Goodbye Aunt Mary Kay

Mary Kay - Graduation - 1962

We lost my aunt Mary Kay a few days ago to cancer.  It seems that cancer has taken far too many of our family members lately…but since we are from a large family – we must remember that with great blessings comes loss as well. 

My grandparents Frank Stewart Johnson and Helen Marian Gage were married in 1939 and by January 1946, they had had five children.  My father was the oldest and the only son (b. 1940) and then four daughters followed:  Shirley in 1941, Anne in 1942, Mary Kay in 1944 and Frances in 1946.  The longest distance between children was between Anne and Mary Kay – and while it might not seem that significant to most…it was definitive gap.  I’m sure when they were small that it must have felt like Dad, Shirley and Anne were almost “the three musketeers!” My grandparents had moved to North Dakota when they had married and their first three children were born there.  They came out to Idaho in early 1943 in the dead of winter.  I have often thought that it must have been difficult for my great grandmother not to get her hands on her first three grandchildren until they were a bit older.  Grandma Gage got to take care of those three grandchildren when their mother went to the hospital in Moscow, ID and had Mary Kay.  I’m sure it was a special occasion when Grandma Marian could present her newborn daughter to her mother.   

Mary Kay with her father, Frank Johnson

I can remember my Grandma Marian saying Gene, Shirley and Anne then the little girls.  I know from my own perspective as being the youngest of four, I used to feel left behind because I wasn’t quite old enough to feel included. 

Back Row - Gene & Shirley -
Front Frances, Mary Kay & Anne

Left to Right - Frances, Shirley, Mary Kay, Anne & Gene - Marian behind

I have often thought that Mary Kay must have felt that way – plus she was a sickly child and wasn’t able to play and do as much as her siblings.  Plus her younger sister was tomboy with a “large” personality and Mary Kay didn’t quite fit in with her.  It didn’t help that by the time she was seven or eight years old my Dad and Shirley spent a lot of time out working and she spent very little time with them.  They were all out of the house and married by the time Mary Kay was 13 years old.  It might have been easier to have the older siblings around since Mary Kay and her younger sister, Fran fought like cats and dogs.  They were supposed to do the dishes together after meals and quite often, my grandmother had to separate them.  In fact, I don’t think that they got along well until they were adults.  After my grandmother moved to Lewiston, ID from Canby, OR in 2001, I think that Frances and Mary Kay became as close as two sisters could be and were the best of friends.  It is amazing what time and love can do for a sibling relationship.

In many ways, Mary Kay was the most adventurous of her family.  She alone traveled outside of the Pacific Northwest as she joined the Air Force and later the National Guard.  She had experiences and met people that her siblings never had.  I don’t think that her life was easy and like most of us, she made some good and bad choices.  I know that towards the end of her life, her family became even more important to her.  Mary Kay enjoyed camping and fishing and made a point to come up to Idaho to go camping with her sister up on the Lochsa at Powell Ranger Station.  I don’t think that she had missed many of the bi-annual family reunions during the past 20 years and it was extremely important to her to not miss the one this past summer.

Despite being very weak and showing the ravages of cancer treatment, Mary Kay sat at a table with her children and grandchildren surrounding her.  I think that I will always think of the expression of peace and pride that I saw on her face.  In my mind’s eye, I think that I will remember Aunt Mary Kay sitting in her chair out by her Motor Home enjoying her morning coffee and the loving attention of her dog talking to each family member as they walked past.  Mornings on Hatter Creek were like that during family reunions – it was those quiet times when we would meet each other on our way to somewhere else.  I would like to think that Mary Kay was welcomed by her beloved parents and grandparents and when we have our next family reunion, she will join the others looking down with peace and pride at their family.  Mary Kay was a beloved mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, and niece to the many members of a large family, and she will be missed and well-remembered.

Taken in 2011 - Frances, Anne, Marian, Gene, Mary Kay & Shirley

Gallup Family Portrait

When I first started researching the Gallup family, I had a list of names that belonged to my great great grandmother's siblings.  However, I never had faces to put to the names.  A cousin gave me a copy of this photo several years ago, and since then I have seen many photos of these family members. 

I believe that this photo was taken around 1915 or so and most certainly taken in or near Lyons, Burt Co., NE.  Here are the cast of characters...

Back Row:  Irena Gallup (m. Frank King) , Hugh Gallup, Alice Gallup (m. Win Grenier), George Gallup, Everett Henry Gallup
Front Row:   Elizabeth Gallup (m. John Hanson) , Albert Burlingame Gallup, Phoebe Montanye Gallup, and Fanny Gallup (m. Theodore Robinson, Cyrus Montanye, & Henry Tabor)

Not pictured are Helen Gallup m. Joseph Brown - see below (Helen is at the top with daughter Helen Brown Noonan and her two children)  Phoebe Montanye Gallup on the right.

