What's in a Birthday? Could It Be a Valentine?

The August 6, 1837, baptismal record from Shoreditch St. Leonard in London allows us to work out the birth date for Charles Groves* because his age at the time of his baptism is written in the last column, 3 months and 2 days, which would make it June 4th of that year.

[Ancestry.com. London, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Board of Guardian Records, 1834-1906 and Church of England Parish Registers, 1754-1906. London Metropolitan Archives, London.Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery Department.]

In the 1900 Federal Census, Charles said he first arrived in the U.S. in 1862, although we don't have any other record confirming that. He was described as a resident of Montreal, Canada, when he married Jessie (or Janet) MacGilvray on March 20, 1867.

[Ancestry.com. Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.]

Sadly his wife died four days before the baptism of their son on February 28, 1868 where the baby's parents are listed as "Charles Groves and his late wife Janet McGilvery."**

[Ancestry.com. Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin.]

The next record*** we have for Charles is his marriage to Mary Murphy in Boston, Massachusetts, in May of 1871 where the 33-year old's age is given as 30. By the 1880 U.S. Census, Charles was using 1843 as his birth year but by 1900 he appears to have settled on 1840**** which he used for the rest of his life.

When I first looked at his death certificate from 1915, I was puzzled by the birthday listed there. I was prepared for the birth year of 1840 but March 20th? Looking back through his life I realized it was the day he married his long-dead first wife.

[Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.]

We know nothing personal about Charles L. Groves.***** He was able to sign his name on every record we have of him that required it. His mother Mary Ann Ambridge came from a long line of people who were literate, so that's not a surprise. I certainly don't know if he was a sentimental man but I like to think that, when he was re-inventing himself, the birthday he chose was a tribute to the woman he married in the Knox Presbyterian Church in Montreal on March 20, 1867.

*The great grandfather of a friend whose family tree I've worked on.
**MacGilvray is one of those names that no one seems to know how to spell, even in Scotland where it originated. McGilvray appears to be the version favored by Jessie/Janet's family in Canada.
***Since there is no record of him in either the 1870 U.S. Census or the 1871 Canadian Census, I suspect that he may have left Canada on a date between the two enumerations.
****The 1900 U.S. Census lists his birth month as March.
*****Not even his middle name.

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