James Thomas Galey died 51 years ago today in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
That fact spurred memories about a claim by Tom that remains something of a mystery to this day.
Budding genealogists would quickly note – as I once did – that James Thomas Galey died in 1958 at age 58. After all, he had always alleged that he had been born in 1900. That’s probably why his death certificate says he was born in 1900 – as does his tombstone in the Whitney, Nebraska cemetery.
But all was not as it seemed.
In the summer of 1989, more than 30 years after Tom Galey, Sr., died, I was in Portand, Oregon on two weeks of active duty training with the Navy. One weekend, I rented a car and drove south down Interstate-5 to Woodburn, where I met one of Karen’s uncles – Frank Galey.
Lee Frank Galey was by that time long since retired from Portland Power and Light Company. A life-long bachelor, “Frank” lived in a quiet neighborhood of Woodburn populated by senior citizens.
When I took this photograph of Frank, he was 79 years old and still quite active. The golf cart in his garage was well used, and I suspect he was among the very first Galey to pick up a golf club. ‘Twould have been fun to watch him compete with his nephews Bob and Gary Galey, who are both afflicted with the golf bug.
There’s no mistaking that Frank was a Galey. His facial features resembled several of the Galey clan, and I think he particularly resembled Tommy Galey (1934-2006).
Frank was a great story teller and delighted in recalling his visit to Nebraska some years earlier, when those “two little girls of Eva’s helped run down and wring the neck of a chicken” – destined to be the main course for dinner that night.
During our conversations about the Galey family and their migration from Indiana to Montana, Frank revealed a fact that had been obscured over the years. His older brother Tom Galey (1890-1958) wasn’t born in 1900 – as he had claimed and as was inscribed on his tombstone. It seems that Tom, for whatever reason, perpetrated a hoax that lingered beyond the grave.
Frank insisted that he – not Tom – was the only Galey boy born in 1900. And Tom, he noted, was 10 years older than him!
There is little doubt that Tom Galey fibbed about when he was born – the only real question is why.
The most likely explanation had to do with that young Cunningham woman he started dating shortly after he wandered into western Nebraska when he was about 40 years old. It was just prior to the Great Depression, and he had been smitten by the young Eva Cunningham, a schoolmarm who was half his age. My best guess is that he shaved the truth by about 10 years in order to narrow the gap in their ages.
When they finally wed on November 25,1933 in Rushville, Nebraska, she had just turned 24 and he was 43…..er, 33!
Only his brother, Frank Galey, would finally set the record straight. And census records substantiate his assertion. A few short years after our conversation in Woodburn, Frank Galey died. He was 87 years old. We would like to have known him better. He liked to get at the truth of things!
That fact spurred memories about a claim by Tom that remains something of a mystery to this day.
Budding genealogists would quickly note – as I once did – that James Thomas Galey died in 1958 at age 58. After all, he had always alleged that he had been born in 1900. That’s probably why his death certificate says he was born in 1900 – as does his tombstone in the Whitney, Nebraska cemetery.But all was not as it seemed.
In the summer of 1989, more than 30 years after Tom Galey, Sr., died, I was in Portand, Oregon on two weeks of active duty training with the Navy. One weekend, I rented a car and drove south down Interstate-5 to Woodburn, where I met one of Karen’s uncles – Frank Galey.
Lee Frank Galey was by that time long since retired from Portland Power and Light Company. A life-long bachelor, “Frank” lived in a quiet neighborhood of Woodburn populated by senior citizens.When I took this photograph of Frank, he was 79 years old and still quite active. The golf cart in his garage was well used, and I suspect he was among the very first Galey to pick up a golf club. ‘Twould have been fun to watch him compete with his nephews Bob and Gary Galey, who are both afflicted with the golf bug.
There’s no mistaking that Frank was a Galey. His facial features resembled several of the Galey clan, and I think he particularly resembled Tommy Galey (1934-2006).
Frank was a great story teller and delighted in recalling his visit to Nebraska some years earlier, when those “two little girls of Eva’s helped run down and wring the neck of a chicken” – destined to be the main course for dinner that night.During our conversations about the Galey family and their migration from Indiana to Montana, Frank revealed a fact that had been obscured over the years. His older brother Tom Galey (1890-1958) wasn’t born in 1900 – as he had claimed and as was inscribed on his tombstone. It seems that Tom, for whatever reason, perpetrated a hoax that lingered beyond the grave.
Frank insisted that he – not Tom – was the only Galey boy born in 1900. And Tom, he noted, was 10 years older than him!
There is little doubt that Tom Galey fibbed about when he was born – the only real question is why.
The most likely explanation had to do with that young Cunningham woman he started dating shortly after he wandered into western Nebraska when he was about 40 years old. It was just prior to the Great Depression, and he had been smitten by the young Eva Cunningham, a schoolmarm who was half his age. My best guess is that he shaved the truth by about 10 years in order to narrow the gap in their ages.When they finally wed on November 25,1933 in Rushville, Nebraska, she had just turned 24 and he was 43…..er, 33!
Only his brother, Frank Galey, would finally set the record straight. And census records substantiate his assertion. A few short years after our conversation in Woodburn, Frank Galey died. He was 87 years old. We would like to have known him better. He liked to get at the truth of things!