 



 

I don't have a photo of Allen Gallup who lived in New York, but below is  photo of my great great grandmother and her children. I would estimate that both photographs were taken around 1896.  The two children are the twins, Peter Z. Gage and Phebe Margaret Gage - the small boy is my great grandfather Ora Silas Gage and the baby is Alice Irene Gage and also Orlando Gage is in the top picture.

 

This Gallup lineage is as follows:

Edith Phoebe Gallup m. Orlando Gage
Silas Gallup m. Phoebe Ann Montanye
Ebenezer Gallup m. Susan Harden
Silas Gallup m. Sarah Gallup
Nathaniel Gallup m. Hannah Gore & Nathan Gallup m. Sarah Giddings
Nathaniel Gallup m. Margaret Gallup & Benadam Gallup Jr m. Eunice Cobb
John Gallup III m. Elizabeth Harris & Benadam Gallup m. Esther Prentice
John Gallup m. Hannah Anna Lake (John Gallup III and Benadam are brothers)
John Gallop m. Christobel Bruschett

John Gallop and Christobel Bruschett are my 10th great grandparents and were the immigrants to the New World...

The pictures above are the best photos that I have of my great great grandmother's family.  They have a long history in this country arriving in Boston in 1630 then moving to Connecticut and later New York and finally immigrating to Nebraska in the 1880's. 

My DNA Journey - MtDNA Results

I am interested in the science of genealogy research – I’m not sure I understand it as well as I should but I am certainly interested enough to dip my toe in the waters.  Earlier this summer, they had a special running on Family Tree DNA for a 12 marker MtDNA test which tests the maternal lines of an individual.  I must say that the results were surprising.

My maternal line goes thus:

• Carmen Maria Johnson
• Betty Jean Tannahill
• Capitola Esther Friddle
• Sophia Vestelle Dollar b. TN
• Buena Vista Bailey b. NC
• Mary Marguerite Church b. NC
• Asinith Jencie McCall b. NC

I can take it no further.  I believe that the nationalities that are associated with these lines are Scottish, German, and Irish and it really doesn’t go any further back than 1800 in North Carolina.  Understanding that these maternal lines go back much further and in fact go back thousands of years, it seems a poor listing of my maternal lines.  I must admit from experience that they can be very difficult to research – sometimes you have to just get lucky because you can’t find any other documentation that lists anything other than a woman’s married name.   Several years ago, I watched a documentary on National Geographic channel called “The Seven Daughters of Eve” which discussed the maternal lines that have emerged from the genetic testing that has been done.  It was based on a book by Bryan Sykes published in 2001 called The Seven Daughters of Eve. Now I want to go back and see it again – because now I have an idea which of the “Seven Daughters of Eve” is a matriarchal ancestor.

So, I just recently received my testing results and find out that I am from Haplogroup T2 and my ancestral matriarch is “Tara”  So…what does this tell me?  Someone from Haplogroup T has a European lineage and has an origin in the near east greater than 45,000 years ago.  In fact, according to what I read, my Haplogroup of T2 is considered to be one of the older lineages that may have been present in Europe and probably dated from the “Late Upper Paleolithic”…. translation – Late Stone Age.  So, my ancestors were probably cave dwellers who might have lived in Europe between 10,000 and 50,000 years ago.  According to what I found, about 10% of European ancestry traces their maternal lineage back to Haplogroup T.  According to the theory of Brian Sykes, my ancestral matriarch – “Tara lived about 17,000 years ago in the northwest of Italy among the hills of Tuscany and along the estuary of the river Arno.” 

Now, I am not quite sure that I know what this all means.  I know that they want me to do more testing, so I can go deeper into what branch or sub clade that I come from.  As I understand it, further testing has determined that there were most likely “additional daughters” that would definitely increase the number from seven.  When I go on the DNA website, the only matches that currently show up for my Haplogroup of T2 come from England, Ireland and the United States with the most being in Ireland. 

There are some generalities that I read that actually quite interesting.  The T Haplogroup is currently found in high concentration around the eastern Baltic Sea.  Wikipedia listed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia to be part of T2 which would also include most of the royal lines of Europe, because not only was his grandmother Victoria the ancestor of most of the European royalty she was also a descendant.  Jesse James was also said to be part of T2.  So…evidently I have royal cousins and criminals as distant relatives.  That sounds about right.

