More Probate Information Beyond the Will

As a family historian, you always search for relationships and names to further your research.  While the will of Thomas Gilshannon names his wife and children, the probate gives additional information about where they lived at the time of their father's death and also the names of the spouses.  Since there is no federal census for 1890, a probate record for 1888 is about as close as you will get.  The location can help distinguish between individuals with a similar name and link them to a particular family.  Here is that record for Thomas Gilshannon.

 

The information contained in this probate record about his children, in birth order . . . his heirs at law on 17th of April 1888

Ellen Allen . . . aged 39 . . . resided in Clinton, Iowa

Thomas Gilshanan . . . aged 35 . . . resided in Whitney, Nebraska

Elizabeth Gilshanan . . . aged 33 . . . resided in Elk River, Iowa

Catherine Guerin . . . aged 32 . . . resided in Whitney, Nebraska

Bernard Gilshanan . . . aged 30 . . . resided in Aberdeen, Dakota

                                                               (It was still a territory at this time)

Mary M. Gilshanan . . . aged 22 . . . resided in Elk River, Iowa

Henry Gilshanan . . . aged 21 . . . resided in Elk River, Iowa

Note: His daughter Nancy died in June of 1882.  Nancy and Ellen were the children of Thomas and his first wife Ellen Guilfoil

Additionally it names the following spouses as heirs at law of deceased or interested in his estate:

James Allen . . . husband of Ellen Allen
Mrs. Thomas Gilshanan . . . wife of Thomas Gilshanan  (not much help)
Thomas Guerin . . . husband of Catherine Guerin
Mrs. Augusta Gilshanan . . . wife of Bernard Gilshanan

I have to assume that Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry were not married as of this date.  This gives quite a bit of additional information beyond the names in the will to research!!


Next post:   So. . .  what did everybody end up with when all was said and done?

Amanuensis Monday . . . The Will of Thomas Gilshannon From the Courthouse Attic

Altarpiece donated by four families including Holdgrafer

Well, I have returned from what has become a yearly trip to Clinton, Iowa, the home of a multitude of my ancestors.  For a while I thought this might be the last trip, but I discovered there is still more to document.  It seems like the more you find, the more you realize there is more to research. Many of the church records such as births, baptisms, marriage, and deaths for my family are located in the Catholic Historical Center which is located in St. Boniface, a closed parish.  At one time Clinton had five thriving parishes, but, due to escalating costs and dwindling attendance, they have merged into one parish which is located in a new church building.  Luckily, this magnificent building has found a second purpose. What happened to all of the records? Fortunately a dedicated church member was able to transcribe the older records that were moved from the five parishes to the new church.  As far as I know, she is the only one who has seen the original records since the church does not allow any access to them.  Even if they do not allow access, I hope that they digitize the records and keep a copy in two places so they are not lost one day due to human error or natural disaster.

Like last year, the records do not allow personal searching.  As before, one of the dedicated men who staff the CHC, Bill Foley, would scroll through, I would tell him the surnames I was researching, and he would read off the information.  They still do not have a printer for the computer holding the records database so my notes are scribbled and sometimes barely readable.  Bill was incredibly patient and willingly re-read names and dates for me as I asked.  I tried to read over his shoulder as he scrolled through since I discovered multiple incorrect transcriptions. I could recognize my family even when the names were garbled.  The strangest one was Dionysious when it was intended to be Dennis. . . oh, well.  As a volunteer transcriber for the 1940 census, I am completely sympathetic to the transcriber's difficulty.   If you have Clinton ancestors who were members of one of these churches, I encourage you to contact them.  You will not find a more helpful and enthusiastic group of fellows.  The center is open from 9-noon on Tuesdays and Saturdays and they have a facebook page.

Clinton County Iowa historic courthouse

In addition to the center, one of my main goals was to go to the county clerk's office and look at probate records.  I was told by the historical society that in Clinton, you can still look through the original records, and I am such a sucker for original records! In preparation, I called the clerk's office the week before I left and gave her the list of names I was researching and approximate death date for each. I had been told that it will often take them several days to get the records from the attic. After all, genealogy is not their primary job!  They were extraordinarily nice and accommodating. The courthouse was my first stop when I arrived in Clinton on Monday morning. Caroline, my contact, told me that she had only been able to find one name on my list, but that I was welcome to look through the index to see what I could find.  Oh, and, by the way, she explained that they could photocopy for .50 per page or I was welcome to take a photo of anything I wanted at no charge.   Whoaaaaa . . . I was both stunned, thrilled, and my purse held my camera with a fully charged battery.  I spent the next two hours going through the index books and, in fact, I did find more records.  When I left, I gave my new list to Caroline, and hoped that she might be able to retrieve them before I left for home two days later.  By early that same afternoon, I received a phone call telling me my records were ready to look at.  I already had an appointment to meet my 90+ cousin, John Brown, for a sit and chat that afternoon so the records would have to wait for Wednesday morning.

