My Gallup Branch - Edith

The Gallup family is a huge and well researched family.  There has been a published genealogy on the family since 1896.  My particular branch of the Gallup family comes through my great great grandmother, Edith Gallup. 

Edith Phoebe Gallup was born on 28 Jan 1860 in Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., NY.  She was the eldest child of Silas Gallup and Phoebe Ann Montanye in a large family that included 12 children.  Edith’s parents married when Silas was 28 years old and a schoolteacher and married his 15 year old student.  As was custom in the day, Silas and Phoebe rang the school bell to announce the marriage and since no one noticed, they kept it secret. 

Edith became a schoolteacher herself and taught junior grades at the Quaker Street Academy as early as 1878.  She boarded with nearby families.  Her brother, Albert, left New York and headed towards Nebraska to teach there.   After being encouraged by both his brother James and son Albert, Silas packed up his youngest children and headed to Nebraska and arrived in Lyons, NE on Thanksgiving Day in 1887.  By the time they left, Edith had married a widower on 5 May 1886 whose wife had died shortly after the birth of their youngest child, Nellie.  Her death left Orlando Gage with four children all under the age of ten years old.   From what I have heard, Orlando and his wife’s family (Charity Hotaling) cared for the boys as they grew up.  The youngest child, Nellie, lived with her maternal grandmother. 

Edith Gallup as young woman - Perhaps her wedding picture.

Edith and Orlando had their first son on 10 Dec 1888 in Esperance, NY and sadly lost him when he was almost two years old on 12 Oct 1890.  Allen was in a walker and rolling under a kitchen table when he stood up and was killed by a nail that stuck out underneath the table.  My great grandfather, Ora, was their second son and was born in 1892.  Although he never knew his older brother, it was apparent that this horrific event was always on his parent’s minds.  Granddad would get very upset if he saw a toddler anywhere near to walking under a table.

Orlando Gage Family - about 1896 -  This picture was stitched together .  The photo was originally taken with  Edith and the children and Orlando was added in later.  Ora Silas Gage is the oldest child, the twins are Peter Z and Phebe Margaret and the youngest is Alice Irene Gage.

By the time Edith and Orlando had been married 10 years, they had four children of their own.  Granddad Gage was the oldest surviving child and then they had the twins Pete and Phebe, and their youngest, Alice, was born in late March of 1896.  Orlando and Edith had a small farm and Orlando worked for the nearby railroad as a carpenter.  They were respected within their small community and their church, and by the turn of the century they were most likely enjoying their life.  However, in the early spring of 1907, Edith took a fall.  I’ve heard several stories – but evidently she fell down some stairs and severely hurt herself.  She wrote the following letter to her mother in 1907.

Transcription of a letter written by Edith Gallup Gage to her mother, Phebe Montanye Gallup.

October 23, 1907

Dear Mother:

My twins are 13 years old today and a great deal of help to me.  Monday night after school the girls washed a large washing besides getting supper. (I don't pretend to do anything only what I can do sitting down.)  Tuesday morning they rinsed and starch the clothes done, did the morning work even to making beds and mopping and got things ready for dinner.  They baked (2 apple pies) and got to school in time they were up at half past four.  Orlando killed 5 pigs yesterday, 4 for market.  They only dressed 102 lbs. a price.  We kept one, sold them at Esperance and got 9 cents a lbs. They were late pigs, the last of April and only skim milk, so it was not so bad.  He thrashed in the afternoon, earning $ 5 and moved his machine today.  He is digging potatoes for us.  He won't have any nuts to send to send you as the squirrels and friends of ours are taking them when the children are gone.  Orlando is away thrashing and I can't stop them.  I can only teeter backward and forward when I try to walk so I don't try much anymore, the sides, back, and belly burns like fire when I try although the flesh feels ice cold, Orlando says, when you touch it.  I do not feel heat nor cold just comfortable when I lay still that is something to be thankful and I do not worry.  It will be and is all for the best.

       I hope you are better. Here is a slip of a pretty red geranium.  It is near time for the mail so I must quit with love to all.

Edith

In early January, Edith’s health was taking its toll and she contracted pneumonia and she died on 8 January, 1908.  Her death record says that she died of lobar pneumonia with a contributing factor of chronic myelitis which she had four 7 months.  She had had the pneumonia for only four days before she died.  Orlando did his best to take care of his wife and was able to make the arrangements for her funeral and then he too took to his bed with lobar pneumonia and died just eight days after his wife.    While Edith never wanted to come west, her children gathered their belongings together and boarded a train for Nebraska to live with their maternal grandmother.  In just eight days, Granddad Gage and his siblings had lost both of their parents and now their home and now traveled to Lyons, NE to start a new life.