Last Will and Testament

No man’s life can be encompassed in one telling.  There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, to include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime.  What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record, and try to find one’s way to the heart of the man...(1)

Growing gradually weaker, James was confined to his home during the long Montana winter.  He was no longer the robust man that he used to be, with a well-knit frame and a constitution of iron.  As spring approached, the days grew noticeably longer.  James sat up in bed, and in the presence of three friends, F. J. Jones, W. E. Carter, and Thomas C. Morrissey, took a pen in his trembling hand and signed his name for the last time:  “In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my signature at Sheridan, this 24th day of March 1881, signed James Gemmell.”  He had appointed his wife, Susan Maria Gemmell, executrix of his will, and his son-in-law James Duncan as executor to assist Maria in the settlement of his estate.  He bequeathed all of his real and personal property to Maria, with instructions that the estate be kept or sold, whichever may be in the best interest of his wife and children:

It is my wish and desire that my children and family shall remain together as heretofore, and that their mother shall remain with them and take care of them as she always has done heretofore, and especially that the little ones shall be educated as well as circumstances will warrant.(2)

Just two weeks later, on Wednesday, April 6, his wife, Maria, and eight of his children gathered silently around his bed—the two little ones, George, age five, and John, age ten; the older children, Alice, age thirteen, Virginia, fifteen, Andy, nineteen, and Charlie, twenty-two; and his two married daughters, Josephine with her four children, and Jeanette with her two children.

At eleven o’clock that morning James drew his last breath.  After many months of illness and pain, he was finally at peace.  A life of adventure had ended too soon, nevertheless, in his final hours the true heart of the man was revealed.  His greatest concern was for the education of his children, the well-being of his posterity.  We wonder if, in those last moments, he might have had a glimpse of his descendants who would follow in generations to come.  No doubt his greatest accomplishment was his posterity; he was the father of eighteen biological children, “well-educated and well-read for their opportunities.”  In addition to his loved ones, “many an old mountaineer will read [his obituary] and drop a tear to Uncle Jimmy’s memory and say good-bye, peace be with you.”(3)

James Gemmell's grave, Sheridan Cemetery
Courtesy of Bary Gammell

James was buried in the Sheridan Cemetery, on Saturday, April 9.  The present-day stone marker was not erected until 1981 (one hundred years after his death) by his great grandson Blake Hansen Gammell.  Blake obtained a large granite stone at the same quarry from which the stones for the Salt Lake Temple were cut.  Original drill markings from the 1800’s are still visible on the stone.  The granite, weighing several tons, was transported by truck to Sheridan.  Then Blake had to dig a hole, fill it with sand and gravel, and put the granite piece with its bronze plaque into place with the aid of a truck and a crane.  According to Blake, he “had a hell of time doing it all!”  Since the grave was unmarked, it took him several days and a lot of research to locate the exact burial spot.(4)

A few months after James died, Maria traveled to Charleston, Wasatch County, Utah, to visit her eighty-year-old mother, Avis Hill Brown.  Avis owned her own home, and her son George and his wife were caring for her.  During the visit Grandmother Brown persuaded her daughter to sell her home in Sheridan and return to Utah in order that she might end her days in Maria’s care.  On November, 28, 1882, Maria sold the ranch property to Samuel McCrea for the sum of $2,850.00.  But before the business was settled in Sheridan, Grandmother Brown died (1884).  Consequently, Maria never returned to Utah.(5)

Susan Maria Brown Gemmell, c. 1892
Courtesy of Cathy Hall

About 1887, Maria left Sheridan, taking her younger unmarried children, Charlie, Andy, Virginia, Alice, John and George, and settled near Anaconda.  At the end of 1894, believing that her health would be benefited, she returned to Sheridan and put herself under the treatment of Dr. George W. Rightenour, her family physician.  She began to grow worse and sent for her daughter, Virginia Garrity, who remained with her to the time of her death.  Maria died on Monday, Feb. 3, 1896, at her home on Water Street at age sixty-four.(6)

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1. From the prologue to David Attenborough’s film Gandhi.
2. James Gemmell’s will, Probate records, Madison County Courthouse, Virginia City, Montana, File #25.
3. Obituary of James Gemmell, Dillon Tribune, April 9, 1881.
4. "Short history of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Walton Criss" ( including information on the Francelia Gammell family), Church History Library, MS 147774.
5. Virginia Gemmell Garrity, Letter to Ralph Vary Chamberlin, 1922.
6. Obituary of Susan Maria Gemmell, The Madisonian, Virginia City, Montana, Feb. 8, 1896.

“The Late James Gemmell”

Image courtesy of the Friends of the Sheridan Library

It was late August 1879.  James Gemmell woke up early one morning determined to accomplish a mission he had been considering for a long time.  He had thought about it for many weeks, but hadn’t wanted to discuss it with Maria.  She would only worry about him.  After breakfast and a few morning chores, he told Maria that he was going into town to get the mail and the weekly newspaper.  She thought nothing of it; this was his usual routine.

