HAPPY DANCE TIME ~ What Have I Found?

Just a couple of days ago Cheri Hudson Passey published a blog post about her recent happy dance. Celebration Sunday-Genealogy Happy Dance: An Unexpected Find!

I hadn’t written a happy dance blog post in a while and I thought “wonder when I will find something worthy of a happy dance?”

Well, I didn’t have to wait long because I’m doing the Happy Dance right now.

I’ve recently been researching my maternal line, the Gillespie family.  In doing so, I’m trying to find out as much as I can about the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of my 3^rd great grandparents, Thomas Gillespie and Susannah Barrowcliff. To read more about them please click here 52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS–Week #2–Thomas Gillespie–My 3rd Great Grandfather-1794-1868

My most recent couple were Clifford George Gillespie, great grandson to the above mentioned Thomas Gillespie, and his wife Bessie Haydon Griffin.

I had located the burial for Clifford and his wife Bessie at Danygraig Cemetery, Risca, Caerphilly, Wales. I wrote a blog post about this discover Tombstone Tuesday Tombstone Tuesday - Clifford George & Bessie Griffin Gillespie - Danygraig Cemetery, Wales

I my quest to learn more about Bessie Haydon Griffin, I went to newspapers.com and hoped I could locate an obituary for her.  BINGO!  Mission accomplished.  But…..that wasn’t my happy dance moment.  Bessie died in 1965, but Clifford had died back in 1942.  Might there also be an obituary for him?

I entered his name on the newspapers.com website and up popped an article dated 2001. HUH? That’s 59 years after his death.Is this really my ancestor, Clifford Gillespie or someone with the same name?

(PLEASE CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT)

I clicked on that link/article (because that’s what we should do) and WOOHOO!!!!!

I CERTAINLY DID NOT EXPECT TO FIND THIS

An entire article, including a group photo, of a reunion of the Gillespie family!!!!

WOW! doesn’t even cover my excitement as I began to read.

In the article is described a chance meeting during a vacation in Italy, between 2 couples who both turned out to be descendants of Thomas Gillespie & Susannah Barrowcliff via Clifford George Gillespie and his wife Bessie Griffin!

https://www.newspapers.com/article/south-wales-argus/165972718/

South Wales Argus, 12 Nov 2001, page 30

Not only does the article describe the meeting, but it goes on to give a background of how Clifford came to Risca, Wales, married Bessie, where he worked and the names of all their children.  Happy to say I had all the children in my database. 

But, going further the article discusses the history of the Gillespie family coming to Tiverton, Devon, England in the early 1800’s.  Then goes on to name children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Clifford & Bessie. 

I saw the beautiful group photo and was thrilled to find that all the identities, row by row, are listed in the article as well. More dancing at this point.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

I will be continuing work on this family as I fill in names, gather evidence of relationships and learn more about them. 

I’d love to hear about your happy dance moment(s).  Please share them in comments.

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2025   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

SUNDAY'S OBITUARY ~ Susan Anne Gillespie, my maternal great grandmother (1860-1947)

Susan “Susie” Anne Gillespie, my maternal great grandmother, was born 18 Jul 1860 in England.  She is the daughter of Joseph Gillespie & Susan Burgess.  She was the eldest of 3 siblings; William Henry (1862-1911), Elizabeth (1865-1948) and Louise (1866-1950).

Susan immigrated to the U.S. from England with her parents and infant brother, William, in December 1862.  This is documented in the book Passage to America 1851-1869 – the record of Richard Elliott, Passenger Agent, Detroit, Michigan.  The family is shown on page 68.  This book is available on Google Books - Passage to America and on Amazon Passage to America.

Susan’s obituary is very short, but does contain good genealogical information.

Obituary published in the Detroit Free Press, 14 Nov 1947, page 33

Transcription

SMITH - Nov 12, Susie Milne, beloved wife of the late Clyde, dear mother of Joseph A. Milne and Mrs. Irene Milne Roe, sister of Mrs. James B. Verney and Mrs. James Forsyth.  Leaves 4 grandchildren.  Funeral services from McCabe Funeral Home, 18570 Grand River, at Glastonbury, Saturday at 2 p.m.  Interment Woodmere.

Susan became a widow when she was a few months pregnant with her daughter, Irene.  Her first husband, Andrew C. Milne, died of Consumption at the age of 36, in 1892. She did remarry 12 years later to Clyde J. Smith, in 1904, but was widowed again in 1927.

I have many photos of Susan.  One from when she was a young girl about 16, and many from the time she spent with her son, Joseph and family.

