My post today is a follow up to my post from May 29th, when I wrote A Mother’s Pilgrimmage – Bessie Cowen Gillen’s visit to the grave of Glenn C. Gillen – killed in action in World War I.
Glenn was the second oldest of 6 sons born to Elijah Cecil Gillen & Bessie Etta Cowen. This photo of Glenn C. Gillen was shared with me by Susan B., who is Glenn’s grandniece.
There was a Gillen family get together in Kansas, prior to Glenn leaving for his service in World War I. I suspect the photo above was taken during that time, as he is in, what appears to be, a uniform of some type. We have not identified the other people in the photo, yet.
Here are photos of Elijah and Bessie, shared with me by their great granddaughter, Susan B.
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This is another story about how Facebook has enriched my family history. I know Susan B. because she and I are members of the same Facebook group, The Lawrence Register. This is a group of people with ancestors that are from Lawrence County, Ohio. I cannot even tell you how much information is shared back & forth on this site. And, how many cousins I’ve met.
Susan B. and I are 4th cousins once removed and share 4th great grandparents.
Here’s a wonderful photo of most of Glenn’s 8 siblings. The only one missing is his sister Bessie. She would have still been alive, but wasn’t in the photo.
I bet Glenn would be glad to know that his siblings lived long lives and left many descendants. Here are their ages at their time of death:
Ross – 89, Laura – 88, Hazel – 93, Alva – 89, Alvis – 80, Ralph – 74, Carl – 92 and Bessie - 76
It’s a sad story about Glenn being killed during the war. However, by remembering him here, we honor his memory. And, having an actual photo of him is even better.
A huge thank you to my cousin Susan who shared these wonderful photos with me and gave me permission to use them.
If you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog post, please contact me.
Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright © 2010-2016 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION
Oh how wonderful to have that picture of him! And what a wonderful photo of the siblings all together, but what a shame to be missing Bessie! I wonder why some FB groups are so successful and others just not so much? It sounds like The Lawrence Register is a wonderful and has been a great source of help.
ReplyDeleteI was SO happy to have that cousin connection. She figured another cousin might have a photo and sure enough they did. I suspect it was taken at that family reunion they had just days before he left. So many young men killed in wars.
DeleteThanks for stopping by.