2004-07-29

The Gallogly Family / The West Family (Pt. 2)

The West Family
William Westall, my grandfather, son of James Westall, was born in Carlisle, County of Cumberland, England.

In early youth he was orphaned, with his brother George and sister Elizabeth. George Westall, while on board a slaver, bound for the Guinea Coast, was kidnapped by an English Man O' War, and lost forever to his family.

Elizabeth Westall married Mr. Witham of Manchester, England. Her daughter married S. W. Robertson, a photographer of the same city.

William Westall was apprenticed to a Quaker silk and wool weaver of Manchester.

In personal appearance William Westall was slightly above average height, his shoulders were drooping, described by the Scotch as "shoulders like a bottel." At the age of twenty-five his hair was entirely gray. His favorite position, when reading, was to cross his knees and twist one foot around the other leg.
William Westall and Dorothy Rennison were married in 1808. In 1788 Dorothy was born in Kendal, near Carlisle. The Rennisons had family records running back two hundred years.
On May 8, 1799, Dorothy, with her parents, moved to Langholm, Scotland. The Rennison children were strictly forbidden to speak the Scotch dialect, but the rolling r's and other peculiarities of the speech of their playmates beguiled them. One evening the father came into the house and said: "Wife, we will go back to England. There is Dolly (Dorothy) playing in the street and she is the Scotchest child there." So to England they returned. "Dolly" recovered her English tongue, but her sister Mary always spoke with the broadest Scotch accent.
Of the thirteen children born to William and Dorothy, four were born in Carlisle: James Rennison, George, William, and Mary Ann.
William Westall's associates in the silk mills always addressed him as "West." He finally became known by that name alone and for convenience adopted the name himself. West became the family name.
In company with his brother-in-law, John McAfee, husband of Mary Rennison, William West came to America in 1817. They landed in Canada, crossed the border, and came to Ellicott Mills, Maryland. The year following the two sisters with their children came to join their husbands.

When Dorothy West and her sister Mary McAfee with their children came to America, they were twelve weeks at sea. Little Mary Ann West died on shipboard and was buried at sea, having contracted measles after sailing.
As the vessel left Chesapeake Bay and sailed into the Patapsco, the sisters made ready for landing. The goods were packed, the children tidied and in the general bustle nine-year-old James West teased the children and added to the confusion. His aunt was greatly annoyed and said to him: "Get thee oot, and let me not see thy face again this morning."
James got "oot" on deck and looked about. Presently he saw his Uncle McAfee coming the Bay in a small boat. Running below, he began to shout: "Aunt Mary! Aunt Mary!" Aunt Mary, still peeved by his mischief, called back: "Did I not say: 'Let me not see thy face again?' " "Aunt Mary," he cried unabashed, "I see Uncle McAfee." "God bless thee, Laddie. Let me kiss thy sweet face," was his reward.
John McAfee died within a few years after coming to America. Aunt Mary, his widow, rented a small farm near Baltimore where she took her children to live. She hired a slave woman to help her clean house and put the premises in living shape. The slave lamented that it was a pity to waster her work there as the former occupants had never been able to keep either chickens or garden. "The niggers steal them all," she said. "They won't steal from me," said Aunt McAfee.

