Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D645-2
Date(s)
- 1936-02-12 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Seated next to a portrait of President Lincoln, and assisted by a nurse, Johnny Wray, a 92-year-old Civil War veteran, chatted with an unidentified man about his early life. When this photograph was taken in February of 1936, Mr. Wray was living at the Washington Soldiers' Home in Orting. He was a first cousin to Stephen A. Douglas, and at the age of 14 he was present for one of the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates. He joined the army when 17, but only served four months "traipsing through the wood," and never fired a shot. Mr. Wray died October 18, 1937 at the age of 94. (T. Times 2/12/1936, pg. 1; T. Times 10/19/1937, pg. 1)
Wray, John; Veterans; Civil War, U.S., 1861-1865--Veterans--Tacoma; Aged persons;