He rode into the village and stopped at Rozelle Bateman’s place at the corner of Main and Mill Street.  Bateman was the postmaster.  His four-room house, constructed with logs from Gemmell’s saw mill, served as a post office, a store, a hotel, as well as a home for his family.  Everybody stopped at Bateman’s when they came into Sheridan.

James walked into the store and headed for the cigar box on the shelf near the dry goods to check for mail.  That cigar box was the official Sheridan post office, where the villagers (one hundred fifty of them in 1879) dropped off and picked up their letters.  Today there was no mail for the Gemmells.  James had a little time to chat with some of his neighbors and read the newspaper while he waited.  He felt some sense of relief that today he would complete what he considered some very important business at the hotel.

Like his brother William, James had always been strong and fit, and was very seldom ill.  In recent years he had noticed that old age was creeping up on him.  Even Maria noticed that his appetite had diminished, that he had lost weight and often complained of stomach pain.  Instinctively he knew that those whiskey sprees with his fellow mountain men had taken a toll on his health.  Back in 1870 he swore off the whiskey, except for special occasions.  Now, at nearly sixty-five years old, he accepted the fact that his days were numbered…perhaps he would live a few more months, or maybe even a few more years.  At best, time was short.

A few days earlier James had heard rumors that an old acquaintance William F. Wheeler would be coming to Sheridan on business, and of course, he would be staying at Bateman’s hotel.  The stage wouldn’t depart until evening, so James figured there would be time to pay him a visit before he left town.  James had met him for the first time ten years previously, when Wheeler first arrived as the newly appointed United States Marshal of Montana Territory.  A native of New York, he had studied law and worked as a newpaper reporter for the Ohio Statesman before entering government service.  His ten-year term as Marshal had just ended, and he was now able to devote most of his time to his position as a founding officer of the Montana Historical Society.

William F. Wheeler, 1890
Photo courtesy of Montana Historical Society Archives

Several folks had arrived at noon to talk with the former marshal.  James waited his turn and finally stepped forward to greet his old friend.  Wheeler recognized him immediately as one of the first acquaintances he had made when he came to Montana.  He remembered that James Gemmell was one of the very first white settlers in the territory.  He couldn’t help but notice how James had aged since he saw him last.  How feeble he looked!  He motioned for James to sit down and have a glass of wine.

Sheridan as James knew it in the 1870's
(Buildings numbered from left to right)
View from back of Bateman store
Photo courtesy of Sandra Baril

Wheeler had stopped in Sheridan on his way home to Helena after visiting Yellowstone National Park.(1)  His description of its many natural wonders sparked vivid memories for James, who then related the story of his expedition to Yellowstone with old Jim Bridger more than thirty years earlier.  All the while Wheeler was jotting down a few notes.  “Have you ever seen any views (photographs) of the geysers, the falls and hot springs since your first visit,” he asked.

James responded, “When I was in Bozeman several years back, Bird Calfee showed me his whole collection. I recognized them all right away.  Always wanted to go back again, but I had a large family to feed. Seems like I was always working.”

Two hours had flown by, and James had nearly forgotten the real reason he had come to call on William Wheeler.  At this point he invited Wheeler to go home with him to his ranch just a mile away.  He said he had some interesting papers he would like him to see.  When they arrived at the house, James retrieved two yellowed, tattered copies of the Michigan State Gazette that he had kept in a satchel for thirty-five years. The Jackson, Michigan, newspaper had reprinted two letters originally published in the New York Plebeian.  These two letters recounted the story of his involvement in the Canadian rebellion of 1837, from his capture and trial and sentence of life imprisonment in Van Diemens Land, to his escape and return home after two years of captivity.

Wheeler continued to take notes as James told how he happened to venture out on the plains.  He talked about the death of his first wife in Michigan, how he met up with Jim Bridger, how he settled in Great Salt Lake City, and how he and his family were among the earliest settlers in Montana.

A couple of hours passed unnoticed until it was time for supper.  Maria insisted that their guest stay and have a meal with them. James introduced several of his children who were still living at home.  The youngest one was three-year-old George, a stout, healthy, rosy-cheeked boy.  He was James’ twenty-first child. (James had eighteen biological children and three step children.)

After supper the two men drove the buggy back to Sheridan in time for Wheeler to catch his evening stagecoach to Helena.  As they parted, James placed the newspapers in Wheeler’s hands and explained that he was getting old and didn’t expect to live much longer.  For this reason he had told his story.  He had one last request of Wheeler, “If you consider my story worth preserving, I hope you will write it out.”  As they shook hands, Wheeler assured him that he would.

