Big Boys Hobbies

Extremely RARE find this weekend, only 5 issued, and only one has been known to exist, and its mine.

pryan67 said:
That is SUCH an awesome find, and you wanting to return it reflects well upon you.


But, I HAD to giggle when I read this part:

" I was born at Mercy as a child,"
Click to expand...


Well, personally, I was born at a very young age, so I get it. :laughing::laughing::laughing:


Skippy
 
Skippy SH13 said:
Well, personally, I was born at a very young age, so I get it. :laughing::laughing::laughing:


Skippy
Click to expand...

Oh Skippy, you beat me to the punch. I was born at Mercy as a child also. Still trying to grow up. Awesome find. BTW, I actually was also born at Mercy Hospital. But in Idaho.
 
Sweet find.
Can you give us some larger pictures of it?
I'm getting to the point where I am having trouble seeing the fine details on stuff.....It could just be the cataract.....
Anyway, I can't read all of the detail , but congrats on a really cool find.
 
Absolutely stunning find!! This is the kind of historical treasure that many of us got into the hobby for!! Excellent job on the research, and wonderful that you’ve reached out to the hospital - I sure hope they treat it like the big deal that it is! Honestly, I think the find is absolutely worthy of at least local media attention - a great opportunity to showcase some local history and generate some publicity for the hospital with a captivating story! :cool:

Congrats!! Truly an amazing recovery!!
 
Congrats CW22 on such a rare find. The first thought that came to me is "I wonder if she had any descendents". The only clue I found in an Ancestry.com search is a link to a FindAGrave.com entry, showing a flat grave marker at Calvary Cemetery, Fort Smith Arkansas, for an Agnes Grey, born 1868, died 1955. If this is the same Agnes Grey (quite likely), it appears she may have never married. Here is that link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/50125282

Also, at the Flickr web site that has photos of St. Anne's graduates, the 1886 First graduating class of five that you mentioned, has only four photos, with only the mention of her name and "Picture unavailable" for Agnes Grey. Here is that link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7637984@N05/albums/72157666786464580

I was surprised not to find additional information on her. I then searched for her at www.FamilySearch.org and found this reference to a Death record, which essentially matches the FindAGrave.com information: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZCC-7WY

Jim
 
Agnes was also Mary A Grey/Gray

After posting information about Agnes and her grave marker from www.FindAGrave.com, I remembered that you can click on the Cemetery name and find other graves of people buried there with the same last name.

Two candidates for her parents, who were also buried there are Mathew Grey, born 1834 (in Ireland) and Martha Grey, born 1846 (in Tennessee).

Searching further, I found census records for Mathew Grey (sometimes spelled Gray) for 1880 & 1900. In 1880, Mathew's oldest child was listed as Mary A [Grey], but in 1900, she was Agnes.

- In the 1910 U.S. Census, she was still single, living in Fort Smith with her widowed mother and brother James.

- In the 1920 U.S. Census, she was still single, living in Fort Smith with her widowed mother, married sister Kate/Katherine Rogers, Katherine's husband Emmett Rogers and nephew, John Rogers.

- In the 1930 U.S. Census, no information found for Agnes, but sister Katherine and family were now in Oklahoma.

- in the 1940 U.S. Census Agnes was still single, living in Fort Smith with sister Katherine, brother-in-law, Emmett Rogers and widowed sister, Lucy Ellis.

Jim
 
Photos re-oriented

Hope you don't mind, Civil War22, but I took the liberty of re-posting the photos of the front and back of the medal. In my browser, they were oriented 90 degrees to the left, causing me to turn my head to read them. While I was at it, I cropped them to show more of the medal and less background.

Jim
 

Attachments

  • Agnes M Gray Medal_Obverse-001.jpg
    Agnes M Gray Medal_Obverse-001.jpg
    43.1 KB · Views: 414
  • Agnes M Gray Medal_Reverse-001.jpg
    Agnes M Gray Medal_Reverse-001.jpg
    39.7 KB · Views: 411
jimther said:
Congrats CW22 on such a rare find. The first thought that came to me is "I wonder if she had any descendents". The only clue I found in an Ancestry.com search.............
Click to expand...

