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I'm looking for my father who may have been a pilot who was killed in the first quarter of 1945 in England. Here's the story: My mother ran away when she was 16 and married a man who reportedly flew off to England within two weeks of the wedding. She lived in Elyria Ohio. My grandfather had the marriage annuled. When it became apparant that she was pregant, my grandfather disowned her. She went to live in an unwed mother's home in Cleveland. When she had me in October of 1945, my grandfather took me from her without her consent and gave me to his lawyer who had also arranged for the annulment. My adoptive father sealed up all the records so I still can't get to them. I just found my mother's family in time for Thanksgiving last year - her birthday. Unfortunately, my mother died last July, before I could get to her. My sister tells me that my mother and her second husband spent many years and thousands of dollars looking for me, without success. They got close to me once but my adoptive parents took me to Arizona, where I grew up. My sister once knew my father's name but she lost it. She thinks his name may have been Gilchrist, from the Cleveland area. I have thought of starting to call all of the Gilchrists in that area, but I hate to upset families when I have so little to go on. My mother's name was Nancy Ann Briggs. My birth name was Carolyn Lee Briggs. If my story rings a bell, could you let me know? Any help you could give me would be very much appreciated.
Here is some of the information that I have collected on the Gilchrist of Mississippi. My Great-Great Grandfather was John Gilchrist. I have no record of his birth or death. I only know where he is buried. He had 9 children. They are Frank, Millard, Whatt, Carmack, George, Minnie, Mary, Innar, and Emma. My Great Grandfather ,Frank Gilchrist, was born on 3 August 1885 and died 24 December 1924. Frank had 3 children. They are Lonnie, Roxie, and Opal. My Grandfather, Lonnie Cleveland Gilchrist, was born in 1908 and died 21 August 1981. Lonnie had 3 children. They are Lonnie Jr.(L.C.), Ann, and Josie. My Father, Lonnie Cleveland Gilchrist Jr., was born 7 May 1945 and is still living. Lonnie(L.C.) had 3 children. They are Belinda, Rodney, and Ronnie. I am Rodney Gilchrist and I was born 24 September 1968. I have 1 child and his name is Nicholas Ryan Gilchrist. He was born 29 March 1997. I am looking for information from anyone about a John Gilchrist who came from ????? and end up in Iuka, Mississippi. Thanks for including me on your email listing.
The
FAMILIES
of
William and Alexander
GILCHRIST
of
Kilsyth, Scotland
and
West Charlton, N. Y.
AND
As Part II, a complete list of the descendants of JOHN
GILCHRIST, JR. (a grandson of William)and his wife,
Jane Ann Mairs Gilchrist; who, together, constitute one
of the four American Gilchrist families which can trace
to these Scots-born brothers, and their Scottish ante-
cedants.
by
James Montgomery Gilchrist, Jr.
1964
(One hundred copies printed)
>>>>>>until we put it on the internet!!!
PREFACE
Last year I compiled "The 1963 Descendants of James Mairs and Mary Lucinda
Foster GILCHRIST", my grandparents.
Grandmother had three older half-sisters. Only one had descendants and that
entire line died with Granville F. Ingraham in 1927. All are buried at Oak Woods.
Grandfather, a great-grandson of William, had a brother and two sisters.
Because I have enjoyed the descendants of these kin whom I have known; the
next logical step seemed to me to be to compile a list of all my Gilchrist great-
grandparents' descendants with the towns where they live.
Researching for this purpose; I have been able to delve into material in a 14av
I could not earlier, much of it coming to hand only as my earlier work was being
finished and still more only recently. As I did so, it became clear I could do
better than my original intent. Clarifying back to William and Alexander, so far
as my material permitted, became a possibility; and of interest, if only so that
we might know with which other Heirs-of-the-Name we might have American
connection.
Reversing the starting order, the historical descent to John Gilchrist, Jr. is
Part I and the list of his descendants is Part II.
This work could not have been written except for the careful, thoughtful
scholarship Harriet Foster Gilchrist put into her 1915 Foster-Gilchrist Book. The
Gilchrist half of her book contains much on the Mairs-Montgomery and other
connec-
tions through which we are allied to a variety of New York State families. To
confine this booklet to its purpose of tracing direct Gilchrist lineage, I have
omitted this collateral information.
The immediate background of Jane Ann Mairs Gilchrist is, however, in point.
(Note: For the benefit of non-family, M-a-i-r-s is pronounced MARS.)
Jane Ann was the sixth and last child of Thomas Mairs and his wife Margaret
Montgomery Mairs. Her brothers were Thomas and John. Her sisters; Margaret
(who
married John A. Gilchrist), Sarah and Maria.
Her father was a merchant who fled Ireland for political reasons with his wife
and two brothers, James and George, both Presbyterian ministers. James served the
Associate Reformed Church of West Charlton for forty years. George, similarly,
long-served the church at Argyle, New York where he, Thomas and Margaret
Montgomery
Mairs are buried. A Mairs sister, Sarah, married Thomas Crothers of West
Charlton.
