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The Thumb's Christmas

  Our daughter, Anne, was a prolific artist when she was young. Our refrigerator door was full of her drawings, paintings, and school artwork. She liked to create little books, too, as she was also a natural storyteller. One Christmas when she was about eight years old, Anne wrote and illustrated a Christmas story for her little brother, James. If memory serves, she drew her inspiration from a book she had recently gotten from the library by illustrator Ed Emberley. He wrote and illustrated The Great Thumbprint Drawing Book . In it, Emberley showed how to make a variety of animals and people using a thumbprint as a starting point. The creations are simple and charming. It's amazing what you can do with a blog of ink and a few black lines. It's art that's accessible to anyone. Anne's story is called "The Thumb's Christmas," and is based on our family. There is a thumb with glasses (Anne), a thumb with little hair (toddler James), a thumb with a mustache (Ji...
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MICHAEL GILBRIDE

Detail, Gilbride headstone at Cathedral Cemetery, Scranton.1


31 Days of Writing Family History Challenge

January 16, 2022:   Paternal Great, Great Grandfather #1  - Michael Gilbride (Abt. 1855-1908)


by Nancy Gilbride Casey

The further back I go in time for this challenge, in some cases, the less I will know and the fewer photos I will have. Such is the case for Michael Gilbride, my 2x great grandfather, the father of John Joseph Gilbride. So far, I have no photos at all of him, and it has taken several years to assemble his story. Of course, the details of his life are important to me, as I would like to determine the origins of my Gilbride line back to their native Ireland—a step-by-step process back in time through the generations.

What I do know is that Michael was born about 1855, likely in New Jersey. I have yet to find a birth or baptism record for him; his date of birth is estimated based on census records.2 The quest for that important piece of his story continues.

Michael was the son of James Gilbride and Bridget Eagen, both Irish-born immigrants to Pennsylvania.3

On 25 February 1875, Michael married Catherine Ryan at Holy Rosary Church in Scranton, and they welcomed their son John Joseph Gilbride on 20 January 1876.4

The details of their married life are dim, and in fact, take a tragic turn in 1877, when Catherine apparently bore a stillborn second child, and suffered a breakdown. In April 1877 she was committed to Danville Insane Asylum in nearby Montour County, where she died in 1881, at the age of 26, never having returned home. Her son John was about a year and half old at the time of her committal. (Much more on Catherine tomorrow.)5

It is also apparent that Michael and Catherine were not financially stable at this time, evidenced by the fact that the committing authorities who sent Catherine to Danville were the Directors of the Poor of Providence; had the couple been receiving the Directors' assistance, they would also have the ability to commit their charges to a poorhouse or asylum if needed.6

Following this episode, Michael and John lived with his parents James and Bridget.7 Several years after Catherine's death, Michael remarried to Mary Gallagher on 16 August 1885.8 Together they had eight more children, who were all half-siblings to our great grandfather John.

Through the years, Michael worked in the local coal mines in North Scranton, either as a laborer or a miner. In their area of town there were several mines: Cayuga, Von Storch and Leggitt's Creek, and Michael likely worked at any number of them.

Michael died of lobar pneumonia on 29 May 1908, and is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton.9 One of the few photos I have reflecting his life is this of a family headstone:

This headstone marks the final resting place of Michael Gilbride, his second wife Mary, their daughter Anna, their grandson Gerard, and Mary's second husband, Thomas Hart.10

Because Michael and his first wife Catherine had only one child who survived to adulthood, every descendant in our Gilbride family line flows through this couple—that fact in and of itself is fairly astounding, as that number surely reaches into the hundreds by now. 

 

BONUS: DNA evidence connects Michael's two families

One feature of having done a DNA test is that the companies like Ancestry, 23andMe, etc., provide a  tester a list of DNA matches—those other individuals who match on at least one segment of DNA. The closer the relationship one has to a match, the more DNA that they share. For example, a parent and child will share around 3,485 centimorgans (cM - unit of measure of DNA). Looking at my closest DNA matches, I have been able to confirm much of my "paper trail" of family connections via genetic evidence as well (and if you like a puzzle, it's a pretty neat pastime to try to figure out your connection).