William Fletcher Wheeler served as the Montana Historical Society librarian from 1884 until his death in 1894.  He devoted much of his time collecting the reminiscences of old pioneers and writing their biographies.  He completed his article “The Late James Gemmell” in 1881, and it was published by the Montana Historical Society in 1896, fifteen years after James died.(2)

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1. Yellowstone National Park was designated by the United States Congress in 1872.
2. Wheeler, William F., “The Late James Gemmell,” Montana Historical Society, vol. II, p.332.

The Montana Gemmell Family



Jeanette Gemmell
(1852 - 1914)
Courtesy of Sandra Baril




A few months after little Katie’s death, James and Maria hosted a wedding for their eldest daughter, Jeanette.  The groom was James Duncan, son of Reverend Hugh Duncan.  As it turned out, the Gemmells and the Duncans had a lot in common.  Reverend Duncan and his family were Scottish immigrants who had settled in Montana the year before James Gemmell brought his family to Ruby Valley.  The Duncan family had arrived with the first wave of settlers heading for the Montana gold mines.  Starting out in May 1864, Jim Bridger led the first wagon train across hostile Indian Territory from Fort Laramie to the boomtown of Virginia City.  The Duncans hooked up with the Hickman Company of thirty wagons and followed the Bridger train.  Theirs was the second wagon company to arrive at Virginia City.



Reverend Hugh Duncan
(1824 - 1887)
Courtesy of Sandra Baril



Hugh Duncan had worked for a time in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and later had moved to Kansas, where he took up farming and became a Methodist minister.  In 1864 he moved his family to Montana, but not without a few harrowing experiences along the trail.  He was stricken with pneumonia after spending one whole day up to his chest in the frigid water of the Big Horn River, helping thirty ox teams and wagons to ford the deep and dangerous water.  Fortunately for Duncan, there was an excellent physician in the company, a Dr. Sherwood, who nursed him back to health.

The wagon trains stopped for one day to rest and to celebrate the fourth of July on the banks of the Big Horn, where they feasted on mud turtle soup for dinner. The next day they crossed the Shoshone, then called the Stinking River.  As the wagons crossed, the cattle that were hitched to the Duncan wagon went down stream and into a deep hole. Hugh Duncan leaped from the wagon onto the backs of the animals, trying to save them.  Then the four wheels dropped off the bed of the wagon and left the box floating downstream with fifteen-year-old James Duncan, and his mother and sister inside.  However, several men on the river bank managed to rescue those in the wagon bed.  The company reached Virginia City on July 21, but Hugh Duncan stayed there only a few months, then moved his family to one of the settlements along Alder Gulch and built a makeshift cabin.  He bought a one-third interest in a mining claim, and he and his son James went to work placer mining(1) for gold.  In 1869 Reverend Duncan moved to Ruby Valley, where he purchased one hundred sixty acres of land and engaged in farming and stock raising and became neighbors to the Gemmells—neighbors in the frontier sense of the word, anyone within a five-mile radius.

Reverend Hugh Duncan was one of the first Methodist ministers in Montana and one of the founders of the Masonic order in the state.  In 1883 he was grand master of the Masonic Lodges of Montana.  His son James followed in his footsteps in many ways.  James Duncan worked in mining for twenty years and then, like his father, he changed to farming.  He was very successful, owning an excellent farm property.  He was an honored member of the Masonic fraternity and a charter member of the Sheridan Lodge, serving four times as Master of the Lodge.  He and Jeanette were both devout Christians and served faithfully in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Sheridan.  Jeanette founded the Ladies Aid Society of Sheridan.  Both she and James were “possessed of high ideals, and led [lives] of integrity and industry.”(2)  The marriage of James and Jeanette produced a large family—ten grandchildren for both Hugh Duncan and James Gemmell.

James and Jeanette Gemmell Duncan
Courtesy of Reed Russell

These original Ruby Valley settlers had fascinating tales to tell about the early days of Montana.  For example, children and adults alike had to create their own amusement, especially during the long winters.  So they had dances, like the one held in James Gemmell’s big red barn, and they also put on plays.  James Duncan recalled performing in a home-made rendition of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.  Since there were only boys in the cast, his brother Tom had to borrow his mother’s clothes to play Lady Macbeth.(3)

Virginia Gemmell Garrity
Courtsey of Cathy Hall

The Montana Indian war also made for some interesting stories.  James Gemmell’s daughter Virginia was twelve years old at the time of the Battle of the Big Hole, a battle between the Indians, led by Chief Joseph and Chief Looking Glass, and United States army during the Nez Perce War of 1877.  Sheridan residents built a stockade that year for protection from the Indians.  As a safety measure James had his children bury the family valuables and treasures. Virginia helped her brothers dig a trench to bury a hand-carved clock of hammered brass and a set of gold scales:

Everyone in those days kept open house and sold meals, which were paid for in gold dust weighed on the gold scales.  If a miner or a neighbor wished to borrow gold dust until his next panning, he was given the liberty of weighing the gold he desired, and when it was returned the weight was never checked, as honesty was the keynote of the old timers.

