Hello all,
If you saw my post last night about my best friend's easy tree well then be prepared to help me as I struggle through the murky waters of his father's side. In particular, I would like to know about William Dorey b. 1875 MO to either a James Smith or Gideon Dorey as he changed his name from William Dorey to Graham Houston Smith sometime before 1898. His bio and information has not been filled out because I am not certain enough of any of it. The timeline that I have, based on what I was told by the family and what records I could find, is as follows:
William Dorey was born December 5, 1875 in St. Louis, MO.
He changed his name to Graham Houston Smith (supposedly in Texas) at some point before 1898 where he can be found in an army enlistment record from 1898 where he was in the 5th Infantry at Fort McPherson in Georgia (line 3614):
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26471-6722-42?cc=1880762
He is not seen again until 1917/18 where he can be located through his WWI draft card. This gives our first hint at his parentage: he lists his mother, Ms. Gideon Dorey, as his emergency contact. It is also a note of the fact that he has moved to New York.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-26522-51651-71?cc=1968530
In 1920, he is married to a Christina Hallinan (who was born in 1896 Ireland) and has a 4 year old son, Donald Kenneth Smith, with her.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MJB7-3VM
After this, he can be seen getting a passport on April 24, 1922 where he lists his father as James Smith from Scotland.
A New York Passenger list shows a Graham H Smith arriving in New York from Southampton on June 9, 1922 with the birthdate that has been used throughout all of the other records:
www.ellisisland.org/search/shipManifest.asp?pID=604730010106&MID=05488147810904530496&
After this I can find no record of him as he is no longer in a census (to my knowledge). It is known that him and Christina Hallinan split up between 1923 and 1925 giving life to one more son. A 1925 New York State Census reveals this fact.
While I have not found any concrete records of his later years it is known that he was imprisoned during WWII (presumably not in battle) and he died in Chicago, Illinois in 1954.
Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you!
Mike