Left – photo of Susan at age 16, circa 1876 (according to back of photo)  On the right is a picture of Susan with her infant daughter, Irene and her son, Joseph circa 1894

The headshot on the left was cropped from a group photo from about 1911-1912.  The photo on the right is from 1934 and in it are L-R – my maternal great grandmother Florence Hunter Bowden Bell, my grandmother  Florence Bowden Milne, and on the right is Susan Gillespie Milne Smith.

I created a digital scrapbook page to honor Susan and her husband Andrew, and tell their story.

Susan lived 87 years.  Her mother lived 92 years. My maternal grandmother, Florence Bowden Milne lived 98 years and my own mother Patricia A. Milne lived to be 91.  Based on this genetic propensity I am trying to take good care of myself.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

CENSUS SUNDAY~ My 2nd great grandparents Joseph & Susan Gillespie–1900–Detroit, Michigan

TREASURE CHEST THURSDAY~The marriage record of my great grandmother, Susan Gillespie and her 2nd husband, Clyde J. Smith - 1904

If you are related to or connected to anyone in this blog post, please get in touch.  Let’s exchange information.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2022   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

 

SUNDAY’S OBITUARY ~ Susan Burgess Gillespie–my maternal 2nd great grandmother (1841-1933)

My maternal 2nd great grandmother, Susan BURGESS was born 20 Nov 1840 in England (no specific location known).  She was the daughter of Henry Burgess (about 1812-before 1875) and Elizabeth GAYDON (1813-1884).  She had two known siblings, William and John.

Susan immigrated to the United States on 23 Dec 1862, with her husband Joseph GILLESPE, two infants, and her widowed mother, Elizabeth Gaydon Burgess. This is recorded in the book Passage to American, 1851-1869, page 68, a record of Passenger Agent, Richard Elliott. 

At the time of her immigration Susan was 22 yrs. old, her husband Joseph was 25, infant daughter Susie was 2 years old and her infant son Joseph, 9 months old.  Other than the reference in the book noted above, I have not located an immigration record. 

Susan and her husband Joseph went on to have two more children, born in Detroit. Elizabeth in 1865 and Louise in 1866. 

Susan became a widow on 26 May 1908, when Joseph died at age 71.  She lost her only son, William Henry Gillespie just 3 years later in 1911. He was only 49 years old and left a wife and 3 sons. 

Susan lived for 25 years after the death of Joseph and was 92 when she died.  I am fortunate to have several pictures of Susan. 

Left to right - Joseph & Susan Gillespie with their great granddaughter Dorothy Milne circa 1907, Susan and Joseph with their granddaughter, Irene Milne circa 1910 and photo on far right is Susan age late 80's-90 standing on the left, the young child is her great granddaughter, Betty Jane Roe, the woman with the little girl is someone named Aunt Sally and the woman standing on the right is Susan's daughter, Susie Gillespie Milne 

We each have 16 2nd great grandparents.  Of those, I have pictures of only 5.  I feel quite fortunate to have those.  Depending on your age, you may have more pictures of your 2nd great grandparents.

At the top of this post, you can see the page from the scrapbook where the information about Susan Gillespie’s death was kept all these years.  I visited her great granddaughter Betty Jane Roe in 2009 and she was kind enough to share many family photos and articles with me.

Here is Susan’s obituary and below that, my transcription.

Obituary for Mrs. Susan Gillespie - Detroit Free Press, page 5 - 10 Mar 1933

Funeral services for Mrs. Susan Gillespie, for 70 years a resident of Detroit, will be held Saturday afternoon at 2:30 o’clock in the Church of the Messiah, Lafayette Ave. and E. Grand Blvd.  Burial will be in Elmwood Cemetery.

Mrs. Gillespie died Wednesday in the home of her daughter, Mrs. James Forsyth, at 1438 Helen Ave.  She was 92 years old.  Her husband, James [misprint, should be Joseph] died 25 years ago.  A son, William, formerly circulation manager of the Free Press, died 22 years ago.

Surviving are Mrs. Forsyth and two other daughters, Mrs. Clyde Smith of Detroit, and Mrs. James B. Verney, of Toronto.

I searched the Detroit Free Press for any articles that might have included Susan’s name.  Any societies she was a member of, teas or gatherings she attended etc.  I found none.  I have no idea about the details of Susan’s life.  What did she enjoy doing?  Who were her friends? 

I wish I had those answers.