"How you gwine to help it?" asked the slave.
"I'll kill them!" answered Aunt Mary. "I killed twenty-one negroes the last place I lived."
As a result of this bravado, Aunt Mary lived unmolested on the farm.
Mary McAfee was the mother of four children. John lived in Baltimore; Elizabeth Kline in Logan County, Ohio; Mary, who married Janice Butin, in Oakland, California; Martha married a man named Moor. I do not know where they lived. Mary's son married Georgia Clayton, daughter of Professor Clayton an sister of Mrs. Gunn of Butte, Montana, whose husband is a doctor.
William West was manager of the woolen mills of Ellicott Brothers for a number of years. The Ellicotts were Quakers and were thrifty. Many were the stories told of their "nearness."
Their practice was to buy the heads of hogs in the Baltimore market and pay the workmen, in part, with the heads at the price of choice pork.
There was at one time a man of great piety, a foreman, and the most reliable man employed in the mills. He had several sons in the mills, all expert workman. This man's wife boarded a number of mill people.
One day the hog's head was served as usual and instead of the usual grace the host said: "Fall to, girls. I don't feel like saying grace over a dead hog's profile."
The story reached Mr. Ellicott and he came to Mr. West in a fine rage.
"Mr. West," he said, "make out that man's time and that of every member of his family employed in the mills."
When Mr. Ellicott called for the "time," Mr. West handed him with it his own time and that of his sons, James and George, who were expert workmen.
Mr. Ellicott stared: "What does this mean, Mr. West?"
Mr. West answered: "This man is the most trustworthy man I have and I cannot run the mill without him and his boys."
"Oh well, West, we'll say no more about it."
This ended the reign of the hogs' heads.
In Ellicott Mills, now called Ellicott City, ten miles from Baltimore, these five children were born to William and Dorothy West: Martha Ann, Elizabeth (who died in infancy, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and John.
James R. West, employed in the mills, was once making felt for hats. He reported to the foreman of that department: "The material is not in proper condition. I think the felt will be ruined."
"You are not employed to think," snapped the foreman, "but to work."
When the felt was finished, it was found to be worthless.
"Didn't you see you were ruining the work, or don't you think at all?" asked the now anxious foreman.
"I thought and I reported, but was told that I was not employed to think," answered James.
When James was about twelve years old he learned a valuable lesson which guided his purchases for the rest of his life. There was a gala day in Baltimore and, having been given a small sum with which to buy lunch, he and some other boys started to town. In the suburbs he espied a beautiful bird cage which so took his eye that he purchased it. By the time he reached home, having had the burden of carrying the cage through the crowds, the jeers of his fellows, and a dinnerless day, he was aware that his purchase was very extravagant, especially since he had not even a bird to put in the cage.
James West was a farmer and weaver, a great reader, and public spirited citizen. When he was 91 years old, he made a fifteen minute speech to his fellow Masons.
In the year 1830, William West with his family moved to Meigs Township, Muskingum County, Ohio where he bought 203 acres of farm land and thought to devote the rest of his life to farming. He was entirely unacquainted with farming, especially disliking horses.
Pardon this digression, but in later life he and his wife drove into Morrow County to visit their son James. Mrs. West was thoroughly tired out with the ride. She dais: "If there is a stick or stump or rut or stone between here and Miegs that we have not struck, I did not see it."
To which Mr. West replied: "I know nothing about a horse and have no ambition to learn."
After a few years of experimenting in farming, all his faculties demanding a mechanical pursuit, he built at a cost of several hundred dollars a large loom for the weaving of cotton and woolen coverlets which at that time were not woven west of Wheeling, Va. Having brought no practical apparatus from Maryland, he invented machinery to weave the double process, which he afterwards perfected to a great degree.
The fame of his work spread to Wheeling. Thereupon, the Wheeling weaver visited him with a view to prosecuting him for infringement of patent. On being shown the looms and patterns and the finished work, he returned to Wheeling, satisfied that Mr. West had a superior plant and patterns.
Grandmother West wore a silk dress that grandfather wove in Manchester, England; and I remember the parlor carpet in grandmother's house, made by grandfather. Aunt Eleanor inherited it in her share of the estate.
Grandfather made all his own patterns. Sometimes at night, after retiring, he would think out a pattern that so pleased him that would immediately arise and record the same.
Although he did not like farming, he kept his land and beautified it. He had bricks burned on the farm and built one of the first brick houses in that part of the country. The house was constructed soon after he took possession of the land, not later than the year 1`836, perhaps earlier. It is still occupied as a residence.