Margaret Montgomery Mairs was the daughter of William Montgomery, a
barrister
of Armagh. A brother, also William, was later a barrister in charge of the affairs
of Castle Blayney. Her three other brothers came to America. Samuel and John
were
physicians in New York. Samuel was an associate of Valentine Mott and other dig-
nitaries; John, coming just before the 1812 War, signed on a warship which was not
heard from after sailing. All we know of the fourth brother is that he was the
father of Mrs. McDonough, and thought to have been named, George.
Except where noted, the family historical background is drawn entirely from
the Foster-Gilchrist Book, as are all quotations not otherwise ascribed specifically
or by context.
I am grateful, however, to Doris Bullard Duncan, Edgar Fitch Bullard and Howard
Bullard for reading what is now Preface and Part I in the second draft to assure
that the facts, and particularly the conclusions drawn in the absence of clear facts
relative to Alexander's line, accorded with their remembrance.
Their Grandmother, Sarah Maria Gilchrist Young, lived in West Charlton until
her death in 1927; and none of the rest of the living family has had so ready and
long-continuing access to the West Charlton and Galway communities.
The original William Gilchrist homestead -- which William had as a grant from
George III before the Revolution and to which he and Esther returned permanently
after the Revolution -- was last owned by Doris and John Duncan and did not pass
out of the family until about the time of John's death.
The material read by the Bullard cousins was read in its later form by the
senior born-Gilchrist of our line, Mary Lucinda Gilchrist. The term "born-Gil-
christ" is used only to indicate extent of association and possible memory. Her
brother-in-law, Harmon Potter, shared in the reading.
I am deeply grateful to these stalwart cousins for their co-operative interest,
help and encouragement; and, equally, for their suggestions and corrections.
Moreover I am also very much obliged to Edgar Bullard for sending, in addition
to the original of the document mentioned in the opening paragraphs of Part I
(which
I had first in photostat from Doris Duncan), several other interesting items, indic-
ative of the interests and activities of our forebear's community, and of their part
in them.
An 1853 notice of a pre-Convention meeting of the "Democratic-Republicans of
Charlton" to be held at the home of John Bowlsby for the selection of delegates is
of interest not only because of the Party name of that day but because Bowlsby
was
a son-in-law of the original Alexander.
In 1837, according to a receipt issued to him, John Gilchrist, Jr. bought two
shares of stock in the Galway Academy. In the same year he joined with others, as
a pledge-note indicates, to underwrite a subscription to the "Temperance
Recorder".
Other signatures include his father, or perhaps his uncle, John Gilchrist; his
cousin, William I. Gilchrist; and Dr. Finley McMartin, who, like Bowlsby, was a
son-in-law of the original Alexander. The F-G Book indicates that another of
Alexander's daughters married a Bell (but omits his first name) and mothered a
son, George Bell. A Horatio (W. or N.) Bell and a George Bell subscribed and
may
be this father and son, but that is not certain.
A bill by Isaac Putman to Rev. James Mairs for eight yards@ of tartan plaid
indicates a continuing interest in old-country customs; and two Cotillion invitations
to Miss Jane Ann Mairs in 1826 and 1827 indicate that these functions began in the
early afternoon, a rather sensible adjustment to the short Northern winter days and
the early-rising habits of a farm community.
Additionally, there is the commission of John Gilchrist to be a Judge of Saratoga
County executed in 1838 by Gov. Wm. L. Marcy, for whom Edgar says the
highest mountain
in New York State (and possibly East of the Mississippi) was named. The
commission
is authenticated, as Deputy Secretary of State, by Archibald Campbell, an uncle of
Dr. McMartin. Mr. Campbell later authored a letter to Dr. McMartin in which he
made
reference to Judge Gilchrist of which the Judge took such pride he made an
excerpt
of them in his own hand to pass down to his children.
This excerpt I already had from my father, along with John Gilchrist, Jr.'s
commissions as Lieutenant and Captain of Militia and several other items such as
my
grandfather's licenses as a young man to teach second-grade, an "appreciation"
penned
by his students and a letter he wrote Aunt Margaret Randles after the Chicago Fire.
These are, of course, but fragmentary glimpses into a total picture we can never
wholly reconstruct; but they certainly reflect industry and active participation in
the serious and pleasure purposes of the community, of which these folk could not
have been less than leaders.
It was Edgar, too, who reminded me of Mr. Carter's hand-written history of the
area to which he says both his grandmother and his mother contributed a goodly
portion of the information on our family.
I have never seen the book as Mr. Carter had already deposited it at the time
I met him. in 1936 through the advance courtesy of Edgar's mother, Jean Y.
Bullard.
