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A summation of the lineage of Angus Gilchrist, by Kathryn Carlton French, April 1982
SOME DESCENDANTS OF ANGUS GILCHRIST
Angus Gilchrist was a tenant farmer of the father of John Ramsey
of Kildaton
Parish, near Cragabus, Isle of Islay, a part of Argyllshire,
Scotland.
The Gilchrists were a sept of the Maclachlans and wore that tartan,
Angus Gilchrist's
son, William, was a foot soldier in the army of the Duke of
Argyll.
William, also a tenant farmer of the Ramseys, married Sarah MacCuaig
She was of the
sept of McLeans of Duart, and wore that tartan. Rent payment
lists prove that
Angus and William were Ramsey tenants.
William and Sarah Gilchrist had three children born on the Isle of
Islay, John,
Jessie, and Margaret. In 1834 the Ramseys took over the farmland
for sheep raising
and William & Sarah and the three children emigrated to
Canada, going in
a sailing vessel. There they stayed first with his brother, a
miller, then went
by wagon to Oro Township, Simcoe County, Ontario. There
they took up free
land offered by the government and built a log house, still
standing in 1982.
The Gilchrist family owned this farm for more than one hundred
years.
Five more children were born here, Mary, Sarah, Catherine, Alexander
and Flora.
By Ontario law all children attended school to the age of 14 years.
The family were
members of the Knox Presbyterian Church which is still standing
in Oro In 1982.
William and Sarah MacCuaig Gilchrist are buried In the Knox
Church cemetary
with a marker.
John Gilchrist left home at the age of 14, to go to the United States.
He served in the
Northern Army in the Civil War for four years as an ammunition
carrier, and was
wounded twice. He was with Sherman on his "march to the sea".
After the Clvll
War he settled in Madison, S. Dak. where he was a successful
farmer. He
sent one son, George Edward Gilchrist, to Pierre University In
S. Dak., then to
Princeton Theological Seminary for two years.
The Rev. George E. Gilchrist had four children, Gladys G,(Mrs.
Albert Schraw),
John, the Rev. Curtis G., and Louella G.(Mrs. Floyd Cummings).
Louella wrote
that she remembers her grandfather, and that when he received his
Civil War pension
each month he would gather the four children of the Rev. George
Gilchrist around
and give each of them a one dollar bill. Louella has twenty-five
grandchildren,
and eleven great grandchildren, three of them adopted.
(All the above data as of April 1982, Mrs. French has since, passed away...)
MRS. KATHRYN CARLTON FRENCH
804 Ohio River Blvd.
Sewickley, Pa. 15143
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