The house stands on a knoll, the land falling away on three sides of it. On the fourth side there is a high, rocky bluff where trees and grapevines grow. At a short distance from the house and on a level with it there is a beautiful spring, flowing from the base of the cliff. There the milkhouse was built with shallow troughs in which were placed the crocks of milk, an ideal method of refrigeration.
The dwelling was so entirely different in plan and construction from the single room log structures that housed the neighboring farmers that a description of it may not seem amiss.
The dwelling faces East. There is a hall and "parlor" on the east side of the house. In the hall is the stairway to the rooms above. Halfway up the south wall, on the stairway, is a window.
The front door opens on a stone portico from which several steps lead to the yard below. The front gate is still quite below the steps. The space on either side of the portico was furnished with a seat that filled the entire side space. A trumpet creeper, covering the portico, was brilliant in summer with its scarlet trumpets, and in autumn with its tinted leaves.
At the back of the hall there is a door leading into the dining room. In this room, which was probably used also as a living room, there is a large open fireplace. There is a south door opening on a portico which is two or three steps above the ground.
North of this room and opening into it is a pantry, the salient features of which are shelves around the walls and a stone sink.
A porch and kitchen occupies the north side of the building and on the porch there was a swing that still gladdens my hears when I think of it.
The largest and central room upstairs we always called "Grandmother's Room." It was Grandmother West's room and after she was gone Grandmother Gallogly occupied the same room. She lived with Ezra and Eleanor who owned the farm after Grandmother West's death.
The cellar is under the entire house and there is a great stone fireplace where the rougher work of the house was done.   The parlor was warmed by an open stove, built into the wall, I believe. The windows had Venetian blinds and the only lace curtains I recall seeing in my childhood. These curtains were enriched by fancy glass and metal arms that draped them in place. Grandfather died in this room.

The lawn, adorned with ornamental shrubs and trees, was always well kept.
The compact brick house, with its stone copings and its hip roof, surmounting the knoll and flanked by the wooded bluff, was a charming home, unique in its day, rare even now.
The loom house stood by the road at the foot of the knoll, a hundred yards south of the house. The garden and orchard were beyond the loom house. Green fields and woodlands surrounded all.
"A house is built of bricks and stones,
Of sills and posts and piers,
But a Home is built of loving deeds
That stand a thousand years."


Grandfather and indeed all of his family were great readers. The late Jesse Atwell of Zanesville, Ohio said: "Your Grandfather West was the best read man I ever met."

The hospitality of the West home was proverbial. Kindred souls from Zanesville, McConnelsville and indeed wherever the Wests were known were always welcome. The old English custom of house parties and week-end visitors was always maintained.

As neighbors the Wests were held in high esteem.

A man who through illness was forced to mortgage his farm came to grandfather in deep distress and told him the mortgage was to be foreclosed. He could not sleep and seemed to be directed to Mr. West for help. Grandfather saved his home and won thereby the eternal enmity of the man who was determined to add it to his own acres.

When the children were grown and went their several ways, James, as before told, was a weaver and farmer, George a machinist, William and John farmers.

James married Rebecca Hedges.

Martha Ann married Charles Hedges, brother and sister.

Elizabeth married James Gallogly and Eleanor married Ezra Gallogly, brothers.

George lived in Lancaster, Ohio. During the fatal illness of a fellow Mason, Mr. Stuart, he met Mrs. Stuart. Later they were married. There were three Stuart children. Robert, who had spinal curvature, was an artist. His sister, Louisa, who taught for eighteen years in the Cincinnati High School, still lives in Santa Cruz, California, with her half-sister, Laura Philleo, George's only child by Mrs. Stuart West.

Sally Stuart, also an artist, was the only one of the three who married. She was a dear friend of our mother. Sally studied art abroad and her work is fine. She gave mother lessons in art, drawing and water coloring.

We visited Laura and Louis in Santa Cruz and saw some of Sallie's work. One picture was an Italian fruit vendor, a splendid painting.

Louis spoke of visiting in grandfather's home and of how dearly she loved each one of the family. She said she was sick at Grandfather West's and father was her doctor. "Oh, how I loved him!" she added.

After Aunt Louis died, Uncle George married Mary Johnson Irwin of Duncan Falls, Ohio. Their children are Elizabeth, George, and Mary. The latter teaches art in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Elizabeth and George live in Colorado. Both are married.

Uncle George operated a flour mill in Cannon Falls, Minn.