I cannot remember an afternoon with a more aware and informed person; and, for
all
his years which were then considerable, Mr. Carter's fund of knowledge and grasp
of
it -- from what he could give me in so short a time -- seemed formidable.
I have not been able to locate Mr. Carter's history. It is believed to have
been in the collection of Henry Ritchie, Charlton Historian, who died last year.
New York State Library, Division of Manuscripts and History, Albany, may shed
some light when the University reconvenes.
x x x x x
Credits for Part II appear in that section at appropriate places.
x x x x x
I thank Mr. William Garth Gilchrist, Jr. of Jackson, Mississippi for letting
me use the general Scottish background information which was the introductory
portion of a paper he prepared early this year for his family.
I have never met Wm. Garth, though we have had the most pleasant sort of
corres-
pondence over the past five years. There is absolutely no indication in our records
of any American blood-tie with his family, which has lived almost entirely in North
Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. See, however, page 10 for an interesting last
minute development.
Two other items of interest to our family I draw from his letters:
(a) His initial ancestor, Malcolm, son of Angus Gilchrist, was born in Cantyre
(now Kintyre), Scotland in 1744 and came to America in the same year as our
ancestor,
William, 1770.
(b) All my life I have heard -- always as an oral account without substantiating
evidence -- that, when our ancestor came, there were two ships carrying Gilchrists
which left Belfast and became separated by storm in mid-Atlantic, one landing near
the mouth of the Connecticut River and the other on the North Carolina coast. It
made a good yarn; but, because there was no substantiating evidence, I always
thought
it must be at least part-apochryphal. In a recent letter, Wm. Garth gave me the
identical story, except the northern landing was on the New Jersey coast!
As in our family, it has been in his an unsubstantiated word-of-mouth recitation.
I am persuaded that no story which survives 190 years of near-identical oral recita-
tion in two widely separate families can be apochrypal.
x x x x x
The following quotation, from The Daily Scotsman for January 12, 1950, was
preserved by my father:
"GILCHRIST: From the Gaelic, "Gille Criosd", meaning "Servant of Christ".
As a personal name it appears early, a Gillecrist MacCormac being found
in the Book of Deer in 1132. Kilschyn Gilchrist, who rendered homage to
Edward I in 1297, must have been among the first to bear it as a surname.
Clans and tartans given are MacLachlan and Ogilvie."
(NOTE: In Part I our quoted ancestor gives an earlier date.)
x x x x x
From a Clan Map, of current Scottish publication (confirming that published
in Chicago Tribune 11/30/62),I find the MacLachlans an enclave among Campbells
on
the east shore of Loch Fyne near Strathlachlan, while the Ogilvies are shown on
the North Sea coast surrounding Banff and farther south in an area north and west
of Forfar (See Part III). I have never known whether we were MacLachlans or
Ogilvies, nor what the connection between those Clans might be, if any.
x x x x x
Like my work of last year, copies of this booklet will be deposited with:
Department of Historical Genealogy, Newberry Library, Chicago;
Regional History Collection, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
New York State Library, Albany, N. Y.; and,
Department of Archives and History, Atlanta, Georgia.
The last-named institution has micro-filmed the Foster-Gilchrist Book (of which
there are only three copies, so far as I know) for its collection and made me an
extra print which I have deposited at the Newberry Library in Chicago. I think that
the most centrally convenient place should other members of the family wish to
look
at it. I am also grateful, indeed, to Archives for the immense help it is giving me
in the preservation of documents. These will also be micro-filmed for its
collections,
though there will be some delay in completing this work.
x x x x x
A booklet such as this was a project my Dad looked forward to. He once
suggested
that we might some day do it together. I wish that had been so. I like to think some
"over-spill" of camaraderie from remembered joint-ventures with him has entered
into this work. Certainly, it has been more than enhanced by fragments of infor-
mation, documents and date lists he collected, compiled and preserved along the
way;
and by the family facts and legends he told me. The substance of these
things is woven through this account; sometimes with credit, more often without.
It was his hope, as it is mine, that a wider diffusion of knowledge of our
common heritage, and of those with whom it is shared, would enable us to enjoy
and strengthen each other more.
It would please him to know the work was done. That is my justification and
my recompense -- in full -- for having undertaken it.
James M. Gilchrist, Jr.
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
August 1, 1964
LATE DATA:9/15/64- Richard Carter's untitled notebooks may be seen at
the home of Mrs. Wm. Schwem, West Charlton (R.D.5,Amsterdam),N.Y.(Hwy.
67,1-1/2 mi. W. of Church) --- Saratoga County Historian,C.E. Rugg, Rte 1,
Schuylerville, has some census and cemetery data--- Area interest:
NYS Library suggests,"Stories and pictures of Charlton, N.Y." written
and published(1959) by W.Bronson Taylor, Twiddle Grove,N.Y.--- JMG,Jr.
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