John Darling Huntress.

by Terry Foenander.

It seems strange that someone, who fervently denied copying the work of others, and who very strongly insisted that he had been conducting all his own research on the Civil War veterans buried in Australia and New Zealand, carried on making an error in stating that one particular Civil War veteran was buried in Australia, when, in fact, this veteran was actually buried in the United States.   This was exactly what a member of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, James Mason Gray, indulged in, when he claimed in mid 2005, that he was doing all his own research on the very same names and data of Civil War veterans that other, more thorough researchers had been working on for over two decades, thanks especially to the pioneering work of the late Mr. Roy Parker, of Sydney, New South Wales.   When Mrs. Virginia Crocker requested Gray not to copy our work or use any of our material on the veterans, Gray arrogantly stated that he had never copied or used such data, but had discovered the veterans due to his own research.   Strangely enough, all the original research, which took two or more decades to work on, was suddenly discovered and researched, all within a matter of a few months by this superhuman “researcher” Gray.

That Gray was a bold faced liar who would spin all sorts of fabrications was already known to a number of us, the original researchers of the Civil War veterans buried in Australia, as well as a number of others who had been stung by his false statements, such as two web site administrators, to whom he had stated that he, Gray, was a veteran of the Second World War, when, in fact, he was born in 1939.   A fellow researcher actually stated, with some degree of sarcasm, that perhaps Gray was in his cradle at Pearl Harbor, when that United States base was bombed, and thus considered himself as a veteran of the Second World War.

One of the American Civil War veterans that Gray shows, at his web site, as being buried in Australia, is named as John Darling Huntress, of company H of the 27^th Maine Volunteer Infantry.   Gray states that Major John Darling Huntress (the first name actually being his real name, and not a rank) was actually born in Hiram, Maine, and that Huntress “personally choose [sic] to change his name to simply John Darling Huntress when he enlisted in Company H, 27^th Maine Infantry, to avoid being referred to as Private Major Huntress.”   Rather a humorous tale, but with not a shred to truth to it at all, and obviously never researched by Gray.   If he had indulged in some simple and basic research, Gray would have found that the person named Huntress, who enlisted in company H of the 27^th Maine was listed on all records of enlistment as just plain John Huntress.

Gray continues, throughout his article on Huntress to make error after foolish error, yet seems unaware of the truth about anything at all on the soldier named Huntress, who was in the 27^th Maine, and the person named Huntress, who died in January, 1902, and who is buried in Dubbo, New South Wales.   In fact, Gray seems unaware of anything at all, relating to the American Civil War.   In one particular statement he states, when referring to the Congressional Medals of Honor that were awarded to certain members of the 27^th Maine, that “Another fraud had been successfully perpetrated on Union troops by their Commander in Chief”.   If Gray had done some research he would have realized that the medals were actually ordered to be awarded by Edwin M. Stanton, and not Abraham Lincoln.

The web site biography created by James Mason Gray of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, in which he incorrectly ascribes the Civil War service of John Darling Huntress, buried at Dubbo, New South Wales, to company H of the 27th Maine Infantry.

Gray is well known amongst the Civil War research fraternity for his absolute incompetence, as well as constantly indulging in fabrications, and for making false statements and altering the facts to suit his version of history on the Civil War.   He has, in the past claimed that General Robert E. Lee’s brother was killed by guerillas, and has involved himself in obtaining Veterans Administration grave headstones and plaques for persons who were never in Civil War service, and one even for a person buried in New Zealand, whom he claimed had been a member of the 38^th New York Infantry, yet when research was conducted on this particular soldier, it was found that he actually died in battle at the First Battle of Bull Run, in 1861.   At one stage Gray even sent a threatening message to Mr. Barry Crompton, secretary of the American Civil War Round Table of Australia, warning him that he (Gray), had exclusive rights to the name “Civil War Veterans in Australia and New Zealand” and that Mr. Crompton had no legal right to use that name or title.   Yet the name in itself was being used by researchers here in Australia, many years, even decades prior to Gray even taking up residence in Australia, or having an interest in the veterans buried here.  

Anyway, to return to the Huntress matter, if Gray had taken some trouble to do any research, or to pay for copies of records on the John Huntress who had served in the 27^th Maine, he would have found out that this soldier had in fact continued to reside in Hiram, Maine, after the war, and had died there in 1917.   In fact, to prove this as fact, beyond all doubt, there is a headstone at the grave of Huntress in Hiram, showing his service details in the Civil War.

A photograph of the grave headstone, at Hiram, Maine, of the John Huntress who had served in company H of the 27th Maine. Obviously a very different person from the person named John Darling Huntress buried at Dubbo, in the state of New South Wales, in Australia, and whom Gray, through "all his own research", incorrectly claimed to have been a member of the 27th Maine. [Photograph used by courtesy of J.S. Dow, of New Hampshire.]

Gray, on finding out that his data on Huntress was incorrect (after I had placed a notation at the index page of the LITANY OF ERRORS web site), immediately placed a query message at a Massachusetts Genealogy Forum, now claiming that the John Darling Huntress buried in New South Wales had, in fact, been a member of the 2^nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.   Gray placed this query within a day of reading my notation of his incorrect statement of the service of Huntress.   However, once again, and, as usual, Gray was in further error about the service of John Darling Huntress, for, if he troubled himself with some basic and necessary research, he would have found out that the John Huntress who served in the 2^nd Massachusetts Infantry had in fact been collecting a pension from the state of Illinois, and had settled there, after the war.   Up to the time of writing of this article, however, Gray still has Huntress, as a member of the 27^th Maine, at his web site.

The National Archives pension index card for the John Huntress who served in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, showing clearly that he was residing in Illinois after the war, and that his widow continued to collect a pension, after his death there in 1906. Clear proof that he is buried there, and did not die in New South Wales.

As a final statement as to the Civil War service of the John Darling Huntress, buried at New South Wales, it should be advised that Mrs. Crocker had received information, from the descendants of Huntress, that he had changed his name to enlist, and thus was not serving under his actual name.   That should keep Gray, the so called “researcher” guessing.

Page Created, December, 2008.