Disagreeing Records: James Monroe Skidmore

I'm going to try to write a blurb on all of the children of Katherine Abernathy and William Skidmore. First up is James Monroe Skidmore.

My current research on James Monroe Skidmore, also known as "Mun" or "Uncle Mun", has shown me that a lot of records for Mun disagree on many of the basic events in his life.

The things I am sure of: Mun was born to Katherine Abernathy & William Skidmore. He married Susan Moody and had no children. And most, if not all, of his life was in the Riverbend area of Gaston County, NC.

Photo from findagrave.com taken by Jennifer

Now for the disagreeing records.

Birth Date: I have found two different dates for Mun's birth. According to most of the census records his calculated birthdate is 1856, but that could be because of when his birthday falls in the year.

1. 5 Apr 1855 (Sources: 1,2)

2. 16 Apr 1855 (Sources: 3)

Marriage Date: Again I've found two dates. Biggest problem here is that I haven't found the actual marriage record, which would help me out a lot. According to one census record Mun's marriage to Susan Moody was about 1874. According to these dates James Monroe Skidmore was about 17 years old when he got married to Susan.

1. 4 Apr 1873 (Sources: 1)

2. 8 Apr 1873 (Sources: I found this on one website that doesn't state its original source for this date and after further looking on familysearch.org there is a marriage record for "W.M. Skidmore" to Susan Moody in Riverbend, Gaston, NC. )

Death Date: Once again, sources give two different dates. Either way, he died at the age of 81. He is buried in the Hickory Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Gastonia, Gaston County, NC.

1. 2 Jan 1937 (Sources: 3, 4)

2. 30 Jan 1937 (Sources: 1,2)

Other information on James Monroe Skidmore:

My "Heritage Pie Chart"

I first stumbled upon the "Heritage Pie Chart" idea on Are You My Cousin?... and found further information on the premises at My Tapley Tree... and its Branches: Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. So I thought I would give it a try- first with my 16-great-great-grandparents. I do want to note that because of "bad sentiments" towards two of my great-great-grandparents, no one in the family will tell me their names, but I have been working on my grandmother to get her brother to tell me...so hopefully someday I'll be able to add them in.

First I looked at origin by country

HA! No surprise here... thoroughly American.

So I wanted to see if there was any variety in origin by State:

Boyce Walter Ellington, casualty of WWII

S/SGT Boyce Walter Ellington's gravestone,
taken by K. Stevens

Boyce Walter Ellington was born 1 February 1921 to Joseph "Pa Joe" Ellington and Lyda E. Skidmore in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. His family was living in South Point, Gaston County, NC by the 1930 census. Boyce would have been 8 years old then.

Telegram confirming Boyce's death to his mother,
Lyda Eva Skidmore Ellington

At the age of 21, Boyce enlisted as a private of the United States army on 11 January 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. At his enlistment Boyce's residence was Norfolk, Virginia; Military Serial Number 33522116. He became a casualty of WWII on Christmas day 25 December 1944 in France. By then he had become a Staff Sergent.