A Resource You Should Be Using…

Several years ago, I received a link to a new website that looked promising.  In the intervening years, it’s promise has been more than realized.  www.findagrave.com is one of the best free resources out there on the internet.  It brings together people who want to help others and those who are asking for genealogical help.  You might say it is a perfect marriage!

I am not as active on www.findagrave.com as I would like, but I have been a member for a few years now.  I’ve taken some photos for people locally and on one occasion I took a lovely walk through Spaulding cemetery and took photos of the stones.  It seems that so many of our families have spread throughout the United States and sometimes it is impossible to be able to visit all of the places that we would like in our genealogical pursuits.  I have had many people who have supplied me with information via Findagrave…but I’ve also been able to do the same for others. 

One of the gravestones that I had had been trying for years to get a photo of was that of my 2^nd great grandfather, Winslow Lonsdale Pope.  I knew where he was buried, but I had never been able to get to the area nor would I in the near future.  I first tried to get the photo many years ago when a genealogy friend promised me that she would go get the photo for me.  She lived close to the cemetery and enjoyed helping others, so she generously offered to take the photo when she got the opportunity to do so.  Unfortuanately, my friend got sick and died very quickly.  This was someone (Mary Floy Katzmen) was probably one of the most generous and helpful researchers that I have ever worked with and her website “The Original Johnson County Tennessee Genealogy Page” at http://jctcuzins.org/ was and continues to be a wonderful resource for anyone researching Johnson County, TN roots.  Anyway, one day I decided to post the request to have a photo taken of Winslow Lonsdale Pope’s grave.  Someone initially tried to find the grave and was unsuccessful and then later, a gentleman found the grave and took the photo and then took photos of all of the Popes that surrounded the grave and most of them were related to me as well.  He told me that he liked to take walks through the cemetery and enjoyed taking the pictures.  What a wonderful generous man!

Sometimes Findagrave can be a great resource for finding dates for individuals or searching through possible genealogical connections.  There are times when the information is incorrect – usually you can contact the contributor and these errors are corrected.  One of the great options is having the ability to connect relatives together.  As a researcher, when you find someone connected to their parents and sometimes this will take you to the grandparents – what a wonderful path to pursue.  So, I suggest you take some time and take a look at www.findagrave.com and perhaps even become a member.   There are requests sent all the time from people all over the United States who would just love to see a photo of a family member.  It is a  great feeling to get that heartfelt “thank you” from another researcher.  

Gallup Trails - Silas

Back in the late 1700’s, 4 brothers and a cousin moved from Stonington, New London Co., CT to Albany Co., NY and helped establish the towns of Knox and Berne, NY.  Silas Gallup and his wife Sarah Gallup – and yes they were second cousins. My great great great grandfather was named for this Silas Gallup who made the move from Connecticut to New York…and he made his own move from New York to Nebraska arriving by train with his four youngest children on Thanksgiving in 1887.

Silas Gallup was the second born son of Ebenezer Gallup and Susan Harden.  He was born on 2 Aug 1831 in Middleburgh, Schoharie Co., NY and died on 13 Sept 1897 in Oakland, Burt Co., NE.  As a young 28 year old farmer and schoolteacher, Silas married his 15 year old student, Phebe Ann Montanye on 12 Feb 1859 in Duanesburg, NY.  As the story goes, it was a custom to ring the school bell to announce the marriage – since no one paid attention; they kept their marriage a secret until the end of the school term.  Phebe was the daughter of Abram Montanye and Hannah Conover and was born on 12 Jan 1844 – ironically 168 years ago today in Glen, Montgomery Co., NY and she died on 21 Jun 1927 in Oakland, Burt Co., NE.  The big question is what prompted Silas and Phebe to move from New York to Nebraska? 

Silas never enjoyed good health in New York and was told by his brother that there was a more healthful climate in Nebraska.  I would also guess that their economic circumstances prompted them to make the move and make a new start.  Silas and Phebe’s youngest 4 children (Elizabeth b. 1877, Irena b. 1881, Alice b. 1883 and Hugh b. 1886) came with their parents to Nebraska.  Later they were joined by their children Albert and Susan who were both teachers, and Everette Henry who was a farmer.  Their oldest daughter, Edith Phoebe Gallup, refused to make the move as she was fearful of the Indians and instead stayed behind and worked as a teacher.  Later she married Orlando Gage and had children of her own…one of whom was my great grandfather, Ora Silas Gage.

I am not sure who arrived in Nebraska first – Silas or his older brother, James.  However, they both lived and died in Burt Co., NE.  Their father had made and sold Gallup Salve.  Both sons knew how to make the salve and made extra money making and selling the salve.  The recipe, as far as I know, has been lost…but I can remember my grandmother telling me that she remember the salve being used in the family when she was a girl.  I’m not sure that Silas every enjoyed good health even after his move.  He died in 1897 of cancer.   He is buried in the Lyons Cemetery in Lyons, Burt Co., NE and is buried next to his wife and son, Everette.  So…in 5 generations – my Gallup family moved from Connecticut to New York to Nebraska and eventually to Idaho.

  

The Gravestone

My mother was a young child when her grandfather died in 1945.  Mom had one memory of him.  She was trying to get across the living room and he sat in his chair and spit into the spittoon across the way from him.  Mom had cross his path to get to the other side – when she made the attempt, she got hit.  Not the most pleasant memory for a child of her grandfather.  A few years later, her own father was killed in a hunting accident.  Her mother and grandmother would make trips down to the cemetery to take flowers after his death on Memorial Day.  It really bothered them that my grandfather’s father had no gravestone and they decided to do something about it!  Grandma Cappy was fond of her ex father-in-law and didn’t like that none of his living children had put a gravestone on his grave.

In the spring of 1949, Grandma Cappy and Mom Friddle (Great Grandma Sophie) decided that they would make a gravestone.  They made a small form and poured concrete into the form.  Grandma Cappy then carefully wrote the name “John L. Tannahill” and his birth and death years.  They then left the concrete to cure.  That stone sat outside near the shed…I’m sure the people they employed as berry pickers were a little creeped out to see a gravestone and probably wondered if someone was actually buried there.  Memorial Day approached and they decided that it was time to place the stone.

Both of these women were under 5 feet in height and very petite.  However, they didn’t let that stop them.  Somehow they wrestled that stone into the back of the car.  When it was time to go down to the cemetery, Mom piled into the car as instructed and the flowers and several garden tools were added.  Mom found out in a short time, what those tools were to be used for.

 

The homemade gravestone made by my grandmother and great grandmother in 1949.

Grandma Cappy and Mom Friddle pulled up to the appropriate location and got out a shovel to start digging the area out to place the stone.  Mom’s eight year old mind was horrified.  What if someone saw them and thought they were grave robbers.  She got down on the floor of the car so no one would see her and think that she was involved.  Soon enough, the stone was wrestled out of the car and put in place – Grandpa Tannahill finally had a gravestone.

The new gravestone - placed around 2000.

As the years passed, it was obvious that the stone was deteriorating.  Mom talked about it with her cousin and they decided that they would purchase a new stone.  They talked to some of their other Tannahill cousins and pooled some money together and placed a new stone on the grave.  They did what their parents didn’t do…put a gravestone on their grandfather’s grave.  So when you go down to the cemetery today, that new stone is in place and the old one is now just a dim memory.  There are only a few of us who know the story of the Grandma Cappy and Mom Friddle making that stone and putting it in place.  It must have been quite a sight to see those two small women determinedly dragging that stone out of the trunk of the car and putting it in place.  Mom never saw them – she was still hiding!