The family keepsakes were never unearthed. By the time the boys decided to open the underground vault, the landmarks had been changed, making it impossible to locate the correct spot.

The Gemmell brothers in 1900
Charlie, Andy, John, and George
Courtesy of Cathy Hall

The four Gemmell brothers (Charlie, Andy, John, and George) lived and worked in Ruby Valley most of their lives.  John was the only one who left Montana; he later moved to San Bernardino, California.  In 1900 the brothers worked together as placer miners at Bearmouth, Montana.  No doubt they had high hopes of striking it rich.  They were all single at the time, but John ended up marrying the camp cook, Addie O’Hara, and had four children.  Charlie and Andy remained bachelors, but George, who was James Gemmell’s youngest child, eventually married and had five children.

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1. Placer mining, as opposed to tunnel mining, refers to mining for precious metals found in the sand or gravel of stream-beds.
2. James Duncan obituary, The Butte Miner, October 17, 1926; The Madison County Forum, October 22, 1926. Montana Historical Society, “The Pioneers”, author unknown; Jeanette Gammell Duncan obituary, Sheridan Forum, August 14 1914.
3. Montana Historical Society, “The Pioneers”, author unknown
4. Obituary of Virginia Gemmell Garrity, Montana Standard, Butte, Montana, 8 January 1942.
5. 1900 U.S. Census, Bearmouth, Granite, Montana.

A Double Tragedy: The Deaths of Jimmie and Katie May

When James first brought his family to Ruby Valley, his wife, Maria, was one of the few women living in Madison County.  She quickly became known for her kindness and compassion, as she ministered to those in sickness and distress when there was no doctor in the county.  She bore five children in Sheridan without the help of a physician or a midwife.  Virginia (Jennie) was born soon after they arrived, and may have been the first white child born in Madison County.  Alice was born two years later.  After James returned from his year in Utah working on the railroad, Maria gave birth to their three youngest children, John, Katie May, and George, making a total of twelve, six boys and six girls.  (Two of the twelve children, Samuel and Emily died in infancy in Utah.)

James and Maria’s second daughter, Josephine, was the first to marry.  At age seventeen she married Joseph Irwin.  Just one year later Maria gave birth to her eleventh child, Katie May.  Little Katie was nearly a year old when tragedy struck the family.

On a hot day in July 1873, Maria’s seventeen-year-old son Jimmie was working with a group of men rounding up horses in Ruby Valley near Jefferson Island, not far from their Sheridan ranch.  Clouds of dust raised by the galloping horses obscured his line of sight, and Jimmie collided with another rider.  When his horse collapsed, Jimmie was thrown to the ground and suffered a broken neck.  P.W. Baker, one of the men in charge, realized that the boy’s injury was so severe that he shouldn’t be moved.  Baker jumped into a horse-drawn rig and raced to Sheridan to bring his mother to his side.  When Maria arrived, Jimmie was still alive.  She was able to speak to him, but he soon died in her arms.  The funeral was held on the lawn of the Gemmell ranch home.(1)

The following summer Maria’s broken heart was only beginning to heal.  As she was preparing supper on the evening of July 9, 1874, thinking about Jimmie and remembering that it would soon be the first anniversary of his death, she sent Jennie out to get a pail of water from the irrigation ditch, just a few paces from the kitchen door.  A few seconds later Maria heard Jennie’s screams for help.  As she rushed into the yard, Maria saw two-year-old Katie lying in the shallow water.  She tried to revive her, but it was too late.  No one had noticed that Katie was missing from the house until Jennie discovered her baby sister lying in the ditch.  She had already drowned.(2)

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1. The burial may have also been on the ranch property.  See Montana Historical Society, “The Pioneers”, author unknown; and David C. Chamberlin collection, 1989, courtesy of Cathy Hall.
2. The Helena Daily Herald, Monday, July 13, 1874, p3, c3.  (Reprinted from The Madisonian)

“Come On, You Brave Yank”

from http://www.louisville.com/ 

The Civil War, the bloodiest battle in our nation’s history, is also known as the war that divided families, with brother literally taking up arms against brother.  History records a number of stories about brothers fighting on opposite sides of the conflict, one brother dressed in Union blue and the other in Confederate gray.  At the Battle of Front Royal, Captain William Goldsborough of the Confederate First Maryland Infantry captured his brother Charles Goldsborough, a Union soldier fighting with the Union First Maryland Infantry and took him prisoner.  Another Confederate, a brigadier general, James B. Terrill, was killed at the Battle of Totopotomoy Creek, while his brother, William R. Terrill, a Union brigadier general was killed at the Battle of Perryville.  The Gammell family was one of many families who faced the same predicament.