If you are connected to anyone mentioned in this blog post, I’d love to hear from you.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks–Week #4–Elizabeth Gaydon Burgess–1813-1884–My 3rd great grandmother – this post is about Susan’s mother

SUNDAY’S OBITUARY ~ Elizabeth Gillespie Verney–my great grandaunt (1865-1948) – this is Susan’s daughter

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2021   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

MILITARY MONDAY ~ Locating a picture of Frank Gillespie (1894-1916) A young man who gave his life fighting in World War I

I wrote a post about Frank Gillespie, my 2nd cousin twice removed, back in 2019.  You can read that post here MILITARY MONDAY ~ FRANK GILLESPIE–Killed in action in France during World War I–age 22

As genealogists it’s always our hope to connect with other descendants and share information.  I have found, over the years, that my blog has allowed me to do that on numerous occasions.  This past week was one of them.

I received an email from a lady named Marion, who said she was researching her family for veterans day, specifically the Gillespie line, and came across my blog post in a Google search.

We are 4th cousins, descending from my 3rd great grandparents, Thomas Gillespie (abt 1792-1868) and Susannah BARROWCLIFF (1791-1876), both from England.  This couple had 11 children, ten boys and a girl.  Marion descends from Robert Gillespie (1827-1869) and I descend from his brother Joseph Gillespie (1837-1908).

I responded to Marion’s email right away and we quickly began communicating, even though we are on different continents in different time zones.  What fun!  She shared information that I didn’t know about this Gillespie line and I was able to share some photos with her.

One thing she did share with me was a link to a website honoring young men and woman from Grangetown, Wales, UK who served in the military.  One of those young men was our cousin Frank Gillespie.  She sent me a link to the website and I was able to see what they had for him and that included a picture.  Here is a link to that website Grangetown at War and here is a link to the specific page about my cousin, Frank Gillespie The Grangetown men who died at the Somme.  FYI – I had visited this website back in 2019 and hadn’t located this information.  It was kind of buried within the site.  I use CNTRL F when I want to search a website.  However, if a particular name is on a page accessed from a link within the website, you won’t find it.  A big thank you to Marion for pointing me to that specific part of the site.

If you have a moment please read about the other young men from Grangetown, who lost their lives and are honored on this page.

(You can click on any image to enlarge it)

Here’s a transcription of the short biography from the image above.

GRANGETOWN MEN WHO DIED AT THE SOMME

On 1st July 1916, the British Army suffered its largest number of casualties in one day - nearly 55,000, including 20,000 deaths. The first battle of the Somme carried on for four months. In those first few days though, 18 men from Grangetown died. Here are a few of their stories.

Private Frank Gillespie was your typical Grangetown soldier in many ways. He was 22 years old and newly married when he was sent to France for the final time. He lived with his parents in Knole Street – number 36 – and worked down at the Docks. There was an engineering firm called Loveridge in Hannah Street which made equipment for ships and he was a smith’s striker. Hot work.

He was the eldest of 10 brothers and sisters, the son of a Somerset man who had also worked in the shipyards. Frank enlisted as soon as he could at the start of the war as a 20 year-old. He joined the South Staffordshire Regiment. He had been invalided home twice, before the Battle of the Somme. Frank married around the time his baby daughter Ellen was born in March 1916 but he was soon forced to leave his wife Agnes at home and was back over to France.

The South Staffs were in the 7th Division, 91st brigade – and part of a diversionary attack on Gommecourt, north of the main Somme battle early on the morning of Saturday 1st July. The Germans were well dug in to withstand the artillery barrage and responded with machine gun and rifle fire. Frank was one of those missing presumed dead.

Here is the photo of Frank downloaded directly from the site and enlarged.  You can see how grainy it is.

I used Photoshop Elements and the Filter>Gaussian Blur option to smooth it out a bit.  Smoothing too much caused blurring.  Only slightly improved from the original.

I still wasn’t happy with the results.  I’m no photo restoration expert, that’s for sure.  So, I thought I’d upload it to MyHeritage and use their enhancement feature.  I was happily surprised to actually see this young mans face.  Granted it’s not the best and I’m sure someone with more skills could probably do better.

What mattered to me was actually being able to see his eyes and face more clearly.

To all of Frank’s cousins, his daughter Ellen and any descendants, I hope I’ve honored him here today.

If any of you are connected with this GILLESPIE family or the BARROWCLIFF line, please get in touch.  I respond to all comments and emails.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ My maternal 2nd great grandparents–Joseph Gillespie (1837-1908) and Susan Burgess (1841-1933)

Far left is Susan Gillespie, next to her Joseph Gillespie - the larger stone is their daughter, Louise Forsyth & her husband James F. Forsyth - the lone stone on the right is Susan Gillespie's mother, Elizabeth Gaydon Burgess (1813-1884) 

My maternal 2nd great grandparents were both born in Devonshire, England.  Joseph in Tiverton and Susan in Barnstaple. 