I suppose that I am going to have to find the money to do some further testing.  I am curious what it might tell me.  So, now I know my ethnic heritage (My DNA Journey - The Results) and now I am curious to dig a little deeper into that heritage to find out more about deep genetic roots that I would never find through documentary research.  All I can say is that I have a lot to learn!

A Tinkerer at Heart

My mother used to say that Uncle Bernard always gave her heart a little pang.  Not because he was incredibly good looking (although he was as a young man), but because he had a quirky smile that reminded her of her father who she lost when she was six years old.  I think that my Dad thought Uncle Bernard was one of the smartest and most interesting people he ever knew.

John Bernard Gage was the third of ten children.  He was called "Bun" by his family - which I think had something to do with his ears.  My grandmother was his older sister and she always said that she was especially close to Bernard when they were growing up.  He was her comrade and playmate and during their childhood they had many adventures in and around the farm at Mapleton, Iowa where they spent their childhood.  When they moved to Hatter Creek near Princeton, ID in 1935, Bernard enjoyed tinkering around the farm.  He made himself a gun that he used to hunt around the place.  This homemade gun is a bit infamous in the family - it had the name of Diploducus and many of the younger generation wonder if it is still back in the scrap pile behind Bernard's old place.

Bun and his homemade gun "Diploducus"

Because of some sickness and stubbornness, Grandma, Uncle Orland and Uncle Bernard all graduated from Potlatch High School in 1939.  I think they might have had a class of 20 and three of them were Gage's. When he heard that they were going to have the Tin Lizzy derby in Lewiston in 1939, he got is car ready to race only to find out that he couldn't drive it as he wasn't quite old enough yet.  So he talked his sister's fiance (my Grandpa Frank) to drive the car in the race, it is still one of my favorite pictures.

Grandpa Frank ready to drive Bernard's Tin Lizzy in the Derby in August of 1939

Bernard flying his Corsair over Emeraru

 It didn't take that long after high school for Bernard to become restless.  One day he took off and road the rails back to Nebraska and Iowa to work.  It took a while before his parents knew what had happened with him.  Just that quickly, he came back home and decided to sign up with the Marines in early 1940.  He lied about his age saying he was about a month older than he really was. 
Bernard began the great adventure of flying a plane and was an experienced pilot who had already flown missions over China when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  Bernard flew over 400 missions in a Corsair flying reconnaissance for the most part, but after the war was over - Bernard was ready to come home.

Bernard and brother Don and his Indian!

Bernard's younger brother still remembers the day that Bernard came roaring up the road on an Indian motorcycle.  I know for a fact that that motorcycle thrilled his younger brothers who were enthralled with the cool machine.  Bernard was home to stay and I don't think he ever wandered too far off the mountain for the remainder of his long life.  He might make a few visits to some places...but home was always calling him back.  His wandering days were over.  Bernard settled down with his wife and young family and farmed.  My Dad has always said that Bun was probably one of the finest mechanical minds he ever knew.  Bun could take an engine and make a few adjustments and tweaks and pretty soon it was running better and with more power.  I know that on one occasion, some guy wrecked his car on Hatter Creek and Bun bought the car from him.  All he wanted was the engine - he took the powerful engine that was in that car and put it in his tractor.  (Dad tells me that it was called the Olds Rocket 88) Then he put smokestacks along either side and one evening took it on its maiden voyage.  Down the road, Dad could hear the engine roaring and looking up at the horizon, he could see flames coming out of the smokestacks.  Pretty soon they just fell off...too much heat I guess.  Bun was always tinkering with something.  He got an old VW Bug frame and used it to try engines out for airplanes.

Bun and his VW test vehicle!

 Even towards the end of his life he still had the itch to tinker with an engine.  My brother bought an old tractor from another uncle and went by Bernard's before he headed home.  Bernard looked at the tractor and half jokingly said that he would be willing to make a trade.  He was willing to trade his tractor that had been already tweaked for an old one that needed work.  He got a new riding lawnmower a year or two before he died.  Bernard was quite seriously considering buying some 4 wheeler wheels for his tractor to give him better traction...and probably more power.

Bun trying to negotiate with my brother for his tractor!

Bernard was part of the "Greatest Generation,"  like many men who had military exploits in the war, he didn't really talk about them all that much.  Perhaps to his brothers or sons - but not for general consumption.  I'm not sure that he really understood a lot of his nieces...his nephews made more sense to him.  When it came time for a hug though...he was front and center with that wonderful twinkle in his eye and quirky smile.  I learned a lot about Uncle Bun when I was older and appreciated what he had done in his lifetime.   I learned not too long before his death that he didn't allow anyone outside of the family to call him Bernard or Bun and that he was instead referred to as John.  I didn't even know his real first name was John until I was an adult.  He was always Bernard or Uncle Bun.  There was nothing that Uncle Bun liked better than to work in his shop on his latest project.  When he got to the point that he couldn't do that anymore, I think that a lot of the fun of life left him.  Bernard never liked to leave his home and after he died, his brother and son scattered some of his ashes over the home place so he would never have to leave!

