W. G. Ragley immigrated to Texas from Iowa in 1879. He had earlier run a water mill in Pennsylvania. During the 1880s and 1890s, Ragley operated mills at Jefferson, Kildare, and at Winnsboro, where he created the Ragley Lumber Company. Ragley and his partners erected and operated the Ragley mills at Ragley, Texas, and Ragley, Louisiana, for many years after the turn of the century.
Ragley Lumber Company laid a tram road through Wood County in 1897.
The Ragleys, H. Schluter, and W. T. Whiteman were all involved in the sawmill at East Winnsboro. The Ragley Lumber Company succeeded the Schluter-Whitman Lumber Company in 1901 at Winnsboro.