Henry Wylie, half brother of James Gammell, was employed at Sanford Blackinton’s woolen mill when the Civil War began.  A government contract for blue wool cloth for army uniforms kept the mill open day and night to fill the orders.  In October 1861, the mill was earning a profit of about one thousand dollars a day.  Henry soon left his work at the mill to serve in the Union army, 1st Regiment Massachusetts Heavy Artillery.  That same year Henry’s half brother Andrew F. Gammell, who was living in Texas, joined the Confederate army, Second Texas Infantry.  Fortunately the two brothers never faced each other on opposite sides of the same battle.

In contrast to the unbelievable carnage that resulted from the four-year war, there were also some inspiring stories of compassion and camaraderie between enemies.  At times during the fierce fighting, the soldiers stopped to remember that they were all brothers.  One of those well-known incidents occurred at the Battle of Vicksburg.  Andrew Gammell and his fellow Texas Sharpshooters were defending the Confederate fortification known as the Second Texas Lunette.

The assault upon that part of the embankment at Vicksburg was made by the Ninety-ninth Illinois and four other Union regiments.  On May 22, 1863, Private Thomas Higgins, a big, strong, athletic Irishman, requested the privilege of carrying the flag for the day in place of the color bearer, who had been wounded.  The captain gave him permission and handed over the standard, telling him, “Don’t stop until you get into the Confederate works.”  Higgins obeyed this order literally.

Charles I. Evans, an ex-Confederate soldier of the Second Texas, later recorded how bravely Private Higgins carried out the order of his superior officer.

The following is Charles I. Evans' account:

After a most terrific cannonading of two hours, during which the very earth rocked and pulsated like a thing of life, the head of the charging column appeared above the brow of the hill, about 100 yards in front of the breast works, and, as line after line of blue came in sight over the hill, it presented the grandest spectacle the eye of a soldier ever beheld.  The Texans were prepared to meet it however, for, in addition to our Springfield rifles, each man was provided with five additional smooth-bore muskets, charged with buck and ball.

When the first line was within fifty paces of the works, the order to fire ran along the trenches, and was responded to as from one gun.  As fast as practiced hands could gather them up, one after another, the muskets were brought to bear.  The blue lines vanished amid fearful slaughter.  There was a cessation in the firing.  And behold, through the pall of smoke which enshrouded the field, a Union flag could be seen approaching.

As the smoke was slightly lifted by the gentle May breeze, one lone soldier advanced, bravely bearing the flag towards the breast works.  At least a hundred men took deliberate aim at him, and fired at point-blank range, but he never faltered.  Stumbling over the bodies of his fallen comrades, he continued to advance.  Suddenly, as if with one impulse, every Confederate soldier within sight of the Union color bearer seemed to be seized with the idea that the man ought not to be shot down like a dog.  A hundred men dropped their guns at the same time; each of them seized his nearest neighbor by the arm and yelled to him: 'Don't shoot at that man again.  He is too brave to be killed that way,' when he instantly discovered that his neighbor was yelling the same thing at him.  As soon as they all understood one another, a hundred old hats and caps went up into the air, their wearers yelling at the top of their voices: 'Come on, you brave Yank, come on!'

He did come, and was taken by the hand and pulled over the breast works, and when it was discovered that he was not even scratched, a hundred Texans wrung his hands and congratulated him upon his miraculous escape from death.  That man's name was Thomas J. Higgins,(1) color bearer of the Ninety-ninth Illinois.

Private Higgins was then taken before General Pemberton, the rebel commander, who asked him where General Grant's headquarters were.  "I do not know, as he is moving them every day, but they will be here tomorrow," came the ready response from the quick-witted Irishman.

"How many men has your general got?" the rebel leader inquired.

"Oh, not many, only about seventy-five thousand," Higgins replied.

"How far back do his lines extend?"

"As far as Cairo, Illinois, and they are still being formed in the state of Maine."

"Well," General Pemberton observed sarcastically, "we'll have Grant in here as a prisoner tomorrow."

"I know," was the doughty Yankee soldier's reply, "General Grant will come in here tomorrow to ship you and your command to Altona, Illinois, where he has a big boarding house."

At this, General Pemberton got angry.  "Sergeant," he exclaimed, "take this man away.  He is insulting.  He is impudent.  He is insolent."

