Seeking Genealogical Information

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

A while back I posted this thread asking about the photo therein.

Need Help With Identification Of Veterans In This Photograph | Other Soldiers, Politicians, & Men

( Members of the United Confederate Veterans Egbert J. Jones Camp In Huntsville, Alabama 1928. ) As the title says I'm looking into figuring out who these men were. But I'm also interested in one man in particular the older man of color second from right who is looking directly at the camera...

civilwartalk.com

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.

 

[connecticut yankee]

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…"

 

[lupaglupa]

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.

 

[lupaglupa]

Here's the Find a Grave for him, which includes a copy of the picture you originally posted and an obituary -

Matt Gray (1834-1934) - Find a Grave Memorial

Matt Gray obituary, Huntsville [AL] Times, 26 Mar 1934, page 1; online index and digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 24 Jul 2018), Newspaper Archives, 1890-2017. On March 26, 1934, an obituary appeared on the front page of the Huntsville Times, remarkable for...

www.findagrave.com

 

[donna]

Great find. It something he was 100 years old.

 

[lupaglupa]

Great find. It something he was 100 years old.

Hard to say if that's true. Many enslaved persons had only approximate birth dates.

 

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

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.

 

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

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 -

Matt Gray (1834-1934) - Find a Grave Memorial

Matt Gray obituary, Huntsville [AL] Times, 26 Mar 1934, page 1; online index and digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 24 Jul 2018), Newspaper Archives, 1890-2017. On March 26, 1934, an obituary appeared on the front page of the Huntsville Times, remarkable for...

www.findagrave.com

Thank you! I was looking everywhere for information on him.

 

[lupaglupa]

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.

 

[John Hartwell]

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.

 

[lupaglupa]

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.

 

[John Hartwell]

@John Hartwell if you don't start a thread on the forum for us to try our luck I will be very disappointed.

I had one about 10 years ago with no luck. There's virtually nothing to go on but my 90-year-old great aunt's memory. I'll dig thru my notes and try again soon.

 

[lupaglupa]

I had one about 10 years ago with no luck. There's virtually nothing to go on but my 90-year-old great aunt's memory. I'll dig thru my notes and try again soon.

Never hurts to have a fresh pair of eyes (or two or three or....)

 

[Johnny_Reb_1865]

Here's the Find a Grave for him, which includes a copy of the picture you originally posted and an obituary -

Matt Gray (1834-1934) - Find a Grave Memorial

Matt Gray obituary, Huntsville [AL] Times, 26 Mar 1934, page 1; online index and digital image, GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 24 Jul 2018), Newspaper Archives, 1890-2017. On March 26, 1934, an obituary appeared on the front page of the Huntsville Times, remarkable for...

www.findagrave.com