until 1953. It is possible that William Andrews Clark, Jr., (1877-1934), who moved from Butte, MT, to Los Angeles by about 1910, came to meet Wiley and encouraged him to work for his father's firm in he new town of Clarkdale. (After his death in 1934, the heirs of William Andrews Clark, Jr., sold the United Verde Copper Company to Phelps Dodge Company, in 1935.)

In 1930, The Wileys had a home in Bakersfield, CA, where they lived at 2226 C Street. Raymond continued to work as an engineer at this time. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1930; Census Place: Bakersfield, Kern, California; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 0016; FHL microfilm: 2339856, accessed 02/12/2026.)

The architect passed away in Santa Barbara County, CA, on 01/13/1942 and was buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Parents

His mother was Josephine Matilda Carson (born 1854 in Cleveland, OH).

Children

He and Josephine had a daughter, Jean Wiley Auth (born 06/25/1913 in CA-d. 06/07/198 in Arlington, VA), who became a registered nurse.

Biographical Notes

SSN: 567187809.