Gilbert S. Hitchcock and Anastasia Blaney

Anastatia² Blaney (James D.¹)was the youngest of the Blaney children, born October 1854 in Buffalo, Erie Co. NY to James D. Blaney and Mary Ann McCourt. According to the 1880 census she was a music teacher and apparently was married to Gilbert Hitchcock about 1882. Statia died 9 July 1900 at the Buffalo Hospital of the Sisters of Charity of "cirrhosis of the spleen, chronic interstitial nephritis, (kidney disease) and nitral insufficiency." She was buried in the Blaney family plot in Holy Cross Cemetery in nearby Lackawanna.

Little has been found to date on Gilbert Hitchcock. According to the 1900 census, he was born January 1854 in Ohio. He made his first appearance in the Buffalo City Directory in 1880, working as a clerk. No record has been found at either St. Brigid's or Holy Angels Churches in Buffalo of a marriage between Statia and Gilbert. It is possible that they were married elsewhere, possibly Detroit, MI, since the birth of their first child, Gilbert, apparently occurred there. Their subsequent children were born in Buffalo.

Gilbert worked as a travelling salesman, which may explain why there is no record of his death in Buffalo. He is not buried in Holy Cross Cemetery with the Blaneys, an indication that he was likely a Protestant. He probably died within a year or two after Statia, leaving the four boys orphans. The children were raised by their Blaney godparents. Bert and Stephen were taken in by their aunt Alicia, Leo by Aunt Susan, and James by Aunt Aggie in Rochester. Family members recall that Aunt Alicia, found the boys quite a handful after years of living as a maiden lady.

Gilbert S. Hitchcock and Anastatia Blaney had the following children:
 

+	28	i.	Gilbert B. Hitchcock was born 17 July 1883 in Detroit, Wayne Co. Michigan.
+	29	ii.	Leo Carlisle Hitchcock was born 29 August 1886 in Buffalo.
+	30	iii.	James Blaney Hitchcock was born January 1894 in Buffalo.
	31	iv.	Stephen Blaney Hitchcock was born in Buffalo 25 December 1895. He died on 24 October 1912 of polio at the age of 16 and is buried in the Blaney family plot in Holy Cross Cemetery.

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