Memories

Anyone remember the clacking of the telex, dictaphones, gestetners?   After my return from two years in India, I had worked for the Federal Government in Northern Canada (Indian Affairs),  but moved to Three Hills, Alberta to take on the challenge of running a new office for the Western Representative of the OMF, who was often away travelling. I loved arranging itinerary of missionaries,  attending conferences, dealing with correspondence and all office routines.

These are memories of my earliest working years, long before I became a Music Teacher, then a Registered Nurse in a Toronto hospital  and a Nursing Home, and finally  a College Instructor. I enjoyed working for Canadian elections,  mainly at polling stations. 

I  “retired“ about 15 years ago to enjoy gardening, life on the farm, and genealogy. Needing something to challenge my mind,  I became interested in Biblical Archaeology,  Ancient History  and  Biblical Prophesy – the end times. Some of that I may share on the top menu bar under personal interests  To offer hope in a world has has so little in a time of great crisis.  

 

Beginnings – reviewing interest of visitors to this site; established goals for this New Year; preparing publications for print. Answering inquiries; researching library systems.

GO TO BOTTOMO OF PAGE FOR MOST RECENT WORK

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January

USA

New Mexico (69 more records) ; North Dakota (71) Oregon (44); Rhode Island (9); South Dakota (62);  Utah (80); Vermont (49); Washington State (102) Wisconsin (94); Wyoming (2) ; Alabama (71); Alaska (3); Arizona (44) Arkansas (54) Colorado (135); Connecticut (275); Delaware (57); District of Columbia (1); Florida (62); Georgia (89); Idaho (3) Iowa (17) Kentucky (85)

MILITARY:  Jan 2020 Military Might Chart added to main Military Page. Adding names of vets from death records found in some states.

My note to Islay, Scotland Researchers:  Just found a  child, H H Gillespie in Arizona Deaths, of Donald Gillespie & Mary McNeil of Simcoe Co, Ontario, CANADA. He was born Michigan. Did they just visit, or live there for awhile? Parents buried in Collingwood, Ontario.

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February

USA

Continuing USA records (most are Death Records):

Arkansas (1); Maine (202); Maryland (44); Massachusetts (11); Michigan (40); Minnesota (44); New Jersey (37);  New York (270); North Carolina (160); Pennsylvania (174); Tennessee (155), Texas (84); Virginia (106); West Virginia (75)

Current Obits: Virginia (1); Ohio (1) NC (1)

Note: found terrible history of Civil War Pt Lookout Prison for Confederates in Maryland-  Gillespie listed on Maryland Death Records.

Germany (2); Jamaica (2); Japan (1); Norway (new) 1

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March

USA – 1 obit for California

AUSTRALIA – 333 records

• Capital Territory Deaths (10)
• New South Wales Marriages (26)  NSW Deaths (18)
• Northern Australia – 2
• South Australia Marriages (18)
• Queensland Marriages (216) Deaths (1)
• Tasmania (1) Death
• Victoria Deaths (16)
• Western Australia Deaths (1)
• Australia Miscellaneous Death Records (24)

NEW ZEALAND – 180

• Marriages (164)  Deaths (16)

AFRICA – 87

 South Africa:  (80)

• 2 immigration records,  3 births, 1 marriage, 74 deaths.

Sudan – new (5)  military medals 1884-1886 UK campaign

Tunisia – (1)

Zimbabwe:  (1)

ASIA – 69

Afghanistan – new (1)

Pakistan – new  (1)

China: (67)- new Passenger Lists to and from China between 1876 to the late 1950s.  .

CARIBBEAN – 2

Antiqua – new  1814/1815   British Military record

Cuba (1) new

CENTRAL AMERICA – 27                                                                                                                                      

Mexico:  7  births; 11 marriages; 9 deaths

EUROPE – 29

Austria- (1)

Finland – new (1)

Germany – (15) new Passenger Lists to and from Germany. Indicates Gillespie  sailors living in Hamburg.

Greece – (6) records

Moldova (1) – new. b 1823    What led a Gillespie family to this isolated location above Greece, when the movement in that time period was to North America? A puzzling find. Irish names

Norway – new (1)

Poland – new (1)

Spain – new (2)

Sweden – new (1)

IRELAND – 8

Co Tyrone Deaths & Marriages. (8)

MIDDLE EAST – 9

Palestine (Israel) 6 military records

Turkey -(3)  births

SOUTH AMERICA – 13

Argentina (1) new

Brazil –  (10)

Chile – new (1)

• Consul David Ross Gillespie 1801-1868 from Scotland.

Uruguay – (1)

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Due to the cornovirus outbreak world-wide, work on this website has slowed down during self isolation. May we all find the capacity to turn this pandemic  into one of life’s greatest moments –a war against an invisible virus.  Thank you all front line workers,  and everyone who is  social distancing, wearing a mask,  and showing respect for others. It is saving lives, maybe even your own. For those families who are suffering the loss of a loved one, my heart reaches out to you. We will not forget. You matter, and God does loves you.