Thereupon, Private Higgins was led away, a few days later paroled, exchanged, and subsequently he returned to his regiment, where he remained until the end of the war.(2)

His Medal of Honor was awarded him at the request of the very Confederates who captured him at the assault. Higgins received the Medal of Honor on April 1, 1898. The citation reads: “When his regiment fell back in the assault, repulsed, this soldier continued to advance and planted the flag on the parapet, where he was captured by the enemy.”(3)

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1. Thomas J. Higgins, Private, Company D, Ninety-ninth Illinois Infantry, born in Franklin Co., New York, June 3, 1831.
2. Deeds of Valor: from records in the archives of the United States government; how American heroes won the Medal of Honor, Vol. 1, Perrien-Keydel Co., 1907, pp. 198-200.
3. See Medal of Honor Recipients, Civil War at   http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html  

Jean Dickie’s Letter to her Daughter Jane

The surviving Gammell/Gemmell family letters are precious and few, and we’re fortunate to have them.  They provide a glimpse into the relationships between family members that we wouldn’t otherwise have.  They enable us to view a small, yet intimate, snapshot in time.  In this letter, we hear the voice of James Gemmell’s mother, Jean Dickie.  Jean bore eight children, five by her husband, James Gemmell, Sr., and three by her second husband, James Henry Wylie, Sr.

Jean Dickie Gemmell Wylie wrote to her daughter Margaret Jane, from Blackinton, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, home of her son Henry and his wife, Catherine.  Blackinton was a textile-manufacturing town located on the Hoosic (or Hoosac) River in the northwest corner of Massachusetts near North Adams and Williamstown, and very near to the border of both New York and Vermont.  Sanford Blackinton's woolen mill was the major employer in the town in the mid-1800's.  Henry Wylie (Margaret Jane’s half-brother) worked eleven hours a day as an operator at the mill, which ran seven sets of machinery and seventy looms, producing nearly fifteen hundred yards of wool a day.

On the 6th day of July 1860, Jean Wylie could never have imagined that one hundred fifty years later, her great, great, grandchildren and her third great grandchildren would read the letter she is writing.

Jean, age sixty-seven, was a widow.  Her second husband, James Henry Wylie Sr., had recently died,(1)  so she had packed up her belongings and moved in with her son Henry.  At this time Jean had some health problems, and seemed to have a premonition of her impending death.  Little did she know that in just fourteen months she would die,(2) not because of illness, but by a bolt of lightning:

My Dear Jane,

You see I date from another place.  But it is the will of providence that I am left thus alone.  May it be for the best.  He has still provided for all my wants hitherto and I feel a humble reliance on all his unmerited mercy that he will still provide for the little while that remains.  I have eagerly yearned to see you all and now there is a way open for me and if I am spared to see you all once more how glad I will be.(3)

Jean Wylie’s youngest child, Mary, had arrived from Houston to visit her mother.  Mary, age twenty-one, was married to fifty-year-old Darius Gregg, a wealthy Texan landowner and slave owner.  Jean reported that “Mary’s here, well and hearty, enjoying herself to her heart's satisfaction.”  Mother and daughter took an overnight excursion on “the cars [railroad] and went to Pontoosuc(4) on the third and returned on the fourth [of July]. We had a good time.”  At Pontoosuc Jean sold some “furniture, carpet and bureau, bedsteads, chairs, crockery, about 8 cords of nonsense.”  (“Mary wrote this.  She's full of mischief but I will pay her back.”) Jean intended to write “8 cords of wood”, but apparently Mary had taken the paper and inserted her own little joke.  Jean had gone to Pontoosuc to sell some of her belongings, now that she was not living on her own.  No doubt she will need the money more than her furniture.

During their trip to the Pittsfield area, Jean bought Mary a new dress, one that her father, James H. Wylie, Sr., had promised her before his death: “Father had promised her a silk dress if she came home…She got a very pretty one.”  Her father most likely knew that he wouldn’t live much longer, and wanted to see his daughter one last time.  Unfortunately he died before Mary arrived.

Jean was exhausted after her trip to Pontoosuc.  She hadn’t had much rest since she arrived at Henry’s home in May.  In June, Henry’s wife, Catherine, gave birth to their third child.  They named their daughter Jane Proudfit Wylie(5) after Catherine’s mother.  Two days after the baby was born, Mary arrived from Houston.  Jean wrote, “It is one continued hurrah.  I kept round doing the work; Kate (Catherine) being laid up, till my weak leg gave out and I had to rest about a week.  But [it] is as well as usual again.”