Uncle James and Aunt Rebecca Hedges West were the parents of six children: Dorothy Olds, Nancy Smith, William (who died in the Civil War), Elizabeth Plumley, James and Maria Moore.

Nancy is the only survivor of the family.

William West married Hannah Pierce. Their children were Andrew, George, William, and John. William alone survives.

For his second wife William married Mary Cole. Their children were Emma, Elizabeth, and Frank.

John married Martha Sinclair. They lived in Missouri and raised a family.

Martha Ann married Charles Hedges. Their children were John, Dorothy, Rebecca, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Charles, and James Gallogly. Eleanor Sterrett and Elizabeth James survive.

James Gallogly and Elizabeth West were married November 1, 1849. Six children survive them.

Eleanor West married Ezra Gallogly.

George Rennison, a brother of Grandmother West, followed the Wests to America. He lost his wife while the children were small. His home was in Baltimore. George was a periodical drinker. One day he arrived at the West house, having walked from Baltimore. Grandmother's greeting was: "I'm sorry to see you, George. I brought my boys to Ohio to escape your influence over them."

"Well, I can go back again," he answered.

"No," replied grandmother. "you will wait until West comes in and we will see what he says."

When grandfather came in, he cried: "well, well, George! I'm glad to see you."

George was mollified and never left the home, except to visit his children, until the home was broken by death.

Uncle George was of the chestnut bur type, really good at heart, but very cross-tempered. We children would scamper when we heard the click of his cane on the walk. A lady who had spent her childhood in Meigs said that Mr. Rennison was the terror of her young life. If any of the children were naughty, all their parents had to do was to say: "I'll tell Old Rennison!" The threat brought instant obedience.

She related that she and her brothers and sisters took the greatest delight in dressing in their parents' clothing, during their absence from the home, and holding religious services - the only festivities their young lives knew. One day this girl was dressed in her mother's best black silk dress - reserved for the most solemn occasions - and her brother was arrayed in his father's broadcloth suit. In all this glory they proceeded to the back of the orchard to hold "preaching." Just as the services were opening, one of the children screamed: "Oh, there's Old Rennison!" Away they went pell-mell, leaving bits of silk and broadcloth on thorns and briars just as their father and mother drove into the yard.

Uncle George was maligned. People believe that an inward grace will have an outward expression. Uncle George lived unto himself and suffered the consequences.

After the death of Grandmother West, he made his home with his niece Eleanor Gallogly and her husband and later with another niece Martha Ann Hedges and her husband, where he died in 1867.

Grandfather, William West, aged 66 years, died of hernia. When father, Dr. James Gallogly, reached him he was dying. He left the following will:

"In the name of the Benevolent Father of all:
I, William West, of Meigs Township, Muskingum County and State of Ohio, do make and publish this my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following:

First, I give and devise to my beloved wife, Dorothy, in lieu of her dower, the farm we now reside on, situated in Meigs Township, Muskingum County and State of Ohio, containing altogether two hundred and three acres, more or less, during her natural life, and all the stock on the farm owned by me, together with household goods, provisions, looms, and all other goods and chattels owned by me at the time of my decease, including cash and property of every description owned by me at my decease, after all my just debts are paid.

If my wife, Dorothy, should not survive me, then I devise and bequeath all my property to my children, viz.: James, George, William, Martha Ann, Elizabeth, John, and Eleanor, share and share alike.

I hereby appoint my two sons, James R. West and George West, my executors of this my last Will and Testament.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 29th day of March, 1852.


William West (Seal)


Signed, sealed, published and delivered by the above named Wm. West to be his last Will and Testament in the presence of us, who at his request and in his presence have subscribed our names as witnesses hereunto.

George Dixon (Seal)
Caleb H. Hall (Seal)


The State of Ohio

Muskingum County

I, Mahon Sims, Judge of the Probate Court within and for said County, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the last Will and Testament of William West, late of said County, deceased, as is now on file in my office.

In witness whereof, I, Mahlon Sims, Judge of the said Court, have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Seal of said County, at Zanesville, this 22nd day of Nov., 1852.