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CANADA -221

• Petitions for Divorce 1848-1968 – (4)

Ontario: (129)

• Births (37)   Marriages (87)     Deaths (5)

Quebec: (88)

• Marriages (50); Deaths (29) Early Land Records (9)

 

April

USA:

• Missouri  – (1 ) obit
• Montana – (12) births (new)
• West Virginia – (17)  deaths

MILITARY:  (85)

• Loyalist & British Soldiers, 1771-1784 (7)
• Britain Merchant Marine seamen World War I (78)

CARIBBEAN

• Guyana (British Guiana) – new (1)

ENGLAND:  (393)

• Marriages (392)
• Deaths (1) obit 2020

IRELAND: (115)

• Early Marriages (16)
• Co Armagh Obit – Dr John Gillespie, Tynan 2020
• Co Donegal Deaths (38)
• Co Dublin (5)
• Co Fermanagh Deaths (6)
• Co Galway Deaths (4)
• Co Londonderry Deaths (2)
• Co Tyrone Deaths (43)

SCOTLAND: (44)

• Edinburgh Births (22)
• Glasgow Births (22)

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August/September 2020

November

CANADA – 26

Ontario – severe limitations on travel due to worldwide pandemic. Filming some more Gillespie tombstones and gradually adding them beside death records, as work on website gradually resumes. Nov 20th: I’ve made a major move, am now answering inquiries, and about to return to adding more records. Focus for awhile will be adding tombstone photos for Ontario, as soon as scanner is working.  Internet just turned on. Thank you for your wonderful,  encouraging comments. Focus now is adding tombstone photos rather than records for awhile.

Note: Belleville Cemetery office would not help me locate any Gillespie graves without a specific name, so a return visit will be necessary. I found one grave walking around until tired. Grave stones found for my older brother’s wife’s family.

All tombstone photos on this site are copyright protected Norma Gillespie, 2020, unless otherwise stated. Your participation in this project would be of great help.

SCOTLAND – 528

• Scotland Mining Accidents – 11
• Aberdeenshire Death Records – 46
• Angus Death Records – 49
• Edinburgh Death Records – 48
• Fife Death Records – 7
• Biography of James Gillespie (Graham) – architect
• Added link to over a 100 Gillespie funeral notices for Banffshire, Scotland and other locations
• Scotland Gillespie Asylum Patients – 179 {with death dates)
• Stirlingshire Deaths – 35 more
• School Records for Scottish children (with birth dates) – 131

GILLESPIE NAME: 1

Link to website FOREBEARERS that says that the name Gillespie is ranked 6,285 in the world, and about 90,000 people  bear this surname. Most common in the United States of America. Highest density in Northern Ireland. The surname occurs in 99 counties of the world. 

PUBLICATIONS/MILITARY – 25

• Adding listing of  Gillespie authors of  books, music sheets, photos
• Few more Gillespie servicemen during Military Actions
• other military situations: see:  Africa (Ghana), Australia, Canada, Britain, The Dardenes; New Zealand,  South America (Argentina).=
• Military books, photos and postcards of Gillespie soldiers in Crete, Malaysia, Angola.
• British Doctors During World War I

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December:

CANADA – 123

Rearranged Ontario Births in name order rather than date.  Problems with coding on Ontario Deaths, Peel to Essex delaying adding tombstone photos & getting them aligned.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Ontario Death Records:  59

• Frontenac, Hastings, Peterborough, Northumberland, Victoria Counties

Ontario Marriages: 56

Ontario Births:  8

Miscellaneous –  12

IRELAND – 103

Separated the Wills Index into separate,  county records for easier viewing. I just re-wrote INTERESTING DISCOVERIES in my 55 years of research, so if you are roadblocked, perhaps something in my notes may be of help to you.  Personal inquiries are always welcome through the contact form on the website. If you wish to make a comment or a suggestion, feel free to do so.

Marriages: 

• • • Co Armagh – 76
    • Co Cork –          4
    • Co Down –    16
    • Co Kidare –     1
    • Co Tyrone  –    6

Immigration & Passenger Lists – 363 

Click on Ship’s Name  to open up fuller records for all passengers and more details. I’ll move on to other things for awhile. Found I also had a page of Immigration records on Ireland page.  Finally a third  passenger list for South Africa 1881 with a Gillespie passenger. Continuing  looking for  ships carrying Gillespie passengers for  1845 – It seems strange no Gillespies immigrated that year during the Potato Famine in Ireland.  Looking for transcribed records but finding none.. Where are ships’  records for returning soldiers from both World Wars?

Note I found of interest about citizenship:  “From 1763 until 1947, people born in Canada, Great Britain or the Commonwealth were all British subjects. Before 1947, aliens could petition for naturalization.”

WALES – 3 records

MILITARY –

Fixed broken link for World War II – unblocking all records accidentally removed.

SUMMARIES

Beginning Year End Report, reviewing all pages, checking counts, checking links, all to help with planning New Year’s focus.  Studying the interest of visitors to this site over the past year. AFRICA  heads the list. Did a lot of research on ship’s travelling to South Africa..

Updated Windows 10 for security breach warning across the world.

COVID-19 – first vaccinations began in Canada Tuesday, Dec 15th, 2020.

DNA

Anticipating arrival of sputum tube from Ancestry in GERMANY, for  DNA testing, a Christmas gift from my son. That was a surprise- location of their testing facility. Ordered as a Christmas special from Ancestry.ca. U-tube videos explaining results on my DNA page.

BLOGGING– year end comments

Alert: This whole site will be temporarily closed for a short period of time ahead for technical upgrade and improvements.  Not sure when, but it may take from one to three days to complete.   I’ll be hopefully adding some more Ontario tombstone photos soon,  but still doing year end final counts, and checks, and that is about a week out my schedule. Be safe everyone.

Ontario as a province goes into lockdown as of Midnight, as Boxing Day  arrives and it extends to January 23rd.  I want to work on my website, but will have a short break for me, too .   Still here, still working away and trying to figure out blogging. Just finished The Greatest Adventure of My Life.

 

 Records Just Added

Beginning Total                                         35,024

January                         1,475                    36,499

February                        1,412                    37, 911

March                              979                     38,890

April                                  681                    39,571

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August                                17                     39, 588

September                        554                    40, 142

November                          14                     40, 156

December                         606                    40, 762

TOTAL                            5,738

 

Gillespie  Ontario Tombstone Photos Just  Added:  111

 

Link to Web Work of 2019 and earlier,  with year end summaries.