Kate was soon up and around again after the birth of her baby, but Jean was kept busy caring for the two older children, grandsons Fred and Harry:

The baby is three weeks and three days old.  Little Fred was not walking alone when the baby was born.  He was so fat and heavy and afraid to walk, but is running all over now.  [He is] a little over sixteen months old, a stout healthy boy.  Harry is the most stunning boy I ever saw.  Father [James H. Wylie Sr.] always said he beats Andrew(6) all to pieces when he was little.  He is but little [seldom] in the house when it don't rain.  Henry (Jean’s son, and half-brother of Jane [Margaret Jane]) is well and doing well.  Never was one more steady, much respected by his employers.  [He] Is one of the teachers in the Sunday School, which is quite a large one, kept [held] in the meetinghouse close by.(7)

Jean told her daughter Jane that if all goes well she expects to return to Houston before winter sets in:

If I am well and get through the long journey safe we will have many a long talk.  But I think you will hardly know me.  I have got almost twenty years older looking than when I left Texas.  When once we get past sixty every year counts two in looks, besides I have been so much sick.  But if I have my health in Texas as well as I had before I promise myself great comfort yet with you all and the little girls.(8)

Marion (May) Jenette Andrews
daughter of Margaret Jane Gammell Andrews
(Courtesy of Patricia Riddell Lococo)

Jane’s two little girls are May and Kate Andrews, daughters by her first husband, Captain James B Andrews, who died in 1858.  Jane had recently married James W. Oats, and moved into a new house in the “Oats Settlement”:

Give my best regards to Mr. Oates.  I may accept his offer of that room with many thanks for his kindness.  Oh how I want to see you all once more but cannot say where I shall keep my few things till I see you.  I feel now as if I will be at home with any of you.  But William's always seems like home [after] being there so long.(9)

She asked Jane to share the letter with the other family members then living in Houston.  As for William and his wife, Jane, “how I want to see their garden.  Tell them I will bring lots of flower seeds.”  Mary reported that because of a Texas drought, William’s beautiful garden “has not done as well this year.”  Next, Jean mentioned her son Andrew, “Give my love [to] Andrew’s folks and the children.”  Like most grandmothers, she couldn't forget her grandchildren, “Remember me to May and Kate [Andrews].  I expect to have great times with them yet.”  Then a comment to Jane, “I hear you say…[that I (Jean) am] the biggest child. True, I am foolish as ever about children.”

Jean missed the wedding of her son Fred Wylie, who was married just five days after this letter was written:  “I suppose you have got Fred married,(10) and the wedding over by this time as well.  I hope it is all for the best.  I hope he leaves off running the [Houston and Texas Central Railway] cars and goes to work and I think his wife will agree with me.”  As if Jean had not endured enough pain and sorrow in the last year with the death of her husband, her son Fred, age twenty-five, will die in Texas on September 20, 1860, just two months after this letter was written and two months after his wedding.

Jean reminded her daughter Jane to send just one more letter, “Now I want you to write me a few lines.  I don't want to wait till fall to hear from you.  Tell the rest to not forget one letter more.  I mean Jane [William’s wife] and Het. I am so busy.  Will write again before leaving Mass [Massachusetts].”

Mary then added a few lines of her own:

Dear Sister,

Mother was writing, so I thought I would write a few lines to let you know how I was getting along.  I think this is the most beautiful place I ever was in.  There is so many mountains around and so high, the most beautiful gardens.  I go and see them most every day when it don't rain.  Have you had any there yet?  You wanted rain when I left.  We have had plenty here since I came and looks like we might have more.  Have you seen Mr. Gregg (her husband, Darius Gregg) lately?  Next time you see him, tell him for me that I want him to write me often.  He told me not to write after the fourth because he did not know as he would get it.  How is little May?  Tell her she must learn fast and let me see how much she has learned since I came away.  Give my love to Mr. Oates. No more at present. — Mary (11)

The letter ends with Jean D. Gemmell Wylie’s last written words to her descendants:

"Give my love to all and accept the same for yourself.  May all so live and so act that we may all be admitted into that happy land where there is no more trouble, no more sin nor sorrow, and spend a joyful eternity together is the daily prayer of your ever loving though far distant Mother,"

Signed,
Jean D. Wylie (12)
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1. Death record for James H. Wylie, Sr., May 4, 1860. (See Massachusetts Deaths and Burials, 1795-1910.)
2. Jean D. Wylie died September 10, 1861, in Houston.
3. Jean D. Gemmell Wylie, letter to her daughter Jane, July 6, 1860. (Courtesy of Patricia Riddell Lococo.)
4. Pontoosuc, a part of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is located twenty miles south of Blackinton. Nearby is Pontoosuc Lake.
5. See IGI:  Jane Breadfret Wylie, daughter of James H. Wylie and Catherine Spittuel Sinclair, born June 15, 1860, Williamstown, Berkshire, Massachusetts. (See Film #0250293. Breadfret is likely a misreading of Proudfit.)
6. Andrew F. Gammell, brother of James and Margaret Jane.  He is one of Jean Dickie Gemmell Wylie’s five children by her first husband, James Gemmell.
7. Jean D. Gemmell Wylie, letter to her daughter Jane, July 6, 1860. (Courtesy of Patricia Riddell Lococo.)
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Fred Wylie married Isabella Edwards on July 11, 1860 in Harris County, Texas. They had no children.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.

