[or-roots] Genealogy
Karla F Williams
karfranw at juno.com
Tue Dec 23 23:59:03 PST 2003
Dear List friends,
My name is Karla Williams, and I subscribed to this list two or three
months ago. My niece, sister in law, and another
cousin, have been trying to trace back our family roots. But, on my
dad's side, we can only go back as far as my
great-grandfather, and no further.
The great-grandfather's name was James Jackson Gray. He was born in or
around Nashville Tennessee on March 17, 1843.
According to the family stories, his father, my great-great grandfather,
was a teacher by trade and he also owned a farm where
he raised horses on the side.
The story also goes, that when the Civil War broke out, James was a 17
year old boy. His father and older brothers left him in
charge of the farm and they went off to war joining the Union or
Federalist Army. Well this didn't set to well with James so he decided
he wanted to go to war also.
He took, or stole his father's black stallion that the father had paid
$1,000.00 for and went off to war, joining the Confederate Army
and he lied about his age when he joined. The first thing that happened,
the horse was shot and killed from under him.
After the war was over, he worked his way west, trying to recoop the
monies his father had paid for the horse, but he was never able
to.
He met and married his wife, Susan Permelia Hurst on November 1, 1876 in
The Dalles, Oregon. They moved around a bit, and finally
bought some land and settled in Juniper Flats, near Wapinitia. They
subsequently had 10 children, but only 8 survived. Their first, a baby
girl
died at age 9 months, and they lost a baby boy at birth. Their surviving
children, were Louisa, James, John, Jess (my grandfather), Robert,
Joseph, Minnie and William.
James died on July 14, 1900, near 8 mile Oregon.
Now, my niece has gotten copies of his civil war military records. But
no where does it state the name of his parents. I have seen a copy of a
census, I think it was 1880, and it says his father was born in
Tenneseee, and his mother in Illinois.
Not once in his lifetime, here in Oregon did he ever talk about his
family back in Tennesee. We don't know anything. Other than the story
above. This is my brick wall.
I have a cousin, living in wyoming, on my mother's side of the family,
who is a member and officer in the Daughters of the American
Revolution. About three years ago, she went to DC to a convention, and
she did some research for me back there, and she couldn't find
anything on him in any archive that she checked, other than his military
records.
We have reached a stand still on our family research, at least this
branch. Either he was telling the truth, as far as it went, or he was
the
biggest liar there is. I have been thinking the whole story is bogus,
and maybe he even changed his name to protect himself from the wrath
of his father.
I do know that he had a homestead for years at Friend Oregon. Allegedly
he owned a homestead in downtown Portland Oregon
where the present Meier and Frank store is now. And that he lost both
farms in gambling games of some sort. More family lore.
He also was a teamster, and drove wagons in a circus in California for a
while. He was mixed up with some Mexican war then also.
He also, according to family stories, was a chef or a cook up in Seattle
for awhile.
I am not sure what to do at this point, for any more research. Well that
is the story and it is quite the puzzle.
Thank you for listening and reading this long story.
Sincerely,
Karla Williams
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