I arrived at the clerk's office shortly after they opened with a fully charged camera battery and a spare in my purse. Caroline pointed to a stack of records on a shelf and suggested that I to go to a table in the entry area and look through them.  The thick one on top made me grin from ear to ear.  It was the probate record of my 3x great grandfather . . . Thomas Gilshannon, born in County Meath, Ireland in 1810 and who immigrated to Iowa in 1839.  Below that was the record for my great grandmother, Anna Mae Shelko, nee Allen.  She was the granddaughter of Thomas. There were two that I hoped would prove to be relatives of her husband Edward Thomas Moldt, but no one sounded familiar so I have to assume they were not related.  Another two belonged to uncles and the last was the probate for the second wife of Thomas Gilshannon.  I was over the moon.  This was my first time looking at probate records, and it was thrilling.

I started with the ones that were flat first, but when I got to Thomas, I have to admit that I was breathing deeply. . . and I wasn't disappointed. 

I unfolded the top paper and found his original will . . . tied with a red ribbon!

Will of Thomas Gilshannon - page 1

The Will of Thomas Gilshannon

of the Township of Elk River

Clinton County Iowa

  I Thomas Gilshannon being in feeble heath But of sound mind in this the Seventy four year of my age do make and establish this as my Last Will and Testament.  "Imprimer" I give to my wife Bridget Gilshannon One Third in value of all my Real Estate. To Witt "The South East Quarter of Section Number Fourteen in Township Number Eighty three North of range Number Six East of the 5th P.M. Also the South West One fourth of the South West One fourth of Section Number Eight in Township Number Eighty three North of Range Number Seven East of the 5th P.M"

  Said One Third to be all taken from the land in Section Fourteen Town (83)(?)R (6) so as include the Dwelling House and Farm Buildings theron.

           Also 

Will of Thomas Gilshannon - page 2

The Property regarded as Exempt under the Code of Iowa and which the law specifies & Also after My debts are paid The One third of the Proceeds of my Personal Property as the Code aforesaid provides.

Second The remainder of said Real Estate above described "That is the two thirds in value thereof I give to My Children Ellen M Allen Thomas Gilshannon Elisabeth Gilshannon Catherine Guerrin Bernard Gilshannon Mary Gilshannon and Henry Gilshannon in equal shares to be divided by them as they may seem best & proper
( In the above devises The Land taken by the C.M & St P. Railway is not included so long as the same is used by said Rail Road Company)  I also give to the aforesaid Children The Two thirds of the proceeds of my Personal property after my debts are paid in equal shares between them as they seem best.

Will of Thomas Gilshannon - page 3

Third as there is a Mortgage of One Thousand dollars on a portion of the land herein devised ^ given to Mrs Louisa Bohnes by myself and my wife^  I direct my Executor herein after named as soon after my death as Practiable to sell so much of my personal estate as he may deem proper to pay said Mortgage aforesaid on or before the same becomes due.  And also sell such other Personal property as may be necessary to pay debts expenses & including a suitable Tomb Stone for myself and my daughter Nancy Gilshannon who died in June 1882

Fourth I appoint GA Griswold my Executor of the Township of Elk River Clinton County Iowa in order to Carry into effect the provisions of this will

                                                                  Sign by me on this second day of 

                                                                              April AD 1883

                                                                                           Thomas Gilshannon (his signature)

This will consisting of Two sheets of

paper was signed by the said Thomas Gilshannon

in our presenence April 2nd 1883

In testimony whereof we have set our hands in

his presence and in the presence of each other this 2nd day of April 1883

       Charles Beatty    GA Griswold of Elk River Iowa

Thomas Gilshannon's signature is quite shaky looking.  On the early land records, he and his wife, Ellen, had to make a mark for their signature so I assume that he could not read or write.  From the will, it appears that he did learn to write his name.  I am sure his admitted feeble health influenced his signature as well.

