Monday, October 5, 2015

Questions, William Gray 1834-1913

William Gray

Variations in Birth Date
2/1/1834: Christening Date; Source: familysearch database, Scotland Births/Christenings
Obituary: 1832 (calculated, using age at time of death, 81 yrs)
77th Birthday Celebration: 2/1/1833 (the date given to newspaper by family)
Find A Grave; Inscription: 1/2/1832. 10/6/1913. Memorial added: 2/7/1913
Census: (Michigan) 1850 b/1834. (Kansas) 1870 b/1835; 1875 b/1839; 1885 b/1834; 1880 b/1834;
1910 b/1833; Note: William (age 77) states his Immigration Year as 1840.

Notes relating to William Gray
in the  “Epistle” written by Robert Lyn Gray before he died in 1971 (before the Internet and genealogical web sites like Ancestry.com.) William Gray 1832-1913, 1st born son of John Sr is not mentioned.

  According to records from Scotland: William was the son of John Sr and Barbara Troup. Scotland, Christening: 2/1/1834. Father: John Gray. Mother: Barbara Troup

He is listed in the 1850 Michigan Census (age 16), also listed, Jane Gray, mother of John Sr (age 70). He married Hannah in 1862, in Kansas; 1870 Census: Kickapoo, Leavenworth, Kansas.
   Listed among the surviving sons in his father’s obituary  (1892): William in Potter, Kansas; not at the funeral but visited his father less than a year before.

Obituary: 81 years old; died in 1913, he’d be born in 1832
77th Birthday Celebration; born 2/1/1833 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He came to Kansas at age 23 (1856), employed by the government at Fort Leavenworth (Kansas) until 1859 when he became a farmer. Married in 1862. Media: Gray, William; 77th Birthday

Future Research
Mother of William Gray - Barbara Troup: I found a B Troup, 40 acres on 1876 Dearborn County Map; in the rectangular sections located beneath the upper right hand corner where the Ford and Ruddiman and Whitsey Lots are which are farms the Gray family lived close to; in 1860, John Jr worked at the Whitsey Farm and Alexander worked at the Rudiman Farm. (John Gray Sr moved to Minnesota in 1866.)





5 comments:

  1. Good eye, Jody! The B. Troup is probably Barbara Troup, daughter of George Troup and Barbara Gauld. She's not the Barbara Troup you're looking for, since she was born in Dearborn around 1847. What's interesting is that the map you have here is from 1876, after the Grays had moved to Minnesota. The land owned by John Gray was in Section 12, southeast 1/4, east 1/2, where A. Horger is shown. That's one section over from the B. Troup property. I wonder if there is a connection between George Troup and Barbara Troup (the one who may be William's mother, not George's wife or daughter - or could his wife also be William's mother? You never know).

    Another thing to note is that on the 1840 census, there are two males under 5 listed (John and probably Grace, since no females under 5 are listed), and two males 5-9 (William and one other). It seems John had another son, born either before or after William, who either died or moved out of the house before the 1850 census. My guess is that he was born before William, since with the marriage and move to the U.S., it's less likely that he would have been born between William and Bathia. More questions...

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  2. Sorry, I forgot to link to sites that may be helpful:
    http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/TROUP/2003-03/1049045486
    http://interment.net/data/us/mi/wayne/evergreen/index.htm

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  3. One more thing I noticed: the 1860 Dearborn map shows "G. Throop" as the owner of the property in Section 14, northeast corner, where B. Troup is shown in 1876. That's got to be George Troup.

    http://www.loc.gov/resource/g4113w.la000364/

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  4. Greetings, Stephen
    So glad to have you join me on my Gray-Piper Blog with these great comments and leads! I've been busy the last few days organizing my research because it gets so scattered and then I can't find information when I need it. So, I started the Blog posts for individuals, like 'Questions' related to John Gray Sr. And, the Family of John (Jr) and Martha Jane (Ross) Gray.

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  5. Time for a New Blog Post: Barbara Troup, mother of William Gray

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