Mahlon Sims, Judge"


Grandfather also left the following:


William West's advice to his Children.

My dear Sons and Daughters:

As this will be the last advice you will receive from me in this world, I wish you to pay particular attention to it.

You have up to this date been obedient to your father and mother and loving and kind to each other, and it is my last desire that you continue to be kind and just, one to the other. Let nothing, at any time, rest on your minds calculated to lessen or in any impair that love and affection which up to this time has always subsisted between you.

May the blessing of God rest upon you all. Be kind to your mother.

Your affectionate father,

William West


The West children are all gone from this world. While they lived, not only the letter but the full spirit of this advice ruled each one of them. There was never even a misunderstanding between any of them to mar the tranquility of their lives.

Dorothy Rennison West lived two years after grandfather's death. She died at the age of 66.

In every condition and circumstance of life she was his worthy mate, a loyal, loving wife, a wise, tender mother. She said to her children: "When you go out into the world and are engaged in your own affairs, do not follow my advice and example simply because I am your mother. Seek the truth, use your own judgment and follow the way that you think is best, regardless of what I have found the best way."

Grandmother was an Episcopalian in church preference. She had great respect for the Sabbath. On Saturday evening everything suggesting the work's week was put out of sight.

Her sense of the eternal fitness of things was always in evidence. Her advice to her daughters was: "If your husbands are in debt, do not bake cake or indulge in any other extravagance that will handicap them."

Grandmother had not been well since grandfather's death, but her illness was not considered serious or alarming. Her daughter Martha Ann told of her death in this way. She, Martha Ann, and her husband were preparing to go to McConnelsville where business would detain them until the next day. In the midst of her preparations for the journey, the thought was forced upon her: "I must see mother." So forceful was the thought that she felt a tug at her dress, as if to hurry her. Thoroughly convinced, she ran out and asked her husband to saddle her horse that she might make haste. The distance was three and one-half miles and she lost no time in going.

When she entered the house, grandmother said: "Oh, Martha Ann, what good wind blew thee hither?"

Grandmother seemed in her usual health, but Aunt was so disturbed that she sent a messenger for mother, who lived two and one-half miles away.

Grandmother was gone before the messenger reached mother. She had never taken to her bed and was attending to her work half an hour before her death.

She made the following request of her children:

"Is is my wish and request that the within named arrangement and distribution be made of the chattel property belonging to the estate of William West, deceased, late of Meigs Township, Muskingum County, viz.: It is my wish that in the sale or distribution of said property that there be no sale or distribution of the coverlet looms, but that the said looms, together with the rooms occupied by them and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, be retained for the us of my brother George Rennison, on the following conditions, viz.: Said George Rennison to pay to the said estate fifty cents per coverlet for each coverlet wove on said looms, also to keep said looms in good repair, pay all taxes on same and also to pay his own board and washing (fuel and lights at the weaving shop) and all other expenses occurring at said shop.

But should Rennison discontinue the use of said looms, then it is my wish that they be sold and the proceeds equally divided by the Administrators in accordance with the last Will and Testament of Wm. West, deceased. It is my further wish that the fund arising from the rent of said looms, as above stated, be retained by the Administrators, as belonging to the estate, but should it become necessary for the comfort of said Rennison, either from sickness or infirmity of age, then and in that case the said fund is to be used for his, George Rennison's, benefit; if not so used, to be equally distributed among the heirs as the other property.

It is my further wish that each of my four sons, viz.: James, George, William and John West, have one feather bed, one pair sheets, one pair blankets, bolster and pillows, and one coverlet and comfort each, before the division be made of personal property of said estate.

I also wish that my wearing apparel be equally divided between my four daughters and daughter-in-law, viz.: Martha Ann Hedges, Rebecca West, Elizabeth Gallogly, and Eleanor Gallogly. Said apparel to be also taken before a general distribution is made.

Also that my son, James West, have the family Bible, formerly the property of his Grandfather Rennison, and also the velvet paintings painted by me.