They immigrated to the United States in 1862 with their 2 infants, Susan (my great grandmother) and little William.

Joseph died at age 71 on 26 May 1908 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan.  His death certificate states the cause of death as Dilation of the Heart.

Susan outlived him by 25 years.  She died of Myocarditis, on 8 Mar 1933 in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan at age 91.

They are buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.  I’ve been to this cemetery a couple of times during my visits from California.  There are 32 members of my family at rest in this cemetery.

Here are the photos of their headstones

They are in Section O, Lot 53, Graves 14 & 15. 

You may visit their memorials here Joseph #21177918 and Susan #21177747.

If you are connected to this couple I’d love to hear from you.  Joseph had 9 brothers and a sister so there must be many descendants out there.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

I wrote about Susan’s mother here - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks–Week #4–Elizabeth Gaydon Burgess–1813-1884–My 3rd great grandmother

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FRIDAY FINDS ~ The burial record for my maternal 2nd great grandaunt, Mary Ann Gillespie Addicott–1829-1898, England

Mary Ann Gillespie was the only daughter of Thomas Gillespie & Susannah Barrowcliff.  She had 10 brothers.  She was the 8th child.  What must that have been like?  Such a very busy and full household. Her oldest brother would have been about 12 when she was born and the youngest just 2 years old.  After her birth in 1829 her parents had 3 more sons.

Mary Ann’s parents are my maternal 2nd great grandparents and I descend from her younger brother Joseph Gillespie.  You can read more about Joseph & his family here Census Sunday - My 2nd great grandparents - Joseph & Susan Gillespie - 1900 Detroit, Michigan

It’s not been particularly easy finding information on all of the children in this family.  I’ve been fortunate on some and come up empty on others.

 

My first inkling that I’d located Mary Ann as an adult came when I found her mother, Susannah, living with her and her husband in the 1871 census.

 

TIP: I cannot tell you how many times I’ve located my female ancestors because they had a parent living with them.  Keep an eye out for all members in the household and be aware that family members may well be listed as “boarders.”

Today, though I want to talk about the burial record I located for Mary Ann.  I found the record on Ancestry.com Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914.

The record doesn’t give me a lot of information, but I do know that Mary Ann and her husband, William were living in Somerset when they were enumerated in 1871, 1881 and 1891. William was a Day Laborer.

Here’s what the record tells me:

• Page 70 – Burials in the Parish of Huish Champflower in the County of Somerset in the Year 1896-7-8-9.
• No. 559
• Name – Mary Ann Addicott
• Abode – Wiveliscombe Without
• When Buried – September 1st
• Age – 67
• By whom the ceremony was performed – Walter C. Haines (officiating minister)

Naturally, when I found this record I was obliged to find out a little more about Huish Champflower.  My search found the following information on Wikipedia

History
The name comes from the hiwisc, the Saxon for homestead, and it was recorded in the Domesday book as Hiwis,[2] with the suffix marking its ownership by the family of Thomas de Champflower, who was Lord of the Manor by 1166.[3]

Just outside the village, on the road to the Brendon Hills and Clatworthy Reservoir, is Huish Champflower round barrow.[4]

The parish of Huish Champflower was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.[5]

A house called Washbottle, which stands on the River Tone as it flows through the village, represents the watermill which ground the corn for the village from 1086 until World War I.[3]

I used Google Earth to find the exact location of Huish.

 

Here’s a map showing an aerial view.  This certainly looks like a quaint little village and a place I’d like to visit.

Here is a map showing the placement of Huish in the United Kingdom.

This burial record does not list the name of the cemetery.  I have searched online at all the usual sites, FindAGrave, Billion Graves and Deceased Online for any further information on Mary Ann’s burial.

   

I do suspect that if I could locate Mary Ann’s burial, I might well locate other Addicott or Gillespie family members.  I’ll keep looking from time to time and hope eventually I can locate the burial site.

NOTE:  One thing I did do when looking at the aerial view of Huish, was to find the local church, St. Peter’s.  I thought I saw a cemetery on the church grounds.  I then went to Google and searched for the church and sure enough, there is a cemetery there.  Could this be where Mary Ann is buried?  Here’s a link to the pictures I found St. Peter's Church  And, I did then locate the church cemetery on FindAGrave, but with only 3 memorials added.  Wouldn’t this be a great project?    Walk the cemetery and document all those headstones.

If you are related to any of the families mentioned in this blog post, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION