 Records of McCay 's birth are not extant . He stated in an interview in 1910 that he was born in 1869 , and this is the year listed on his grave marker . Late in life , he told friends he was born September 26 , 1871 , in Spring Lake , and they published this information in a magazine . Michigan census records from 1870 and 1880 list a Zenas W. McKay , who was born in Canada in 1867 . No Canadian birth record has been found , and a fire in Spring Lake in May 1893 could have destroyed any American birth record he may have had . His obituary in the New York Herald Tribune stated , " not even Mr. McCay knew his exact age " . 
