Gilkison, Cleo R.

Notes:

Personal Records, Maureen (Molly) McGUIRE COLSON:

Handwriting must have been difficult to read when Stephen's children's names were transcribed. I believe he had 10 children, not 14. Some of the duplicates may be due to spelling or nicknames.

Died:
Age: 69

Stephen married Freed, Priscilla. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Residence: 1850, St Joseph's Co., MI

Notes:

Census, 1850 St. Joseph Co., MI

Page 135, Sherman twp., Gilkisson family
, George, 41, Ohio
, Mary, 36, Ohio
, Simon B., 15, Ohio
, Stephen W., 7, Ohio
, Amy E., 8 months, Mich.

__________________________________________________________________________ ________________

Portrait and Biographical Album of St Joseph County, Michigan containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the county, together with Portraits and Biographies of all the Governors of the State and, of the Presidents of the United States. Chicago:Chapman Brothers,1885, pages 339-340.

Stephen W. Gilkison is one of the industrious, frugal and successful
agriculturists of Burr Oak Township, and is worthy a place in an Album of
this description. He is a native of Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio, where he
was born on the 12th of June, 1843. His father, George C., was the son of
James Gilkison, a native of Kentucky, and a pioneer of that county. He was
fully established in business as a mason, to which he was succeeded by his
son, the father of our subject. Besides George he was the father of twelve
children, of whom four daughters are now living.

George C. Gilkison, the father of our subject, came to Michigan and located
at Centreville in the year 1844, remaining there about twelve months.
Thence he removed for about two years, and then went to Clingers Lake.
After that he came to Sherman in this county, finally locating in Burr Oak,
in the year 1866. The maiden name of his wife and faithful life companion
was Mary KEASEY, who bore him nine children, of whom our subject was the
fourth born.

The subject of our sketch is a man of character, wide information, and with
large ability as a farmer, a faithful and true friend as well as citizen.
In the spring of 1846 he enlisted in defense of the Union, becoming a
member of Company G, 11th Michigan Infantry, and served almost two years.
During that time he saw many of the larger and more important engagements,
besides other service. Among the battles in which he fought may be named
those of Peachtree Creek, Resaca, Atlanta and others. He came out of the
military service unscathed, excepting as his constitution had been strained
by exposure and camp life. He received an honorable discharge in 1865 at
Nashville, Tenn.

On the 10th of April, 1870, Mr. Gilkison and Priscilla FREED were united in
marriage at Burr Oak. The wife of our subject is a daughter of John and
Priscilla FREED. It was her misfortune to lose her father by death when she
was about three years of age. Her mother subsequently removed to Ohio, and
later married Mr. James C. BLANCHARD, of Burr Oak, one of the venerable and
much respected pioneers of this county. Our subject's marriage has been
blessed by the birth of ten children, whose names are as follows: Salathiel
S., Zavala V., George R., Leston T., Clarion M., Amcy, Nina L., Joy L.,
Sherman Blaaine and Mary Gertrude.

Our subject, although not a leader in political affairs, is always glad to
bear his full part and responsibility as a citizen and as a member of the
Republican party, with which he has worked and voted for many years.

Buried:
Burr Oak Cemetery

George married Keasey, Mary. Mary was born in in Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Residence: 1820, Mansfield, Richland, Ohio, USA
• Residence: 1830, Mansfield, Richland, Ohio, USA
• Residence: 1840, Mansfield, Richland, Ohio, USA
• Residence: 1850, Lockport Twp., St Joseph, Michigan
• Residence: 1850, Centerville, St. Joseph Co., MI

Notes:

1850 St Joseph County, MI Census

Page 135, Lockport twp.,
Gilkisson, James M., 62, Ky.
,Nancy, 57, Va.
Deyree ,Mary Jane, 29, Ohio
Putman ,Caroline Ann, 25, Ohio
Gilkisson, Nancy, 20, Ohio

__________________________________________________________________________ _____

From: Coffinberry. Genealogy of the Coffinberry family, Descendants of George Lewis Coffinberry, 1760-1851, & His Wife Elizabeth (Little) Coffinberry, with rlated families Coffenberry, Gilkison, Keasy, Platt, comp. by B. B. Scott. 64 p. 1927.

CHAPTZR VI-

NANCY Coffinberry

NANCY Coffinberry was born May 13, 1793. She married Squire James M. Gilkison of Marshfield, Ohio on October 17, 1808.
(Nancy and her. sister, Sarah, married brothers, James
M. to Nancy and John C. to Sarah.)
James M. Gilkison was born June 1, 1788. Died 1856.

