Lucy GALLUP

Lucy GALLUP
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Photo # 3308 [15 Aug 2009] Lucy GALLUP

"Lucy / Daughter of / Avery and Mary Haley / GALLUP/ 1840-1928
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord""

Gallup Genealogy [2009] #2499 p. 316 unmarried

Lucy was born 16 Jan 1840 in Ledyard, CT and died in 1928. Her parents were Capt. Avery GALLUP and his second wife Mary HALEY.

Lucy8 (Capt. Avery7, Isaac6, Benadam5, Benadam4, Benadam3, John2, John1)

Gallup Burying Ground

Gallup Burying Ground
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

I have blogged about the Gallup Burying Ground in Ledyard, New London, CT several times before. This photo, taken last August 15, (2009) is of the row with my ancestors gravestones but it is a good shot of how this cemetery is laid out, mostly in clearly defined rows.

This is a private, gated locked cemetery completely surrounded by a lovely Connecticut stone wall. The gate on Gallup Hill Road is the main entrance with a side gate that leads through the woods to the Gallup house. This is private land and this is not a public cemetery. It is owned and maintained by the Gallup Family Association.

The records for the cemetery often list it as being in Groton because once, this place was Groton until 1836. {Source: Ledyard Town Web page]

Lydia, daughter of Col. Benadam Gallup

Carnival of African-American Genealogy: Restore My Name

As a native New Englander, I knew that my family must have owned slaves. As I search for information about my ancestors, I make note of any records of them owning slaves in the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Several family cemeteries have gravestones of those slaves buried right alongside the rest of my family members. I am pleased to tell you that those graves are as nicely tended as all the others.

Finding the gravestone of Col. Benadam GALLUP, my DAR Revolutionary War ancestor and 6th great grandfather, was an exciting event in my genealogical journey. He is buried with his wife in the private Gallup Burying Ground in Groton/Ledyard, CT. My husband took an excellent photograph of me with his gravestone and it hangs in my office. Benadam was the father of eleven children. His oldest child also named Benadam is my direct line ancestor.

As I began to gather vital records for this line, I came upon a surprise in the Barbour Index of Vital Records. Gallup family members are carefully recorded as they were prominent members of the community. This clip from that index held at Ancestry.com, shows the recording of a child named Lydia born 27 Oct 1788 and recorded in Book 1, page 177 of the town records. It clearly states "had negro girl".

Col. Benadam Gallup who was born in 1716 would have been 72 years old on that date! He died in 1800, one year after his wife. Is this child, Lydia, his daughter, or did he submit the birth of a child of one of his slaves so she would be recorded? We may never know.

[Ancestry.com. Connecticut Town Death Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.] Used here for teaching purposes under fair-use copyright. I am an educator.

Ebenezer GALLUP [Surname Saturday]

Ebenezer GALLUP
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Surname Saturday: GALLUP

Ebenezer6 (Nathan5, Benadam4, Benadam3, John2, John1) was a member of the GALLUP family of Connecticut. This large and prosperous family has so many descendants that they have published a new genealogy this past year. It is two-volumes. I can barely pick it up it is so heavy...

I am descended from two sons and a daughter of John2 GALLUP. They all come down to my maternal grandfather, Evans STEWART. I have taken photographs of many GALLUP gravestones in several cemeteries in Connecticut and in one cemetery in Hingham, MA.

Ebenezer's headstone is a replacement for the original. When I first photographed it in May 2008, I did not notice the inscription on the back of the headstone. (see tomorrow's post). I just thought it was in great condition. This time I photographed the cemetery, my bone-yard buddy husband stood in the back to make sure that I didn't miss anything on the reverse side of gravestones. When I got to this grave, he yelled "Stop!". Then, I remembered taking a previous photo a few years back.

Ebenezer's footstone is PROBABLY an original. It has a small broken part on one edge near the ground. The Gallup Family Association may have reset it when they replaced this headstone and damaged it but I really think it is worn enough to be the original. Notice both headstone and footstone have lichen.

Sacred/to the Memory/of/ Ebenezer Gallup/who died/April 11, 1794/in the 38th year of his Age.

Ebenezer was born 8 Feb 1794 and died 12 April 1794. [Notice the gravestone says 11 April]

He served in Capt' Abel Spicer's 10th Co. Continental Troops (he was 18 years old) in 1775 and in Capt. John Morgan's of Militia in 1776 serving 2 months and 9 days from Sept 8 to November 7 in 1776. I have looked this up at Ancestry's Connecticut Men in the Revolution and at Footnote for those matching original documents.

Ebenezer died unmarried. We should remember him for his service to his country.

Footstone [Ebenezer GALLUP]

Footstone [Ebenezer GALLUP]
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

February Footstone Project; Blog Post #2

This is a fine example of a sandstone/brownstone footstone that is original and intact.

