A Gallup Puzzle (in Nebraska)

When I first started piecing my own Gallup family together, I found an “odd” Gallup that I couldn’t put within my own Gallup line.  My grandmother used to talk a lot about her Aunt Lila.  My grandmother never knew her natural grandmother…but she did know her step grandmother very well….and her step grandmother’s relatives became my grandmother’s relatives. (Tamsey Perry m. George Christian Shawver and became my great grandmother’s step mother) So…I understood how Aunt Lila fit (she was Tamsey Perry Shawver’s sister, but how did her husband, Albert Gallup?

Lila Corine Perry was born 7 Jun 1878 in Bridgewater, Adair Co., IA.  She was the daughter of Joseph Henry Perry and Sara Ada Drake and was the fourth oldest in a family of seven.  Lila married Albert George Gallup on 19 Dec 1896 in Monona Co., IA.  By 1910, Lila was living in Burt Co., NE with her growing family.  There were a multitude of Gallup’s living in Burt Co., NE and I am sure that Albert knew the family.  I assumed that he was connected to my Gallup branch either through Silas Gallup and Phoebe Montanye or James Ebenezer Gallup and wife Ella Bacon.  To my surprise he was not connected to either family…at least not closely.

One thing that the search for Albert Gallup did for me, was force me to fill in the blanks as much as possible.  This assured me that Albert was not a close connection, so now it was time to approach him as I would any other genealogical mystery.  My first step was to check the census records.  I located Albert in Fairbank, Buchanan Co., IA in 1870 as a two year old with his parents Weldon Porter Gallup and mother Mary.  I found that Weldon Porter Gallup was born in Italy, Yates Co., NY.  As a young man, he moved to Mercer Co., PA and married Mary Ann McGranahan on 30 Mar 1863.  Unfortunately, this bit of information did not immediate connect me back further into the Gallup line.  I have Gallup’s dating back to my ancestor, John Gallop b. 1591 in Mosterdon, Dorset, England who was married to Christobel Bruschett.  John Gallop arrived in Boston on the Mary and John in 1630.  I am descended through his son, John Gallup (m. Hannah Lake) who moved to Connecticut.  My Gallup’s moved from Connecticut to New York in 1796 and my Gallup branch left New York in 1887 for Nebraska.  Weldon Porter Gallup didn’t fit in with the descendants of John Gallup and Hannah Lake.  In the nine generations from John Gallup to myself, Weldon Porter Gallup didn’t fit.  He was part of my Connecticut branch, nor New York and certainly not Nebraska.  So, it was time to see if I could take him back a bit further.  My 1987 Gallup genealogy only took him back one further generation – but that was the important key.

Back in 1997, I was unemployed and bored, so I input all of the 1966 Gallup genealogy into my database.  Since that point, I have communicated with a lot of researchers and the majority of them are descended through the John Gallup (m. Hannah Lake) line.  When I referred to the 1987 Gallup genealogy, I found an entry for Weldon Porter Gallup and his father William Weldon Gallup but nothing further.  I found an entry in my database of a William Weldon Gallup.  William Weldon Gallup was also born in New York, traveled to Pennsylvania and was buried in the same county in Iowa that Weldon Porter Gallup married his wife.  After connecting with other researchers, I had finally connected Albert George Gallup to his Nebraska distant cousins…and it stretches back many generations before they meet: 

Here is Albert’s line:

• Albert George Gallup m. Lila Corine Perry
• Weldon Porter Gallup m. Mary A. McGranahan
• William Weldon Gallup m. Minerva Mary Holcomb
• Joseph Gallop m. Jerusha Treat
• William Gallop m. Hannah
• Benjamin Gallup m. Theoda Parke
• John Gallup III m. Elizabeth Harris
• John Gallup m. Hannah Lake

My nearest direct Gallup ancestor (with that last name) is Edith Phoebe Gallup my great great grandmother who was married to Orlando Gage.  Here is her line:

• Edith Phoebe Gallup m. Orlando Gage
• Silas Gallup m. Phoebe Montanye
• Ebenezer Gallup m. Susan Harden
• Silas Gallup m. Sarah Gallup
• Nathaniel Gallup m. Hannah Gore (Silas’ parents)
• Nathan Gallup m. Sarah Giddings (Sarah’s parents)
• Nathaniel Gallup m. Margaret Gallup (Nathaniel’s parents)
• Benadam Gallup , Jr. m. Eunice Cobb (Nathan’s parents)
• John Gallup III m. Elizabeth Harris (Nathaniel Sr’s parents)
• Benadam Gallup m. Esther Prentice (Margaret Gallup’s parents)
• Benadam Gallup m. Esther Prentice (Benadam Gallup, Jr’s parents)
• John Gallup III and Bendam Gallup are both the sons of John Gallup m. Hannah Lake

I must say that Albert George Gallup’s line is much easier to spell out than mine.  Edith’s parents are buried in Lyons, Burt Co., NE with many of their children also in the same cemetery.  Albert and his wife, Lila are buried about fifteen miles away in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Decatur, Burt Co., NE.  My genealogy programs tells me that my great great grandmother Edith and Albert Gallup were half 5^th cousins.  I suspect that the Gallups in Burt Co., NE never knew what their family connection was with Albert Gallup.