A Genealogy Adventure
Alice (Wise) Gamble is my 3rd great grandmother. I have previously written a blog post that included a transcription of her two obituaries. You can read them here.
These are the newspaper clippings I received from the Butler Area Public Library.
Daniel Wise (1812-1892) is my 4th great grandfather. We was born and lived in Western Pennsylvania. A few years ago, I found the Butler County Public Library had an online obituary index. You could then contact the library for the original newspaper article. I was surprised to find that Daniel Wise had multiple listings in the index. I was lucky that two references to a lunacy declaration was also included in the index.
The following articles relate to Daniel being judged a lunatic and his hospitalization at Dixmont. Dixmont was the first mental health hospital in Pennsylvania. It was a branch of the West Penn Hospital. Daniel passed away two years later in the hospital. I have sent some emails to try to locate the original court records regarding the lunacy case.
There are some discrepancies in Daniel’s date of death. The article below states it occurred 9 February 1892. His probate papers state he died 18 January 1892. I am hoping that a trip to the Pennsylvania State Archives might include records from Dixmont. Adding another genealogy trip to the list!
Butler Citizen Newspaper, 16 August 1889, page 3, col 4. Butler Area Public Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 14.
Butler Citizen, 24 January 1890, Page 3, column 6. Butler Area Public Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 015.
Butler Citizen, 19 February 1892, page 2. Butler Area Pulblic Library, Obituary Index, microfilm 015.
Earlier this week I began detailing the information I found in the pension file of John L. Gamble. You can read about click here to read about the information found in his pension questionnaire.
The questionnaire confirmed that his first wife, and my ancestor, was Alice Wise. She is listed with the middle initial “J” in the questionnaire. Other sources listed her with the middle initial “L”.
Another deposition given by John L Gamble states that:
I was married to Alice Wise in the fall of 1865 in Butler, Pa and she died about April 1887, and is buried in the graveyard at Pine Creek Church, 5 miles south of Butler, Pa. She has no grave-stone. Undertaker Alexander Martin of Etna, Allegheny Co., Pa. , buried her, and her physician was Dr. (?) Purvis, dead.
John L. Gamble continues in the next paragraph that Alice must have died in 1886 because he married Margaret Thompson in 1887.
Using the Obituary Index at the Butler Area Public Library website, I was able to find Alice. I sent off for Alice’s obituary and promptly received two in the mail. There was both a death notice and short obituary in the paper on the same day but different pages:
Deaths
GAMBLE – On March 12th, 1886, at her residence in Etna, Allegheny county , Pa., Alice L. wife of John L. Gamble, of pneumonia, aged 40 years.
and
Mrs. A.L. Gamble, of Etna, Allegheny county, died of pneumonia on Friday last. The remains were taken to the residence of her father, Mr. Daniel Wise, of Penn Township, this county, and on Sunday were interred in the church-yard at that place.
Democratic Herald, 19 March 1886, Page 2, Column 2 and Page 3, Column 2, Butler Area Public Library, Film #060.
A couple of months ago I wrote about going to the National Archives to find the military pension paperwork for my great-great-great grandfather, John L Gamble. (You can catch up here.)
As I looked at the incredible paperwork I kept it in the order I found it in the file. One of the last items in the file was a standard form questionnaire filled out by John L Gamble. It clearly identified his first wife and children including dates and places. The biggest find in this document is that Alice Wise had been previously married. The names of the children were confirmation of information previously found in census records. Their dates of birth is new information. The marriage information is also new to me. I wonder who has the family bible?!
This is an image stitched together from my Flip Pal scans taken back in April.
3-389
Department of the Interior
Bureau of Pensions
Washington, D.C, January 2, 1915
SIR: Please answer, at your earliest convenience, the questions enumerated below. The information is requested for future use, and it may be of great value to your widow or children. Use the inclosed envelope, which requires no stamp.
Very respectfully,
xxxxxxxx (signature) Commissioner
John L. Gamble
2001 Perrysville Ave
N S Pillsbury Pa
No.1 Date and place of birth? Answer: John L Gamble born May 9 1839 Armstrong County Pa
The name of organizations in which you served? Answer: Company D 6 Pennsylvania V Heavy artillery
No.2 What was your post office at enlistment? Answer: Butler Butler County Pa
No.3 State your wife’s full name and her maiden name. Answer: Alice J Gamble Alice J Wise
No.4 When, where, and by whom were you married? Answer: November 14th 1865 in Butler Pa by Rev Stores
No.5 Is there any official or church record of your marriage? If so, Where? Answer: the record of our marriage is in our family bible
No.6 Were you previously married? if so, state the name of your former wife, the date of the marriage, and the date and place of her death or divorce. If there was more than one previous marriage, let your answer include all former wives. Answer: I was not Previously married
No.7 If your present wife was married before her marriage to you state the name of her former husband, the date of such marriage, and the date and place of his death or divorce, and state whether he ever rendered any miltary [sic] or naval service, and if so, give name of the organization in which he served. If she was married more than once before her marriage to you, let your answer include all former husbands. Answer: Yes James Meyers dont remember died in Pittsburgh. Don’t know the date he never rendered any military or naval service.
No.8 Are you living with your wife, or has there been a separation? Answer: yess [sic]
No.9 State the names and dates of birth of all your children, living or dead. Answer: Margaret Gamble Margaret Thompson
were married March 31 1887 in Etna Pa by Rev S McGuire
Samuel E Gamble born August 18 1866 living
Margaret C Gamble born October 30 1867 dead
Barbara E Gamble born February 14 1869 living
William B Gamble born August 18 1872 living
Ruth E Gamble born December 14 1875 dead
children of first wife
Date 6-14-1915
Signature
John L Gamble
William H Gamble is my great-great-grandfather (me ->my dad->Mary Dempsey->Amelia Gamble->William H Gamble). He was born August 18, 1872. He married Eliza P Lahey about 1891. They had three daughters, Mary Alice, Amelia Josephine, and Faith Dorothy Mildred. They lived in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.