It is further my wish that should Ezra Gallogly elect to take the estate and chattel property at an appraisement made of said property, then and in that case the curtains and fixtures belonging to the dwelling house are to be his without being taken into account in said appraisement, and I further recommend and desire that should said Ezra Gallogly or any other of the heirs elect to take the estate at its appraisement, that the other heirs of said estate five all leniency in their power so that the estate may remain with some one of the heirs.

Dorothy West (Seal)"


"We, the undersigned, hereby agree and bind ourselves to be governed and held by the wishes and requests of our mother as fully and to equally binding upon us as though they were part and parcel of father's will.
The above being a full statement.
Witness our hands and seals, May 15th, 1855
Jas. R. West (Seal)
George West (Seal)
William West (Seal)
John West (Seal)
Elizabeth Gallogly (Seal)
James Gallogly (Seal)
Martha Ann Hedges (Seal)
Charles Hedges (Seal)
Ezra Gallogly (Seal)
Eleanor Gallogly (Seal)
Rebecca West (Seal)

Grandmother West lived in a period when prohibition was the Utopian dream of the very, very few, but she was a teetotaler, and although it was considered an insult to refuse a proffered drink, she held firmly to her principles. Even to the third and fourth generation her people are temperate. Could a mother have a greater reward than generation after generation of sobriety and consequent efficiency and self-respect?

The Wests were not rich in a material sense. If you follow grandfather's advice carefully, you will see that he does not mention material gain, but he does advise getting what Henry Drummond calls "The Greatest Thing in the World" - Love. They were rich in love, were good citizens, good neighbors, good companions and parents. By industry each was comfortably provided for with plenty to put them beyond want or care for the future, but the pursuit of riches for riches' sake was secondary to public-spiritedness and helpfulness to humanity. The world is better for their having lived.

The Bible referred to in grandmother's will is in the possession of Nancy Smith, as also are the velvet paintings.

The Bible, which was the property of our Great-grandfather Rennison, was printed in 1789. It is bound in leather, is seventeen and one-half inches long and eleven and one-half inches wide. It contains the Family Record, as follows:

James and Martha Rennison Kendal, 1778, Westmoreland County, England.

Martha Rennison died on Easter Sunday, being the 22nd of April, 1821, aged 74 years. James Rennison died the 20th day of October, 1821, aged 66 years.

These are the sons and daughters of James and Martha Rennison:

Mary Rennison, born June 19, 1780
John Rennison, born Jan. 6, 1782
James Rennison, Jr., born Feb 13, 1784
Thomas Rennison, born May 17, 1786
Dorothy Rennison, born Nov. 16, 1788
George Rennison, born Oct. 16, 1791

John Rennison, fighting under Wellington, was wounded at the Siege of Badajoz, Spain, April 7 and died April 9, 1812.

Mary McAfee died in Iowa.

Dorothy died in Ohio of neuralgia of the stomach.

George Rennison died at the home of his niece, Mrs. Charles Hedges, March 11, 1867.

 

William West and Dorothy Rennison were married November 19, 1808.

These are the sons and daughters of William and Dorothy West:

James Rennison West, born Oct. 9, 1809

George West, born Oct. 4, 1811

Mary Ann West, born May 18, 1813

William West, born Nov. 15, 1815

Martha Ann West, born Oct. 3, 1820

Elizabeth West, born July 6, 1822, died in infancy

Elizabeth West, born Sept. 26, 1823

John West, born March 15, 1825

Eleanor West, born Oct. 10, 1827


These are the daughters of George Rennison of Baltimore, Md., born in Carlisle, England:

Martha Rennison, born Aug. 27, 1822
Margaret Rennison, born Jan. 25, 1825


These are the children of Mary Rennison and John McAfee:

Betsy McAfee, born Nov. 5, 1809
Martha McAfee, born Sept.. 15, 1811
John McAfee, born March 18, 1814
Mary McAfee, born Feb. 18, 1816


One of George Rennison's daughters married a Mr. Flory. Both daughters lived in Baltimore. When their father visited them from Ohio, he walked.