The Clinton Saga Continues

At the end of yesterday's post we were enjoying the best soft serve ice cream ever in Sabula, Iowa before taking the ice cream merchant's directions to the two cemeteries we were searching for in the area, Evergreen and St. Peter's Catholic cemetery.  Getting to places can be a bit problematic as the Mississippi River has shredded the land at this point and often the route is back down and then up the next shred of land to get to your destination.  And that was the case for us today. 

Evergreen Cemetery - Sabula, Iowa

Evergreen  was the closest, and as we followed the directions we were not sure if it was the right place as there was no identification or sign at the entrance.  There was no helpful caretaker or automated kiosk to help us locate our graves here.  So, we turned in and thought we would drive slowly around and see if we could spot a headstone with Guilfoil on it.  Imagine our surprise when we actually found one a few hundred feet into our drive.  I had a record I downloaded more than a year ago from Iowa GenWeb that listed Guilfoils in this cemetery.  They are a bit of a mystery.

The 1850 census for Elk River Twp. in Clinton county, Iowa lists John Guilfoil living with Thomas Gilshannon and his family.  Thomas' wife Elen was John Guilfoil's daughter and, I assume, that James was her brother.  All are from Pennsylvania.  Elen will die in 1851 after the birth of her second daughter, Nancy and Thomas will remarry shortly thereafter.  Other than this brief record, Elen seems to have vanished.  I am a descendant of Elen through her daughter Eleanor Gilshannon who married James Allen.   John, James and Ann left after Elen's death.   I believe that the Guilfoils in this cemetery, Carrie Kelsey and Mrs. John are connected to my family, but I haven't yet put the pieces together.  We walked around a while to try and find any other Guilfoils but had no luck and the loud rock music filling the cemetery from the young men working on their cars in the neighboring house, hurried us along.  So we took our photos and off we went to St. Peter's where Thomas Gilshannon was buried.

Now this was a small cemetery and it was very easy to locate Thomas' grave.  Before we left home, I asked my brother if he had packed the cemetery kit I got him for Christmas and he said no.  He thought it was just a gag gift, but I told him it wasn't and that he should throw it in.  So he did - still in the Christmas bag!  We had been using the spray bottle to make the writing on headstones more readable in our photos, but this time we pulled out the brush as well as the spray bottle.  The sentimental inscriptions were undecipherable, but the facts were clear on each side.  On one headstone was Nancy, Thomas, and his second wife Bridget Reynolds.  the last side of the monument was blank.  Beside the headstone was one that said Sister and one that said Father.  But where is Elen, his first wife?  This cemetery wasn't established until 1855, and she died in 1851 so it isn't here. I don't know if there are records for this cemetery, but there are recent burials, so I am hopeful that with a little work, we might find out a bit more about the Gilshannon family.  More information always brings with it more questions.

Our last cemetery visit for the day was back in Clinton - St. Irenaeus.  We discovered that it was also known as Calvary.  This was part of our trouble in locating it through Google Maps.  At this cemetery, we used every tool in our "cemetery kit".  This was the location of the McDonnell's graves. Family legend has it that the McDonnell's are direct descendants of MacIan, the Red Fox of Glencoe who was murdered in his bed by a Campbell after a fortnight's hospitality in 1692.  While I haven't proven that to a genealogical standard (and never will, I am sure), it hasn't stopped me from finding out more about this interesting family story.  Imagine my surprise when I found an actual event to go with this old family legend - the Massacre at Glencoe.  Check it out for yourself.



We again easily found the McDonnells as there were not far off the road and the vertical headstones made it easier.  Since I had photos of the headstones from Iowa GenWeb, I knew what I was looking for.  As we walked up to them, I understood why Dennis' headstone was photographed from the top with all of the date information hidden.  It had fallen forward and the inscriptions were buried.  My brother, Dahl, tried to pull it back straight, but it had been like this for a while.  Break out the cemetery kit again!  I supervised while he dug down exposing the front.  He likes to be the "man", and I like to be the supervisor.  This is a good match.  My sister-in-law has been the photographer and general all round gopher on this trip without complaint. She is always willing to do any task that we demand order ask her to do.  She definitely gets another star in her crown for this trip!  We photographed the headstone information and then filled it back in so it wouldn't fall forward any more. . . . . . and there was a sign warning us not to dig up the graves!  Oops!  It's a good thing no one reads this blog to report me.

Tomorrow is the library and historical society.  We mostly sat at a microfilm machine so it will be a short post.  I will finish this tomorrow.  I know what you are thinking - It's about time!