This footstone is one of many at the Gallup Burying Ground located in Ledyard, CT. [Many books say this is in Groton but the town line changed.] This is a private, gated and locked cemetery. Last summer, I attended the reunion and walked through the woods behind the house and into the cemetery from the side gate.

Notice its position some distance from the headstone and it is inscribed on the side away from where Mr. Ebenezer Gallup's remains lie buried in-between the two stones. Ebenezer 's footstone could easily have been interpreted as a headstone because it is quite large and even has a circle decoration.

As you learned yesterday, footstones are paired with a headstone. They are supposed to look like a bed for the sleeping dead. But, if this footstone was missing its companion headstone what would you know about him?

If you look carefully at the photo you will see how super large, Mr. Gallup's headstone is! Don't strain your eyes looking at the inscription on the back side, that's going to be the topic of the next blog post.

Under the "Family Reunion" Tent

DSC03324
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Carnival of Genealogy, 79th Edition: "Family Reunions"
Update (below)

For the past several years, I have traveled to Connecticut to family "days" for some of the lineage societies that I am life member or a yearly member of, from my maternal New England based families.

This year, I attended the 107th reunion [since 1902] of the Gallup Family Association. Most New England reunions are held locally near to where the immigrant person lived. This year, the reunion was held in the backyard of the "Gallup House" next to the Gallup Cemetery in Ledyard, CT even though there are Gallups everywhere. (Think Gallup poll and Gallup, New Mexico for example)

I was the "newbie" to this reunion so I was given a copy of the current Gallup Genealogy published in 1987 as a prize. The new Gallup genealogy (2 vols.) will be ready in October. I won't be in it as I don't think anyone gave the information for my specific line. They had a printout of the one that went to publication and it was in two huge binders. They announced that it will cost about $100 for life members and be pro-rated for yearly members and non-members. If you are buying one to donate to a library, then anyone may purchase it for donation at the lowest price. Of course, you will have to tell them where you are donating it to (library, historical society, etc.)

Basically, you sit down and make friends and eat a catered New England style lunch. There's a business meeting and sometimes a speaker. You also must stand and introduce yourself, tell where you live and in the case of the Gallup Family Reunion, read off or recite your ancestors from John Gallup down to you. (I had to do it from memory and even I struggled!)

I enjoy seeing multi-generational families at these events. Oftentimes, children and grandchildren "come home" at that specific weekend to visit and attend the reunion. Mostly, however, the people who attend yearly live fairly close by and know each other. Children and grandchildren come from a huge distance and win the prize for the furthest away. One family lived in the South.

I ventured into the woods, on the path, to go to the cemetery. It was an eerie walk and felt like venturing through the woods with Harry Potter at Hogwarts. It is on the land that my ancestors farmed. It is amazing to think that I am walking where they walked every day.

I have been here before but as it is a gated and locked cemetery, it is hard to access. I photographed all of the graves and between Carmen Johnson and myself, we will try to identify who is buried there. Some of the gravestones are hard to read. The sun was bright and it was hot but, I did the best I could.

Rachel Branch, the incoming secretary, read excepts from a family journal and made a display of family photographs. After that, a member's husband took a group photo with his fancy camera.

As it was so hot, people scattered and the whole reunion was only 2 hours. The Mystic, CT area has many attractions and I imagine folks wanted to see them or go home to a cool house.

This reunion will be in this location again next year. I came home and paid my life membership fee. I am looking forward to the new genealogy (which will include the uplines format for easier finding of your direct line ancestors). I have started the process of identifying the photos.

I go yearly to the Denison reunion and hope to make it to the Avery reunion someday!

After posting this here and to the Gallup Message Board, this is what Gallup descendant Judy Armstrong tells about her observation of a past reunion: (used with her permission)

"I was fortunate enough to attend the 100th reunion of the Gallup Family Association held at the same place, i.e., the Gallup estate in Ledyard. It was just wonderful-my favorite part was seeing the children do military drills in costume! They also sang and recited. The walk to the cemetery was very impressive as was the cemetery itself- with our ancestors lying there-some had flags on their plots (Colonels from the Revolutionary War, as I remember). The whole event was a "Life Moment" as I have come to call these wonderful and very outstanding experiences which have occurred in the late years of my life. I encourage all Gallups to attend !"

Revolution Rock

Revolution Rock
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

The large boulder is in the Gallup Hill Burying Ground. Soon, I imagine it will become unreadable.

It is a great list of Revolutionary War men buried in this graveyard. It would be nice if every cemetery had a list of military men and the wars in which they served so that the gravestone hunters like me could easily find them and photograph their graves.

Flickr has many such groups where people ONLY take photos of gravestone of those who served.When put all together in one place, you can see the differences, regionally, in the gravestones that families placed there. Many simply waited for the standard military marker that the government provides.

