Dear Sharon, My theory is that your gggrandfather truly was an immigrant from another planet. He arrived in company with my own g.grandfather from the same era who came to IN, also lived to an advanced age, fathered children late in life and there is no record of his death or burial. So in sympathy with your problems, I also had a quick look for your Joe, hoping he might be found with my Andy. Here is what I found in 1850 in Madison County, IN ... Joseph Gill, age 35, a physician from England, was apparently boarding with a family named "Northraft" (very hard to read). The same fellow was counted twice, once with another household. Must have been moving around. Then we have another Joseph Gill in the 1850 census, in Posey County, IN (Black Tnp.). This one is 45 years old and says he was born in Kentucky. His wife is Mary (age 50) and others in the household are Hannah (21), Aaron, Benoni, and Michael, age 14. Another Joseph Gill (son of John Gill) is only 13 in 1850. Couldn't find any Joseph Gills in the 1850 census in Parke County, IN. The LDS records say: Husband Deverter Franklin Gill Pedigree Birth: AUG 1878 Silverwood, Fountain, Indiana Marriage: < 1911> , Fountain, Indiana So that is Fountain County, not Parke County. But Fountain and Parke are right next to each other. OKAY -- but since "DEVERTER" is such an unusual name, and probably a family surname, I looked for that. In PARKE County, IN in 1850, there was the family of George Deverter, a 59-year old shoemaker. He has several children, among them ELIZABETH, age 15. Could that be your Deverter's mother? The Deverters had lived in Ohio for many years, according to the census, so perhaps your Gills were in Ohio at one time. Good luck. Jeanne Surber > Trying once again to find any information. Really does look like my Great > Great Grandfather was an Alien of sorts. > > Joseph Gill was really big on evading the census taker, the taxman, land > buying, even the undertaker. > > First we find that there is an Elizabeth Gill, wife of Joseph who died > leaving children (unknown names, ages, etc., this according to the tombstone) and > she died in 1868, at the age of 52 yrs. 2 mo., 6 d. buried in Miller Cemetery, > Lodi, Liberty Township, Parke County, IN. Heck she is not even listed in the > Plot papers of that cemetery. > > Good ole Joe shows up on the 1870 census as head of house hold giving his age > as 69 years (1801) and being born in VA. living in Liberty Township, Parke > County, IN. Also living in the house was a 17 or 19 (hard to read) girl by the > name of Sarah Lacey, listed as housekeeper. No one else listed in this > household. Gee if the above Elizabeth is indeed Joseph's wife what happened to > the children. Were they already of age to move away from home, Maybe? No > obituary or funeral home to be found as yet. > > > Then he shows up on a marriage license to Julia Crothers(Griffin) in November > 1876, marrying in Liberty Township, Parke County, IN. > > Then along comes my Great Grandfather, Deverter being born in Silverwood, > Liberty Township, Parke County, IN, in 1878. Now this according to the 1870 > census makes Joe 77 years old when Deverter was born...... > > Then on the 1880 census he is listed as 76 years old (1804) being born in OH > and parents were from England. Occupation - Farmer. > Julia being 48 years old (1832) born IN - parents CT, & NJ and a housekeeper > Julia's son, Joseph Crouthers (11 years) by a previous marriage. Oh! Did I > mention that Julia had been married three times before Joe, well she was. > Daughter of Julia's Mary Crouthers (8) > Son Elbert Crouthers (6) > Devester Gill (3) now so many times have found Deverter's name spelled > Devester. > > Now by 1900 Liberty Township, Parke County census, Julia is widowed and 70 > years old (1830) and she has a grandson by Ann Thompson her daughter from her > first marriage, living with her by the name of Morris Wann who was 17 years old > and Deverter who is 22 years old. > > Joe does not show up in any of the cemeteries in that area nor can we find an > obituary for him. Now they started listing obituaries in Parke County in > 1882, so have to assume that he died sometime around 1880 and 1882. (There we > go assuming again) > > Julia died in 1906 and is buried in the Miller Cemetery along with lots of > other family members. > > When we asked an Uncle that we found about 5 years ago what nationality we > Gill's were he told us what he was told. When they were younger they asked > Deverter where they came from and he said, "If you want to be Irish then be > Irish." Now that is not fair is it...lol > > So the search goes on.....Where did this Alien, Joseph Gill hail from? Who > was his parents? When was he actually born and where? Did he have Siblings? > Children from previous marriages? How many times was he married? Oh! so many > questions and not enough answers to be found. > > Joe must have been a real prankster to have left so few details of who he > really was. Do know from family information that he was a line boss on the Canal > in Parke County. Gee, no records yet to be found of people who worked on the > Canal's, would have thought that there might have been some payroll records > somewhere. > > Have not found him on any Land, Tax, Physician records, Church records, > Cemetery Records, guess he did not break the law, have not found him in any > lawsuits. One might ask if he really existed, but guess he did or I would not be > here asking so many questions and searching for any information on him. > > Well, this is long, but hope someone out there has a glimmer of hope as to > the identity of my Great Great Grandfather Joseph Gill. > > > > > Sharon Gill Vanden Bossche > Homepage: <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/sharonv45/index.html">http://www.geocities.co m/sharonv45/index.html</A> > E-mail: SharonV45@aol.com > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Why is Leonard Peltier still in prison...??? > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > <A HREF="http://www.freepeltier.org/">http://www.freepeltier.org</A> > > > > > > ==== INDIANA Mailing List ==== > To remove yourself from the list, type: > unsubscribe > in the first line of the message - NOTHING ELSE. > Send it to: > Indiana-L-request@rootsweb.com > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >