The History So Far...The New Beginning

During the time I took a break from posting on this blog, I was able to go back three generations on the Gilbertson line. I will explain what I (with the help of the staff of the British Floor in the Family History Library of Salt Lake City) discovered that broke the line wide open when I get to that part of the family, but for now I will again attempt to start at the earliest now-known Gilbertson ancestor.

We now go back to Joseph Gilbertson. I suspect that he is the same Joseph Gilbertson who was born the son of John Gilbertson in 1719 in Great Orton, but I have not been able to prove this yet. What I do know is that Joseph Gilbertson married his wife Mary Deans at St. Mary's Church in Carlisle, Cumberland, England, on 16 April 1748. Right now we only know much about two of the children of this union, the brothers named (surprisingly) Joseph and John. I am descended from John. Of the other six children, we know very little so far. I am hoping to get more information on them when I go down to the Family History Library again in two weeks.

The children are, in order:

(all events took place at St. Mary's unless otherwise noted)
1) John Gilbertson - christened 6 October 1748, buried two years later
2) Margaret Gilbertson - christened 1750, married John Hunter 1775
3) Joseph Gilbertson - covered next post
4) John Gilbertson - covered the post after Joseph's
5) Mary Gilbertson - christened 1757, married Thomas Strong 1778
6) Jane Gilbertson - christened 1759
7) Thomas Gilbertson - christened 1762
8) Ann Gilbertson - christened 1765, married John Curruthers 1788

(Source for all information was the parish records from St. Mary's as seen on microfilm stored in the FHL)

A Brief Intermission

It has been a long time since I last posted, but I doubt that too many people noticed, so hopefully those of you who did will forgive me.

Much has happened in my research since I last posted over a year ago, and much of it adds to or replaces parts of posts that I have already written. I am not sure if I will edit the posts and keep each one up to date or if I will simply add more posts every time I find more information, but what I do know is that I will be adding to this blog again. Now that I know that it is indeed searchable on sites such as Google (it didn't come up when I first started this blog), I feel that it is important to get my findings out for others to find. I wish that I could have done an Internet search for the information for which I have been searching, and I hope to be able to provide that for others.

Be looking for posts on a weekly basis. By next week I'll have figured out what I am going to do to keep this blog up to date.

The History So Far...Mary Gilbertson and Martha Gilbertson

Mary and Martha are the two children of John, Sr. that we know the least about. Mary is the second child of the five, while Martha is the youngest.

First we look at Mary. We know from LDS record extractions, that she was baptized at Carlisle, Cumberland, England at the Saint Mary parish on 9 Nov 1851. While no further information about the rest of the family has come about because of this discovery thus far, it does lend some credence to the information given on other sources that both John, Jr. and William were born in Carlisle as well.

Martha is in a similar boat. From the extractions, we find that she was baptized in Dalbeattie, Scotland, on 14 Jun 1859. The main gem in this record is that it does give the mother's maiden name. Her mother appears as "Elizabeth Kirkpatrick." This is a bit different than the name that has appeared on the other records we have found, namely "Kilpatrick" (pun fully intended). The names are similar enough, though, that there is little doubt that this is the Martha for whom we were looking. Alternate spellings can actually prove helpful in latter searches, giving us more possibilities of names for which to search.

Hopefully as we expand on what information we have and as more resources come to our knowledge, these two sisters will become less of a mystery and more a living part of the family.

The History So Far...The John Gilbertson, Jr. Family

We aren't necessarily sure exactly when John Gilbertson, Jr. was born. The censuses that were mentioned in the last post put his approximate birthday somewhere around 1849 to 1850 in England. On his death certificate, however, his birthday is listed as 26 February 1852. It's very possible, of course, that the date on the death certificate is a little off, especially since his birthday on the 1900 US Census (when he was still alive to be asked what his birthday was) is recorded as being February 1848. All but two of the records that we have that list his birthplace (including the marriage records of his children) list his birthplace as Carlisle, England. This seems highly likely considering we tentatively have found his younger sister Mary being baptized in Carlisle in 1851.

What we do know for certain is that he came to the United States between 1871 (when he appears on the Scottish Census) and 25 April 1873 when he files a declaration of intent to marry Abigail Florence Perkins at Rockland, Knox, Maine. One would assume that he arrived soon enough before then to at least meet his wife. We know that the two of them were married on 30 April 1873 in Rockland. We know that they then moved south to South Thomaston, where their first child, a girl, died 2 November 1873. Since John Gilbertson was known to be a granite hewer, it is assumed that he moved to where the jobs were located. His daughter Annie records on her marriage record that she was born on Dix Island where there was a mining operation. In 1880 he is shown as living with his family in St. George, Maine, where granite mining was an industry. Finally sometime before 1887 he moves his family to Barre, Vermont, which is word-famous for its granite. There he spent the rest of his life working until he died there on 4 Dec 1906 of a "cerebral hemorrhage."

Abigail Florence Perkins, who went by Abbie, was the daughter of Joseph Wardwell Perkins and Emma Jones. She was born on 25 Dec 1849 in Maine, according to her death certificate. It has been difficult to pinpoint where in Maine, but most of the information seems to point towards somewhere in Waldo county. After her husband died, she continued to take care of the family. She has four family members living with her in 1910 (David, Hannah, Hannah's husband, and a nephew), and in 1920 she has her grandson John Edward Hall living with her. She died 8 Aug 1925 of liver cancer.

John and Abbie had eight children together, seven of which lived to adulthood. The children, who will be individually covered in later postings, are: an unnamed daughter (died 2 Nov 1873 in South Thomaston, Maine), William John (born 14 Oct 1874 in South Thomaston), Mary E. (born about 1877 in Thomaston, Maine), Annie Florence (born Oct 1878 on Dix Island, Maine), Georgia E. (born Nov 1881 in Maine), Joseph Wardwell (born Jan 1884 in Belfast, Maine), David McKnight (born 5 Jul 1887 in Barre, Vermont), and Hannah Phebe (born Sep 1891 in Barre).

The History So Far...The John Gilbertson, Sr. Family

The beginning of our knowledge of the Gilbertson family begins back in Scotland, where we find them in the 1861 Scottish Census living on Hill Street in Dalbeattie, Kircudbrightshire, Scotland. The father of the family, John Gilbertson, is listed as being a 35-year-old stone cutter born in England. His wife's name is Elizabeth, and she is shown as being 31 at the time and as being born in Dalbeattie. We happen to know that her maiden name is Kilpatrick from what death records we have from her children. They have have children shown at this time. They are, with names, ages, and birthplaces as shown: John (11, England, occupation listed as "Scholar"), Mary (9, England), William (7, England), Margaret (4, England), and Martha (1, Dalbeattie).

We next find the family in the 1871 Scottish Census on Southwick Road in the same town. For some reason, the father John is now 48 while his wife is now 47. The children are all about 10 years older, however Margaret is no longer listed. We don't really have an explanation for this right now. We also find in this census that the son John has become a granite hewer like his father and that William is an apprentice in the same trade. Mary is listed as being a domestic servant. Unfortunately, this census essential marks the end of what we know at the moment about father John and Elizabeth. We do, however, now a bit more about their children. We'll cover those families in subsequent posts.