ida mae harris gray
1918-2004
Life Story
Ida Mae Harris was born around 1918 in Mississippi, the daughter of Paul Harris and Sarah Harris. She grew up in Beat 4 of Newton County as part of the large Harris farming family.
The 1920 Federal Census provides one of the earliest records of Ida, listing her as a two-year-old child in the household of her parents. Her brothers and sisters included James “Jim,” Berta, Velma, Virgie, Armanda “Mandy,” Bessie, Mable, Cathrine, Ollie, Rubie, Paul, and Alonzo, among others documented within the family.
Ida’s childhood was shaped by rural life in central Mississippi. She attended local schools, learned to read and write, and eventually completed the eighth grade.
Historical records leave some uncertainty concerning her mother’s maiden surname. Social Security application records completed by children of Paul and Sarah Harris identify their mother under both Sarah Boyd and Sarah Trotter. Sarah’s mother was Mandy Trotter, but it has not yet been determined why both Boyd and Trotter were used. Until additional evidence is located, Sarah’s maiden surname remains unresolved.
Leaving Home for Hattiesburg
By 1940, Ida had left her parents’ household in Newton County and was living on Lake Street in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi.
At approximately twenty-two years old, she was employed as a laundress in a private household. The census recorded that she had worked fifty-two weeks during the previous year and twenty hours during the designated census week.
For a young woman raised in a farming household, life in Hattiesburg represented a significant change. Ida was no longer recorded as part of her parents’ agricultural household but as a wage earner making her own way in one of southern Mississippi’s larger communities.
Marriage to Isiah Gray
Ida married Isiah Gray.
The historical records contain an important variation in his name. In the 1950 Federal Census, he appears as “Ire L. Gary.” Family research establishes that Ire L. Gary and Isiah Gray were the same person, with the census entry representing a misspelling or misrendering of his name rather than a different husband.
This distinction is important because later records consistently identify Ida under the surname Gray.
From Mississippi to Cleveland
By 1950, Ida and Isiah were living on 31st Street in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.
Their presence in Cleveland placed them within the broader twentieth-century movement of African Americans from the South to northern cities during the Great Migration.
The surviving records do not establish exactly when Ida and Isiah left Mississippi or why they selected Cleveland as their destination. What they do document is a significant geographic journey: Ida had grown up in rural Newton County, moved to Hattiesburg as a young woman, and by 1950 was living hundreds of miles from Mississippi in the industrial Midwest.
Her life therefore adds another migration path to the history of the Harris family.
The Name Ida Mae Gray
Ida continued to be documented under her married name, Ida Mae Gray, throughout her later life.
Social Security records include an update under the name Ida M. Gray in March 1981. Rather than representing another marriage, the surname Gray reflects her marriage to Isiah Gray.
The appearance of “Gary” in the 1950 census should therefore be understood as a record error or spelling variation rather than evidence of a separate family.
Returning to Mississippi
Although Ida spent part of her adult life in Ohio, she eventually returned to Mississippi.
In her later years, she lived in Lake, Scott County, only a short distance from the Newton County communities where she and her brothers and sisters had grown up.
Her siblings’ obituaries help document her return.
When her sister Armanda “Mandy” Harris Evans died in 1991, Mandy’s obituary identified Ida Mae Gray of Lake, Mississippi, among her surviving sisters.
More than a decade later, when her sister Virgie Mae “Pie” Harris McDaniel died in 2002, Ida Mae was again named among the surviving Harris siblings.
These records show that after years away from Mississippi, Ida had returned to central Mississippi and remained there into old age.
Death and Legacy
Ida Mae Harris Gray passed away on October 26, 2004. Based upon her age in the 1920 census, she was approximately eighty-six years old.
Her final residence was recorded in Lake, Scott County, Mississippi.
Ida’s life traced a path through several distinctly different places. She began life as a small child in the large farming household of Paul and Sarah Harris in rural Newton County. As a young woman, she moved to Hattiesburg, where she earned wages as a laundress. She later married Isiah Gray and established a home with him in Cleveland, Ohio.
Eventually, her journey brought her back to central Mississippi.
Ida’s story also illustrates the varied experiences of the children of Paul and Sarah Harris. Although they shared the same rural beginnings, their adult lives took them along different paths. Some remained near Newton County, while others moved to different parts of Mississippi or traveled north before eventually returning home.
For Ida Mae Harris Gray, that journey stretched from Newton County to Hattiesburg, from Mississippi to Cleveland, and ultimately back to Lake.
Her life connected the rural Mississippi world of her childhood with the broader migration experience of her generation, while her later years brought her once again close to the family and communities from which her story began.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1920 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Paul Harris household, Beat 4. Ida Mae Harris was enumerated at two years old in the household of her parents, Paul and Sarah Harris, placing her birth at approximately 1918.
- 1930 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, population schedule, Paul Harris household, Beat 4. Ida remained in her parents’ household, attended school, and was recorded as able to read and write.
- Social Security Administration, Applications and Claims Index, records for children of Paul and Sarah Harris. Records associated with different Harris children identify their mother variously as Sarah Boyd and Sarah Trotter. Sarah’s mother was Mandy Trotter, but the reason for the use of both surnames has not yet been established; therefore, Sarah’s maiden surname remains unresolved.
- 1940 U.S. Census, Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi, population schedule, Lake Street. Ida Harris was living in Hattiesburg and working as a laundress in a private household. The census records that she had worked fifty-two weeks during the previous year and twenty hours during the designated census week; it also documents her educational attainment through the eighth grade.
- 1950 U.S. Census, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, population schedule, 31st Street. Ida was enumerated with her husband, Isiah Gray, whose name appears in the record as “Ire L. Gary.” Family research establishes that these names refer to the same individual and that “Ire L. Gary” represents a misspelling or misrendering of Isiah Gray’s name.
- Social Security Administration, Applications and Claims Index, Ida M. Gray. Social Security records document her use of the married surname Gray, including a name record dated March 1981. “Armanda Evans,” The Newton Record (Newton, MS), November 13, 1991, 2; “Armanda Evans,” The Union Appeal (Union, MS), November 13, 1991, 8. Armanda “Mandy” Harris Evans’s obituary identifies her sister Ida Mae Gray of Lake, Mississippi, documenting Ida’s return to central Mississippi by 1991.
- “Virgie Mae McDaniel,” Scott County Times (Forest, MS), December 4, 2002, 2. Virgie Mae “Pie” Harris McDaniel’s obituary names Ida Mae Gray among her surviving sisters, documenting that Ida was still living at the time of Virgie’s death.
- Social Security Death Index, Ida Mae Gray, died October 26, 2004, last residence Lake, Scott County, Mississippi. Her approximate age of eighty-six in this biography is calculated from the c. 1918 birth year indicated by the 1920 census.
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