Biography of George Edward Gray
In the biography on your site on George Edward Gray, his date of death is listed as January 1, 1913 but at the end of the biography there is a statement that says this date is wrong and that he died about 1883 – 2 years before he retired!) Was this put in as a joke or is 1883 true?
Carol Reese
Cybrarian/Archivist
The American Society of Civil Engineers
1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Reston, VA 20191-4400
creese@asce.org
703-295-6240
For research assistance, please go to the Cybrarian Research Service Web site at www.asce.org/cybrarian
[P.S.] ASCE has an article written by him in 1897. Several years after Mr. Farrar says he died.
[P.P.S.] The reason I question it is ASCE has a memior written at the time stating his death as January 1, 1913. Usually our memoirs are extremely accurate and wouldn't be off by 20 years on a date of death. If you could verify, I would be greatly appreciative.
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 9:06 AM
7 Comments:
The inconsistency is due to a correction, not a joke. The comment in parentheses was authored by Lynn D. Farrar, the Southern Pacific's Valuation Engineer who transcribed the biography from the SP company records. Mr. Farrar is extremely knowledgeable.
Unless you can obtain further verification, we would recommend that you regard the stated date of retirement and later date of death after 1883 with suspicion.
George Edward Gray was born to Joel Gray and Betsey Ressequie Gray in Northampton, New York on Sept 12, 1818. He married Adaline Goodrich on April 29, 1843, and then married Lucinda Susanna Corning on Feb. 25, 1857.
He does not appear on any US census after 1880. G J Chris Graves, NewCastle, CAL (MP 31)
I am correcting an earlier posting. I find on the 1910 Federal Census a George E Gray, age 91, born in New York, living at 91 Magnolia St., Berkeley, Cal. He is retired, claims his father was born in Connecticut, his mother born in New York. Living with him are George V. Gray, age 42, and Anna S. Gray, age 45.
Whether or not he is the SP Gray, I cannot say.
G J Chris Graves
From: "chris graves" caliron@cwnet.com
At age 91, George E. Gray in Berkeley matches up with birthplace, age, mothers birthplace and fathers birthplace of the SPRR George E. Gray. No one seems to know where he died; the fellow in Berkeley in 1910 did not die in Calif.
—Chris
From: littlechoochoo81@netzero.net
... Charles Crocker accompanied the body to New York state about 1883. The shareholder report has a special statement on his death. ...
—Lynn
Lynn Farrar states that Gray was paid $10,000 a year in gold as consulting engineer.
Regarding the date, Farrar says that Gray signed the SPRR annual report in 1885, but this stopped in 1886 when it was signed by Hood.
George Edward Gray of the SPRR was born Sept. 12, 1818, no question. That he had two wives, Lucinda and Adaline, no question.
However, the fellow in Berkeley in 1910 says his father was born in Connecticut, and his mother born in New York, he claims to be 91 years old, putting his birth date about 1819. Depending on the date of the census, which I cannot validate, he could, or could not be the same George E. Gray.
Gray family history shows that George Edward Grays father was Joel Gray, born June 24, 1790, in Haddam, Connecticut.
Further Gray family history shows George Edward Gray's mother, Betsey, was born Aug. 15, 1795 in Northhampton, New York.
That information ties in to the 1910 Census for the 91 year old fellow in Berkeley, father from Connecticut, mother from NY.
Quite a coincidence, one I cannot explain.
Post a Comment
<< Recent Messages