Gallup Family Reunion

Entrance to Gallup Cemetery
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Very soon I will be galloping toward the Gallup Family Reunion in Ledyard,CT. This is my first year as a member of the Gallups as I joined last summer as part of our "Genea-bloggers Summer Games".

My longtime Internet and Facebook pal, Carmen Johnson and I actually chatted on the phone lately. She hosts the page for all us Gallups. She does a fine job! It was fun to talk to her and makes me wonder why genealogists wait until a convention to actually voice speak to each other?

Carmen lives many states to the West and probably won't make a reunion so I have promised to be her eyes and ears. I hope to have time to take more gravestone in the cemetery you see here. Climbing over the wall is an Olympic feat in itself so it will be nice to see the gate opened.

I am hoping for a sunny, low humidity day to view Col. Benadam Gallup's grave and to picnic with my fellow Gallups.

Wish me luck! I'll be Bolde and Wyse for sure!

Gravestone Wanderings

Sarah GALLUP
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

As one reader pointed out, you can't wander through any graveyard without questioning, wondering and musing. This is why many people walk through the cemetery to enjoy the peace and solitude that the dead offer to us. If you aren't careful, you might actually be able to hear yourself think and hear your own heartbeat. It's not for everyone.

I spent a good amount of time yesterday, working with the books I own on gravestone research and even more time performing Web searches on the composition of gravestones.

An educator friend (who is gone but not forgotten) had a wonderful sense of humor and a very unique method of organization. As he was teaching 4th graders, he had to be sharp and quick. He put up a blank bulletin board in his classroom, with a border, and some cut-out letters at the top that read, "Famous Rock Groups".

He left it this way for a week. The students asked him a lot of questions about it. He smiled and said nothing. Then, he began the required science unit.

Can you guess what it was?

[Tombstone Tuesday: Grave of little Sarah Gallup, died in 1805 and is buried at the Gallup Hill Cemetery in CT. Grave composition: Sandstone]

Bridget PALMER

Bridget Palmer
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Bridget PALMER (Thomas, Nehemiah Jr., Nehemiah Sr., Walter II) was the daughter of Thomas PALMER and his wife Priscilla CHESEBROUGH. She was born 05 April 1743 in Stonington, CT and died 22 August 1823 in Groton, CT.

Bridget was one of my 5th great grandmothers, wife of Benadam GALLUP, III. They married 30 Jan 1766 in Stonington. They were the parents of 7 children. Their daughter, Bridget GALLUP married Deacon Sands FISH

This stone, the "newest" in the row in which my Gallups rest, is very hard to read and has been repaired some time in the past. She is buried next to her husband in the row with his family.

It probably reads:

In memory of/ Bridget/ wife of Benadam Gallup/ who died August 22nd, 1843/ aged 80 years.

This grave is located in the Gallup Burying Ground in Ledyard, CT.

Col. Bendadam GALLUP

Bendadam GALLUP
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Col. Benadam GALLUP, my Revolutionary War ancestor that I proved my descent from to join the DAR

He was a member of the Committee of Safety and Colonel of the militia (he declined a regular apponitment and chose to stay in the militia) of Wadsworth’s Brigade at the Battle of Long Island and in the retreat from New York City. In 1777, he commanded a regiment for coast defense. [Commission dated 2 Dec 1776 signed by Governor Trumbull]

Benadam was born 26 Oct 1716 and married married, August 11, 1740, Hannah Avery, of Groton. He died in Groton on 19 May 1800. Benadam and Hannah had 11 children.

His parents and grandparents are buried at Whitehall Burying Ground in Mystic.

Gallup Burying Ground [Middle Front]

Gallup Burying Ground
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This view of the Gallup Burying Ground shows the variety of gravestone types found here from granite to marble to sandstone.

Gallup Burying Ground [Center Front]

Gallup Burying Ground
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is a view of the center of the Gallup Burying Ground. Notice the number of American Patriots buried here as indicated by the presence of American flags.

Gallup Burying Ground [Right Front]

Gallup Burying Ground
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is a view of the right front of this burying ground. Yes, that is my pumpkin colored pocketbook resting with the ancestors.

Gallup Burying Ground

Gallup Burying Ground
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

The Gallup Hill Burying Ground is located in Ledyard, CT and is a private cemetery on land which belongs to the Gallup Family Association. It is gated, locked and fairly hard to find even through the name of the street it is on is called Gallup Hill Road.

Most of the graves are neatly arranged in rows. A wide path from the gate to the main part of the cemetery and the massive stone wall that encompasses the entire resting place lends itself to the character of the Gallup ancestors.

Carmen Johnson's Web site holds many of the photographs of the individual stones. This cemetery has not been completely recorded and photographed.