William Joseph Smith:

Presumed to be a Civil War Vetern By No One Else but James Mason Gray.

by Terry Foenander.


A letter sent by James Mason Gray, of the American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, addressed to the Northcote Public Cemetery, and dated July 30, 2006, states:

Sir; I contacted the cemetery some time ago and have never received a reply, so I thought perhaps my letter never reached you.

I have been researching the burial of an individual in the Northcote Cemetery who was an American Civil War veteran.   His name was William Joseph Smith, who served in Company C of the 9th Alabama Infantry.   After the war Smith migrated to Australia, arriving in Melbourne, Victoria.   Upon his arrival in Australia he resided at 84 Gooch Street in Northcote, Victoria, and later married a lady named Elizabeth Ellen Curran in Melbourne.   He worked as a farmer, residing in Victoria some sixty-eight years.   William Joseph Smith died at the age of eighty-nine years of age; death certificate number 1912/11541, and was buried in Northcote Cemetery on Separation Street, in Victoria, on September 25, 1912.   His gravesite is recorded as ‘6W 20’ S of path 1’.

It has been determined the William Joseph Smith who served in the 9th Alabama Infantry and the one buried in Northcote Cemetery is one and the same.   Unfortunately, his grave remains unmarked.

I have been in touch with Mr. Cassy Beechey[with a first name shown as Cassy, Mr. Gray should have been aware that Cassy was a Ms and not a Mr.], Cemetery Officer and am now ready to acquire either a headstone or a bronze memorial plaque for his gravesite, which ever the cemetery prefers, providing I can acquire permission from the cemetery to do so and someone who will accept it upon delivery.

I have done this for a number of veterans in Australia and New Zealand and the headstones and/or bronze plaques are made and shipped to the desired location at absolutely no cost to anyone; [emphasis placed on these few words by Mr. Gray himself] by the American Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C.   This is a service provided for any and all American war veterans, no matter where they may be buried.   We just had one delivered to Kew, Victoria and have received two more; one for Mt. Morgan, Qld. And another Bundaberg, Qld.

I am hoping you can assist me in acquiring permission to obtain a marker for William Smith’s Australian gravesite after so many years.

Again, I do all the paper work for the acquisition, and all I need is the name and telephone contact number for someone willing to accept delivery, the physical address of the cemetery and an address of where to have the headstone or marker shipped to.   Headstones are available in up-right white marble or granite, flat marble or granite or a solid cast bronze memorial plaque for placement on the gravesite, monument or wall.

An example of the bronze plaque I acquired for another veteran is attached.   He will also be added to other veterans in the Australian Memorial Website, www.acwv.info, which has been archived by the National Library of Australia.

I hope you can help.

The letter is signed “James Gray, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., American Civil War Round Table of Queensland, Inc., Brisbane, Queensland.

A copy of the letter sent by Jim Gray to the Northcote Cemetery officials, in 2006. Note how he confidently claims, without a single shred of evidence, that William Joseph Smith, buried at the cemetery, had been a Civil War veteran, who served in an Alabama regiment. Yet a descendant of the deceased, after many years of study, and knowing his own family history, had known all along that Smith was never shown to have served in the war.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gray, despite his boasting of his achievements to the Northcote Cemetery, fails to mention that he also made a huge number of errors and assumptions, and never did any proper research on any of these veterans, or those who were never veterans.   He does not detail his failures in attempting to obtain evidence on those persons buried in Australia, but who were never Civil War veterans, such as Edward Mosby, William Yeatman, James Coffee, Charles Flay Tapscott, Charles Henry Hill or John Henry Graydon.   These are just a few examples amongst the many failures of Mr. Gray.   William Joseph Smith, buried at Northcote Cemetery was just such a failure, in which Mr. Gray, despite his confidently claiming that Smith had served in the 9th Alabama Infantry, was just an assumption made by Gray, and no one else.   William Joseph Smith was in fact the ancestor of one Peter Smith, a member of the American Civil War Round Table of Australia, based in Melbourne, and whom Peter already was aware had no record of service in the Civil War.

Additionally, Mr. Gray sent the following query to the Alabama Civil War Message Board, on the Internet, also claiming confidently the service of William Joseph Smith, in the Alabama Infantry:

The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board - Archive

9th Ala. Veteran - William Joseph Smith

Posted By: James Gray
Date: Sunday, 9 April 2006, at 9:52 a.m.

I am trying to acquire information on a new historic Civil War veteran I have uncovered that is buried in Australia and who served in the 9th Alabama Infantry.
His name was William Joseph Smith , possibly the son of Joseph Smith, born in Essex, England in 1803 and after migrating to the United States, enlisted as a Private into Company “C” of the 9th Alabama Infantry Regiment. After the war he migrated to Australia, where he died and is buried. Information is need to compile a memorial for him on the American Civil War Memorial Website, www.acwv.info, for all the veterans buried in Australia.
Any information you may be able to provide on the veteran, his unit, his son or the family would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.I can be reached day or night at cracker3@optusnet.com.au.
Sincerely,

James Gray

It was most fortunate indeed that, when the Northcote Cemetery sent Mr. Gray a letter stating that the cost of installation was going to be the princely sum of $88, Mr. Gray, despite his claiming that there was “absolutely no cost to anyone” ran whimpering to his Civil War Round Table hierarchy, and tried to get others to pay for what he himself had applied for.   The Queensland Round Table then contacted the hierarchy in Melbourne, who were aware that William Joseph Smith was never proven to be a Civil War veteran, and there was absolutely no evidence for any such claims that he was [the American Civil War Round Table of Australia, based in Melbourne, have a much more thorough knowledge of the Civil War veterans buried in Australia and New Zealand, and always conduct their research with the proper means and methods involved in such research, and thus are free from the failings of the research conducted by the well known Mr. Gray].

When it was found out that Gray was attempting to obtain a Veterans Administration plaque for the grave of William Joseph Smith, the ancestor of Peter Smith, who had been a member of the Civil War Round Table in Melbourne, Gray was advised that it was known all along that William Joseph Smith was never a member of the 9th Alabama, and that the members in Melbourne would not pay for any plaque for someone for whom there was absolutely no evidence of service in the Civil War, at all.   If Peter Smith, who was related to the William Joseph Smith buried at Northcote Cemetery knew of no such service, it was even more amazing that Mr. James Mason Gray, who had no relation to the Smith family whatsoever, and who had absolutely no evidence that William Joseph Smith even served in the 9th Alabama, should even conjure up such a foolish notion.

The hierarchy in Melbourne would not have a bar of it, and refused to pay for something that was just another assumption (one of very many) made by Mr. Gray and his wild imagination.   When the Round Table of Queensland were informed of the decision taken by the Round Table of Australia, there was no further response.   Mr. Gray has claimed, in the past, that he has “some solid stuff” in relation to evidence and proof of the service of persons he claims are Civil War veterans, yet when the members in Melbourne have taken just a short period to conduct research, they have always managed to disprove such service, especially in the case of Bernard Cunningham, Charles Henry Hill, William Yeatman, Charles Flay Tapscott, James Coffee, John Henry Graydon and others.

It is fairly obvious that James Mason Gray does not wish to conduct thorough research, but just wants to jump to conclusions and make his own assumptions, based on a name being the same as a Civil War serviceman, and without further evidence.   His foolishness in such assumptions has been proven time and time again, and will continue to be proven incorrect on many more occasions, as evidence is gathered.

For more inaccurate biographies, see "A Litany of Errors."

Page Created, May, 2008.