Grandpa Gage's School Picture

It is hard to believe that Granddad Gage was ever a little boy.  Several years back, I was delighted to find a school picture that had been taken about 1899 probably in Esperance, NY since that is where he is in the 1900 census.  It would have made him about seven years old.  What I really find remarkable about this picture is that all of the names are written on the back.  I don't think I did that well on my school pictures.  I'm sure there are a few cousins among these names but I've never quite pinned them all down.  Granddad Gage is the one on the bottom row on the far right with the arrows pointing at him.  I thought it would be fun to post the oldest school picture that I have!

From Pennsylvania to Kansas - Kelley trails

I've been interested in history for most of my life.  Some of my earliest memories involve sitting and listening to stories by my great grandmothers.  So a degree in History and later an obsession with genealogical research seemed to be a natural progression for me.  The older that I get and the more I learn about history, the more I am frustrated at the knowledge of History exhibited by many of the younger generations and many in my own.  My family stories are not necessarily unique, but I am certainly glad that I have taken the time to learn about them.

One of the topics that I remember studying a bit in high school was about the Cumberland Gap.  Essentially, I knew it was a pathway where immigrants coming in from the north would travel to the south and that Daniel Boone was one of those responsible for establishing the trail and that it was part of the Wilderness Road.  I didn't realize how much that passage way would impact my own family history.  I have family members that came through Philadelphia and stopped in West Virginia (Shawvers & Amicks) and I have families that continued clear down to the Clinch Mountain's in TN such as the Kelly's and Hammer families.

Kinchen W. Kelley was the son of Johnathan H. Kelley and Margaret E. Matherly  who were most likely Irish immigrants who came in through Philadelphia like many other immigrants from the Pre-Revolutionary War period.  Kinchen was born on 19 Jun 1759 in Pennsylvania and probably traveled down to Tennessee as a young man.  He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer in abt 1787.  I  believe from what I have read that the Hammers were already in Tennessee by the time that Betsy married Kinchen.  Like Kinchen, Betsy was born in Pennsylvania on 14 Dec 1764.  She was the daughter of John Melchior Hammer II and Maria Margaretha Kaupp who were both from Oberjesingen, Wurttemberg, Germany.  According to some sources, the Hammers traveled down about 1780 and settled near Knob Creek, Washington Co., TN.  The family got two land grants of 200 acres and had a home that was built at the first spring above Jonesborough.  John Hammer was an important man in the area - serving as a Missionary, Farm, Census Take, Property Assessor, Counter of Taxables and served on several juries.  In addition, he was appointed by John Sevier as a Magistrate after the State Constitution was formed. He died in 1817 and his wife, Margaretha died 10 years later in 1827.

When I first started studying the Kelley family, I talked to the granddaughter of William Kelley and Ailey Allen.  She was the youngest child of one of the youngest children of William Kelley and Ailey Allen and actually spent her young years on their farm.  Family legend said that William Kelly as a boy came to Clay Co., KY with his family probably in the 1840's.  They had a wagon that carried their goods...but the older children walked along side the wagon.  They came from the Clinch Mountains in Tennessee.  Researchers before me had pieced together that William's father John Kelley was the son of Kinchen Kelley.  This information seemed to be confirmed by a copy of Kinchen Kelley's will.  Even though it seems strange to have a John and Johnathan mentioned in the same will.  That seems to me to be practically the same name. The connection also seemed to confirmed to me by the prominent use of the name Kinchen within the Kelley family.

So, in just a few generations the Kelley family traveled from Pennsylvania (Kinchen b. 1759) to Tennessee (m. Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer abt 1787) and then moved to Clay Co., KY around 1840 (John Kelley & Elizabeth Hunter).  My Great Great Grandfather was the son of William Kelley and Ailey Allen and the grandson of John Kelley and Elizabeth Hunter.  John Ward Kelley moved his own family out of Kentucky and to Kansas and Oklahoma in 1885.  Sarah Rachel Kelley, John Ward's daughter, married John Lyons Tannahill and their son, Oliver Richard Tannahill was my grandfather.  My grandfather's family didn't stay that long in Kansas and Oklahoma and left in the 1920's although I don't think it was for better opportunity but rather running from the law...but that is a story for another time.