In the beginning the Gilkisons migrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland. From there two brothers came to America and landed at North Carolina. One of these brothers afterwards settled in Virginia and one in Greenup County, Kentucky. He had three sons named Jonathon, James, John. He made a living by hunting and trapping. When the settlement grew more populated and game scarce he would move to a new district or region.
It was after one of these moves that the boys, James and John, were lost in the woods. It was solid forest for miles, the time of the year, fall. The boys took a grain sack and went into the edge of the woods to see if they could find some nuts. They were accompanied by their dog. James was eight years of age and John was ten.
Soon after reaching the woods the dog began barking at something and the boys ran to see what he had treed, but he was on the trail of some wild animal and led them far into the woods. Naturally they became bewildered and lost. When night came it began to drizzle and remained that kind of weather all the days that they were lost.
The father looked for them the first light, the next day he got the aid of some hunters. The third day the dog came home in the night. The hunters thought that if they had seen him when he came they might have been able to send him back again, but in the morning he could not understand what they wished him to do. The father then went back to the settlement and got together a hundred men, they killed a beef, divided the meat among them and began hunting. This routine was gone through every morning until the evening of the eighth day, when the men decided it was no use to hunt any longer and so gave up the hunt.
In the meantime the little boys were traveling trying to find a way out of the forest which contained many honey locust trees. It was upon the pods of these trees that the boys lived on as they could find neither berries nor nuts. They suffered most for want of water. Although it drizzled all the time not enough water came down for them to get a taste. Not knowing any better, they tried to quench their thirst from the water on their own bodies. By so doing they thus made their thirst greater.
By this time, little James had become so weak he could not walk much and coaxed his brother to quit traveling and lie down and die, but the brother would not consent to the proposition and he helped the little brother along the best he could.
Their feet were very sore, full of thorns; their clothing damp; their throats sore and swollen.
The morning of the ninth day the sun shone for the first time since they were out. Greatly encouraged, John said: "I thought I heard nuts dropping in the night and I'm going up on the hill to see if I can find some, you stay here." But James did not wish to stay alone and cried, so they went together up the hill.
James was now so weakened that he crawled on his hands and knees, in fact, John went that way some of the time as their feet were so swollen and festered by thorne. All the time they were out they never saw a berry or a nut and the locust pods had become so sickening to them. On the top of the hill they came to a sort of an open space sodded over and a nice log for a resting place. To the right of them there appeared to be an old trail sodded here and there.
On the morning of the ninth day three Hunters (by profession)who had been in the hunt for the boys, decided that they would get some of the deer which seemed to be plentiful. One of these Hunters, John Creighton by name, came up this grassy slope in his hunt for deer and came full upon the boys.
Little James was nibbling on a locust pod. The Hunter blew his horn and then took the boys to a creek where he broke off a small piece of corn bread about the size of a walnut and soaked it in the water, then broke off half and divided it between the two boys. The coarse bread scratched their throats as it went down and the boys cried out in pain. Little James cried for more, but on account of their nearly starved condition the hunter did not dare give the children any more just at that time.
The other hunters hearing the horn came up. The blowing of the horn had been a signal previously agreed on if one of them needed help, so they loaded the boys on the horses already loaded with deer and started homeward. The boys, when found, were about forty miles from home.
The hunters, on arriving home with, the boys, found that the father had gone on foot to a camp of Indiana some twenty miles away, which was a dangerous undertaking, on account of the Indians being partly hostile. He did not find his boys there. They were nowhere about camp, so he turned
towards home.
When Mrs. Gilkison opened the door in response to the hunters' rap on the door with his foot, and he said: "Mrs. Gilkison, how would you like a couple of boys?" That lady promptly threw up her hands and fainted. So he not only had to unload the boys, but had to resuscitate her. As soon as she regained her senses she began to make a comfortable place for the boys. She placed a feather bed on the floor by the stove, but the hunter interfered. saying: "My good woman, you, cannot do that. Put a
blanket on the floor as far away from the stove as possible. Let the boys lie on that, nothing over them. I was lost once and found by Indians and I have done for your boys just as they treated me. He also told her how to feedthem and cautioned her that any diversion from his directions might cause
the death of one or both.
There was no place on the feet of the boys that a pin could not be placed without coming in contact with thorns. They could not get a shoe on all winter, there were yet thorns in their feet when spring came-after picking thorns all winter.
The three Gilkison boys settled in Ohio. After a while Jonathon settled in Illinois at Mt. Carmel and James later at Centreville, Michigan. James was justice of peace in Mansfield for over thirty years and resigned to move to Michigan.
Caroline Gilkison, daughter of James and Nancy, took care of her father and mother in their declining years. Her mother lost her mind in her declining years and at times was quite violent. Neighbors advised the husband to take his wife to an asylum, but he would never consent to do that. He passed out ofthis world before his wife and he told his daughter, Caroline, that his greatest sorrow was in leaving Nancy behind. Caroline promised that she would always care for her mother and would never let her go to an asylum. James Gilkison had a little straight jacket that he used to put on his wife Nancy when she became violent. She and he were both strict church members and the church was very near their home, but he seldom attended on account of his wife's condition. She was a very beautiful singer.

James married Coffinberry, Nancy on 17 Nov 1808 in Fairfield, Ohio, USA. Nancy (daughter of Coffinberry, George Lewis and Little, Elizabeth) was born on 13 May 1793 in Martinsburg, Berkeley Co., Virginia (now WV), Estimate; died on 11 Jul 1861 in Lagrange, Indiana, USA; was buried in Topeka, LaGrange County, Indiana, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

(Nancy and her. sister, Sarah, married brothers, James M. to Nancy and John C. to Sarah.)