Seeking Genealogical Information

Johnny_Reb_1865

First Sergeant
Joined
Nov 3, 2019
A while back I posted this thread asking about the photo therein.


I'd like to know if anyone could help me find any genealogical information on Matthew Gray who was a member of the Egbert Jones Camp U.C.V.

He speaks in a newsreel filmed in 1930 and I'd like to know how old he was by then.

Thanks in advance.
 
Here's the actual article from the Confederate Veteran Magazine, Volume 36, page 97 about this photo. The photo was entitled:

"GUESTS of Mr & Mrs Roberia Moore…"


1667830687035.png
 
There's a Matthew Gray living in Huntsville in the 1920 US Census. He was born about 1850 in Alabama and was working as a janitor at a church.
 
Here's the Find a Grave for him, which includes a copy of the picture you originally posted and an obituary -

 
Hard to say if that's true. Many enslaved persons had only approximate birth dates.
I ran across a few of my ancestors who gave different birth dates in the census. Clearly they didn't know when they were born
Here's the Find a Grave for him, which includes a copy of the picture you originally posted and an obituary -


Thank you! I was looking everywhere for information on him.
 
I ran across a few of my ancestors who gave different birth dates in the census. Clearly they didn't know when they were born.
Probably they did. The Census almost always asked for age, not birth year so even when the person giving the information knew the right age, the year that you see on Ancestry or other genealogy sites can be off by a year. Also, the Census taker isn't required to speak to each person whose information they input. They could have gotten it from another family member or even a neighbor. So while your ancestor likely knew their own birthdate, Aunt Martha who answered the door could have been off by a couple of years.
 
I ran across a few of my ancestors who gave different birth dates in the census.
Sometimes the person providing the information may not know the exact age of everyone in the household, and just guesses.

Or:
In the 1901 Irish census my great grandmother added 15 years to her husband's age and subtracted ten years from her own -- she also made him "lame," and unable to read or write. She slipped up, though, by giving her age as 30, while accurately giving her oldest son's as 21. There was a lot of resentment in that household. Margaret Joyce stayed home looking after the farm, while gtgdfr Martin Joyce spent much of his time in the pub, earning money (and free drinks) by reading and writing letters for his mostly illiterate neighbors, and reading newspapers aloud for everyone. When he died in 1906, she burned a trunk containing several books, and piles of old letters and photographs. My great-aunt, who briefly went through those papers said they included letters from America mentioning "Lynchburg" and "Nashville," a first wife and child, who died, and pictures of her father in a "gray" uniform. She was 12 years old at the time, and just what she understood of the ACW or uniforms is unclear, but she concluded, and believed to her dying day that he had served in the Confederate army. I've never been able to confirm or disprove any of it.
 
Last edited:
Sometimes the person providing the information may not know the exact age of everyone in the household, and just guesses.

Or:
In the 1901 Irish census my great grandmother added 15 years to her husband's age and subtracted ten years from her own -- she also made him "lame," and unable to read or write. She slipped up, though, by giving her age as 30, while accurately giving her oldest son's as 21. There was a lot of resentment in that household. Margaret Joyce stayed home looking after the farm, while gtgdfr Martin Joyce spent much of his time in the pub, earning money (and free drinks) by reading and writing letters for his mostly illiterate neighbors, and reading newspapers aloud for everyone. When he died in 1906, she burned a trunk containing several books, and piles of old letters and photographs. My great-aunt, who briefly went through those papers said they included letters from America mentioning "Lynchburg" and "Nashville," a first wife and child, who died, and pictures of her father in a "gray" uniform. She was 12 years old at the time, and just what she understood of the ACW or uniforms is unclear, but she concluded, and believed to her dying day that he had served in the Confederate army. I've never been able to confirm or disprove any of it.
@John Hartwell if you don't start a thread on the forum for us to try our luck I will be very disappointed.
 
Here's the Find a Grave for him, which includes a copy of the picture you originally posted and an obituary -

 

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