I have often wondered why I did not have any DNA connections to descendants of Michael and his second wife Mary. One possible reason for this lack is that perhaps no descendants of this union had yet taken a DNA test. So I waited.

Finally, I did have a match on Ancestry who shares the appropriate amount of DNA with me to be a half 3rd cousin, and she traces her lineage back to Michael and his wife Mary, through one of their sons.11

Then came with the discovery that this match's child is one of my DNA matches on 23andMe, in an appropriate amount to be my half 3rd cousin, once removed—further confirmation that the descendants of Michael & Catherine are related to the descendants of Michael and Mary.

NOTES

1 Ancestry, Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/185883971/michael-h_-gilbride : accessed 16 January 2022), memorial 185883971, Michael H. Gilbride (1855-1908). Photo by Nancy C, 2018.

2 1860 United States Census, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, population schedule, page 88, Providence Twp., line 2 Michael Gilbride, age 6; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4292153_00279 : accessed 16 January 2022); citing NARA microfilm M653, Washington, D.C.

3 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County, Certificate of Death # 49971, Michael H. Gilbride, 29 May 1908; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/5164/images/41381_2421401757_0394-01849 : accessed 16 January 2022); citing Vital Statistics, Harrisburg.

4 For marriage: Holy Rosary Church, (Scranton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania), Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Marriages 1860-87, p. 212, marriage of Michael Gilbride & Catherine Ryan (2 Feb. 1875); digital image, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, supplied to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX. For child's birth: Holy Rosary Church (Scranton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania), Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, Baptisms and Marriages, Combined Register, 1860-1887, p. 146, baptism of John Gilbride, (20 Jan. 1876); digital image, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, supplied to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX.

5 For stillbirth: Catharine Gilbride patient record, 1887-1881, Record Group 23, Records of the Department of Public Welfare, Danville State Hospital, Female Case Books, Book A, pages 81, birth of stillborn child; photocopies supplied by Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, Texas. For committal: Danville State Hospital, Patient Register and Record of Burial Plots, 1872-1937, extract from unnoted page, admission of Catharine Gilbride, 14 April 1877; Report from Records in Custody of the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA, to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX, 7 October 2017. For death: Pennsylvania. Lackawanna County, City of Scranton, City of Scranton Department of Public Health, death certificate for "Catharine Gilbride," 27 Jan 1881; "Record of deaths, 1878-1905, in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania," digital image, FamilySearch, (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YG-R95K-X? : accessed 27 Jan 2019); FHL film 007700813, image 1411.

6 Danville State Hospital, Patient Register and Record of Burial Plots, 1872-1937, Catharine Gilbride, 14 April 1877; Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg.

7 1880 United States Census, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County, population schedule, ED 55, page 6-B, Ward 3, Scranton City, dwelling 43, family 43, Michael Gillbride (25) and John Gillbride (4) in the household of James Gillbride; database & images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244365-00716 : accessed 16 January 2022); citing NARA microfilm publication T9, Washington, D.C.

8 Holy Rosary Church, (Scranton, Luzerne, Pennsylvania), Baptisms and Marriages, Combined Register, 1860-1887, p. 235, marriage of Michael Gilbride & Mary Gallagher, 16 August 1885; digital image, "Teresa M. McAndrew Memorial Catholic Record Collection," Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, supplied to Nancy Gilbride Casey, Tioga, TX.

9 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Certificate of Death # 49971, Michael H. Gilbride, 29 May 1908; Vital Statistics, Harrisburg.

10Find a Grave, memorial 185883971, Michael H. Gilbride (1855-1908). Photo by Nancy C, 2018.

11 For Michael's great, great grandchild: "Member Matches for Nancy Casey," AncestryDNA (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 16 January 2022), predicted half 3rd cousin, sharing 54cM/1segment (average cM shared = 48, range 0-168). For Michael's 3rd great grandchild: "Member matches for Nancy Casey," 23andMe (https://you.23andme.com : accessed 16 January 2022), predicted half 3rd cousin once removed, sharing 40cM/1 segment (average = 37, range 0-139).


 


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