I went through essentially the same steps you did, and came to the same conclusions. Not much on her due to the apparent lack of descendants. Somewhere out there somebody probably has a photo in a shoebox of great aunt Agnes. Would be nice if he could add such a photo, huh?
 
jimther said:
Hope you don't mind, Civil War22, but I took the liberty of re-posting the photos of the front and back of the medal. In my browser, they were oriented 90 degrees to the left, causing me to turn my head to read them. While I was at it, I cropped them to show more of the medal and less background.

Jim
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim, very helpful!
 
What a neat find! It's amazing the historical treasures that have just been waiting for someone to come along and find them. Sweet story too, nice, nice job!
 
jimther said:
- In the 1910 U.S. Census, she was still single, living in Fort Smith with her widowed mother and brother James.

- In the 1920 U.S. Census, she was still single, living in Fort Smith with her widowed mother, married sister Kate/Katherine Rogers, Katherine's husband Emmett Rogers and nephew, John Rogers.
Click to expand...



What about Katherine or James' descendants?
 
Vermonster said:
What about Katherine or James' descendants?
Click to expand...

Didn't go down that road, Vermonster, but that might turn out to be a fruitful search... if someone were inclined to spend the time.

Advanced Amateur Genealogist for hire - Only kidding. These searches can end up consuming a good deal of time.
 
Civil_war22 said:
I can’t even put in to words how excited I am. Went out to that permission today Broken_detector, and I’ve been digging lots of goodies, and found a Banner worthy find. The medal I found was worn on a necklace given out to only 5 women, who were the original 5 sisters of Mercy hospital graduating in 1886. Miss Agnes Gray got this medal some 133 years ago, and I was fortunate enough to find it. The old St. Anne’s Academy is no longer there, but the main church is there. These 5 women took care of the men, women, and children of Fort Smith, AR back in a day when the population was so little they could make house calls. I have reached out to the church itself, and am hoping to get ahold of them, and returning the beloved Miss Gray’s graduation medal back home to where it began. I was born at Mercy as a child, as well as my twin, and other family. My great great uncle in the 1930’s who was Alma Town Marshall Henry Humphrey we’re brought here to be tended to by women like these. Maybe even her. I’ve highlighted in the article mentioning the first graduating class, and Miss Gray’s name. This is the biggest Banner I could ever imagine in my life, and I’ll be cheeky for years to come.
Click to expand...
WOW spectacular find congrats. And thanks for sharing its history!
 
Vermonster said:
What about Katherine or James' descendants?
Click to expand...



I’m in the process of locating any descendants. Lots of the ones I’ve researched before have died off, or moved off. I do a lot of genealogy for not only my own family, but others, and if I can’t find any relatives then I still plan on getting back a hold of the Convent, and seeing about donating it or lending it to them to display. Sometimes giving stuff back to the family after all these years they tend to just throwing it in a drawer because as long ago as it was there is likely no one who even remembers her, and would likely not appreciate it as much as visitors to the Convent, or historic site


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

jimther
Carrot harvest helped detectorist find hoard of ancient coins - BBC
Replies
1
Views
331
KingTotsalot
KingTotsalot
jimther
Lucky treasure hunter wins metal detector in a raffle - then unearths rare £23,000 hoard of silver coins ...
Replies
0
Views
93
jimther
jimther
jimther
A Father and Son Discover Viking Treasure Worth £1 Million And Their Lives Are Never the Same
Replies
2
Views
138
Digging Prayers
Digging Prayers
60streeter
NOT MY FIND BUT WOW! ORACLE STICK
Replies
2
Views
177
60streeter
60streeter
jimther
Wow, New England Has Only Sunken Pirate Ship Treasure in World
Replies
2
Views
279
vmc1161
V
Back
Top Bottom