I wonder how many Americans who had ancestors who traveled the same pathway from Pennsylvania to Tennessee and how many have tried to trace that pathway back.  I'm not sure I would have ever known where the Kelleys and Hammers had lived if it wasn't for some genealogists and historians who spent time and effort to locate the Killey Cemetery in Knob Creek, Washington Co., TN (See Killey "Kinchen" Cemetery for more info)  Here is a link to Kinchen Kelley (Killey)'s gravestone on Find A Grave and that of his wife Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer.  Here is my Kelley Line:

Kinchen Kelley m. Elizabeth "Betsy" Hammer
John Kelley m. Elizabeth Hunter
William Kelley m. Ailey Allen
John Ward Kelley m. Melvina Robertson
Sarah Rachel Kelley m. John Lyons Tannahill
Oliver Richard Tannahill m. Capitola Esther Friddle
My Parents...then Me

The Winslow Connection

I still remember the first time I saw my great great grandfather’s name – Winslow Lonsdale Pope – and thought…if anything is a New England name…then that is.  Very quickly I found out I was correct.  Winslow was born in Weston, Drummond, Quebec but his family came out of Vermont and New Hampshire.  He wasn't even the first Winslow Lonsdale Pope in his family…he had an older brother with the same name who was born in 1839 but died in 1842.  My Winslow was born five years after his brother’s death on 1 Nov 1847.   I am always curious where names come from - and I knew the name of Winslow was pretty prevalent in New England.  After a bit of help from others and research on my own, I found out where that name came from.

Picture of Great Great Grandpa Winslow
 taken a week before he died in 1928.

Winslow Lonsdale Pope was the son of Francis Pope and Belinda Willey and Francis Pope was the son of Winslow Pope and Mary Wheelock.  This Winslow Pope was born 10 Aug 1770 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA to Seth Pope and Sarah Winslow.  So, as it was common to name a son from the mother’s surname, the Winslow name had a source and a New England source.  Now it was time to find out a bit more about Sarah Winslow.

 

Sarah Winslow was born on 19 Mar 1733 in Rochester, Plymouth Co., MA and married Seth Pope on 15 Mar 1752 when she was 18 years old.  She was the mother of seven children before she died on 20 Aug 1775.  She was the daughter of Edward Winslow and Hannah Winslow – 2^nd cousins who married on 14 Dec 1728 in Harwich Barnstable Co., MA.  Both are the great grandchildren of Kenelm Winslow and Mercy Worden.  I must admit that I am always a little dismayed to find ancestors who married cousins, but I've found a few who are much more closely related.  It seems that it illustrates the cruel fate that befell a lot of women – Sarah was only 42 when she died and her mother was only 34 years of age.  At least her grandmother, Bethia Hall (wife of Kenelm Winslow) lived to be 73 years old which was a grand age in 1745.  Unfortunately, Bethia’s daughter preceded her in death by just a few weeks.  When I look at the young ages of these women, it is hard to tell if their deaths were caused by childbirth, over work , or sickness – perhaps it was a combination of all three.

So, now it is obvious that my great great grandfather’s name comes from a well established and known family of New England.  While he was not descended from the Edward Winslow who was on the Mayflower, he was descended from his brother, Kenelm who  arrived a few ships later.  So, here is my Winslow line:

• Kenelm Winslow b. 1599 d. 1672 m. Eleanor Newton b. 1598 d. 1681
• Kenelm Winslow b. 1635 d. 1715 m. Mercy Worden b. 1640 d. 1688
• Kenelm Winslow b. 1668 d. 1729 m. Berthia Hall b. 1672 d. 1745 (Father of Hannah)
  & Edward Winslow b. 1681 d. 1760 m. Sarah Clark b. 1682 d. 1767 (Father of Edward)
• Edward Winslow b. 1703 d. 1780 m. Hannah Winslow b. 1711 d. 1745
• Sarah Winslow b. 1733 d. 1775 m. Seth Pope b. 1729 d. 1821
• Winslow Pope b. 1770 d. 1847 m. Mary Wheelock b. 1778 d. 1854
• Francis Pope b. 1812 d. 1888 m. Belinda Willey b. 1817 d. 1880
• Winslow Lonsdale Pope b. 1847 d. 1928 m. Nancy Ann Marie Lyons b. 1855 d. 1906
• Shirlie Louisa Pope b. 1881 d. 1927 m. Ulpian Grey Johnson b. 1881 d. 1927
• Frank Stewart Johnson b. 1914 d. 1975 m. Helen Marian Gage b. 1920 d. 2011 (My grandparents)