A Letter to Margaret Jane

It was New Year’s Day 1870.  James sat down with pen and paper to write his annual letter to his sister, Jane.  After an absence of thirteen months working on the railroad, he was ready for a rest, a home-cooked meal, and a peaceful homecoming around the hearth with Maria and the children.  A bottle of Scotch whiskey also added to his reflective, nostalgic mood:

My dear sister Jane,

…know that warm harts and true friends still thinks of you and yours tho o’re the hills and far away…this gold Scotch…brings fresh to my mind the days of old lang-sine and many a pleasant reckolechion which can [never be] realized again for but few of the actors of our old play days remanes yet…I can think back on our Childhood with many a pleasant recklection which often drives the dull care of the present away.

He goes on to tell Jane that he was on the Bear River and far from the settlements when he received her letter informing him of the death of his brother William, who had died unexpectedly in April of pneumonia.  “Jane, it was a hard blow…dear, dear brothers, they are both gone.”  He reminds her that they are the only two left of the siblings that once bore the Gammell/Gemmell name.  William, Robert and Andy have all died, as well as their half brother Fred Wylie.  Henry Wylie is living in Massachusetts, and their half sister Mary is still living in Texas.

James had hoped to visit Jane in Houston before his return to Sheridan, but he had been gone from home long enough.  The last time he had seen her was when they said goodbye on the Houston Bridge as James was leaving Texas in May 1857.  Jane’s first husband, Captain James Andrews, was with them at that last parting, but he died the next year at age fifty.  James had fond memories of “the Captain,” as they called him:

…the Captain, poore fellow, many a plesent reckliction I have of him, one of the most noble of Gods works…Generous to a fault.  Yes Jane as I set and Look at your Pictor with that of your family and thinking of those that gone it makes me feel chills I almost fancey that I can feele the warm kiss and fond imbrace at the Last adieu on the Houston Bridge the holy warm kiss of A sisters love makes A deep impreshion upon the hart that never can be iraddecated the adieus of you all at that parting is the fondest treasure of my bosom and the greatest regreat at the present is that I can’t be one of your family circle on this annual festival of the new yeare and fill the invitation that William gave A year ago  That dear Jane, would be one of the happiest days of my life but we know that today if we can’t mingle in your midst that we are still in your minds and wishes us as we do you A happy New yeare and many of them but as you say it can’t be A verry happy one for it must bring my recklections of the past and the recent [death] of many of our family will be sadly missed but so my dear sister is the destiny of man we must all shortly follow  Let us be prepared for that Grand and certain event that we may meete it as our Brother did when you asked him if he had any thing to say to Jim he looked at you with A smile as much as to say, all is right.(1)

James also expresses his sympathy for William’s widow (also named Jane), for her grief and her loneliness:  “Poore Jane, the loss of a bosom Companion that we have lived so many years with…is like tearing the sole from the body…I do regret that they had no Children to bare with her their burdon of greefe and Cheer her declining years.”

Thinking about his own mortality, James can’t help but feel grateful for the progeny that he will leave behind:  “…with me Jane, it will be different for when this old hulk is layed Away there will be a lot left to laugh or cry as they may feele.”  On this New Year’s day (1870) he can count eight children that are living with him in Sheridan:  Orlin, Jeanette, Josephine, James, Charley, Andrew, Virginia, and Alice.  “They are at present going to [school]…and Jane, I am proud of them.  They are all smart and will pass in a Crowde.”

He doesn’t forget to mention his children who are not living in Sheridan.  “My oldest daughter whose mother died in Salt Lake is married and got one Child.  She has done well…no [polygamy] for her…I made my home at Liby’s [while working on the railroad in northern Utah] and had A great time with my Grand daughter.”  And as for Hannah Jane’s children, “My other children with their mother home I left in Utah are all well.  I have not saw them for seven years but hear oft from them.”

James adds a few concluding remarks.  He states, “Mormonism is About played out… there is many divisions of them here.” (*)   He mentions Eleanor Pratt, who is opening a school in Salt Lake City and doing well.  And finally, he tells his sister Jane that he will shortly write to William’s widow, Jane, to Andrew’s widow, Hetty, and to his half sister, Mary Wylie Gregg.  “Well [Jane] I have given you a long letter.  Try and pay it back with interest.  Give my Love to all.  So says Uncle Jim Gemmell.”

(*) Note – If by “played out” James meant that Mormonism had run its course or reached its peak, and was then [1870] in decline, here are the actual statistics:  Church membership in 1869 was nearly eighty-nine thousand.  Total membership at the end of 2010 was over fourteen million. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is presently the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States.

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1. Jim Gemmell , letter to his sister, Jane, January 1, 1870.  (Courtesy of Patricia Riddell Lococo.)