Elizabeth West was born at Ellicott Mills, now called Ellicott City, Baltimore County, Md. At three years of age she was sent to school. The school convened in the second story of a three story building. The first floor was a classroom, the third story being a storeroom. The heavy goods were taken to the storeroom or removed from it by block and tackle. As the block made it way over the window the schoolroom was darkened. The block groaned, screeched, and protested and then every child in the room shrieked at top voice. It was an unwritten law that the loudest screamer was the most valiant.

At four years of age Elizabeth was sent to Baltimore to a girls' school. She boarded with two maiden sisters named Halfpenny (pronounced Hap'ny). They always told grandmother how well little Elizabeth behaved, but they were of uncertain temper and frequently shut her in the cellar to punish her for some fancied offence. Grandmother did not know this while Elizabeth was with them. Miss Mary Halfpenny was engaged to be married to a French gentleman. His attentions ceased suddenly, without any explanation. After many weeks' absence, he came one day to see her. His greeting was: "Oh, my love, how have you been?"

She answered angrily: "I might have been dead for all you cared."

He started as if stung. Then he related that on the day he had last called to see her he had fainted on the street and had been carried to a hospital where he had been unconscious for days and afterward was too feverish to think. When convalescence came he tried to send a messenger to her, but had failed. That day he had been allowed to leave the hospital and he had hastened to see her and now he would bid her farewell forever. He told her that they had promised to love and cherish each other and he could not trust his happiness to a woman who could condemn him without a hearing.

Mary wept bitterly and begged to be restored to favor, but he assured her his happiness was too sacred to trust in such hands. So ended the romance of her life.

Mother lived two years with these rigid disciplinarians, frequently going supperless to bed and always vainly watching her little footsteps to avoid the dark cellar.

The older girls in this Baltimore school were taught bead work in the afternoons. The beads were often scattered over the floor and in the morning while the master prayed, keeping his eyes tightly shut to exclude vain thoughts, the little girls would softly steal down and gather up the beads. They watched his eyes and could never detect the flicker of a lid, but he always knew every miscreant and always whipped them.

When Elizabeth was six years old, she went with the family away from Ellicott, over the Alleghanys into the "far West."

On the journey they spent the nights in taverns. Uncle James said that in one tavern Elizabeth hunted up the landlord to say: "Sir, your sign is not painted correctly. You mean by it" - here she stated what the words were meant to convey - "but the punctuation makes it mean quite another thing."

The landlord looked at the child. She was beautiful, with fair skin, blue eyes, regular features and dark curls. Then he looked at the sign and said: "Little girl, you are right. I never saw that mistake before, and you are the first to point it out."

When Elizabeth was four years old, she said: "Mother, may I be Nick Stinchcombe?" Grandmother gave her consent, wondering what she would do to be Nick. Elizabeth wallowed over the floor in a fine imitation of the town drunkard and such a torrent of profanity rolled from her lips that her mother was aghast. However, she had given her consent and could not stop the exhibition. When "Nick" has been properly done, Elizabeth arose, well satisfied with the performance. Grandmother said: "Elizabeth, you did that very well. Don't ask to be Nick again." She did not ask.

Elizabeth probably attended school at the West school house one-half mile from the home. When she was in her early teens she was sent to Zanesville to the McIntyre Academy, then a pay school. Later she attended the Putnam Young Ladies' Seminary. She was a pupil of this school during the William Henry Harrison campaign of 1839 and would at the time be in her 16th year.

During her school days, both in Zanesville and Putnam, she boarded with a family of Maryland friends named Copeland. Mrs. Copeland, a lady of education and refinement, kept mother on her correspondence list during her life.

I do not know how long she attended school. She spent more time in the Seminary than in the Academy.

As a pupil, she had a clear and active mentality and great power of concentration. She mastered each subject in hand.

It was the custom in the Seminary for the girls to write, at stated intervals, original essays. These were handed to the teacher who read them from her desk on Friday afternoons. The girls who were not on duty for original papers were required to read selections.

One day the principal, Miss Tappan, read an "original" paper on the predacious instincts of the animal kingdom, a story wherein each animal excuses itself for preying on its weaker neighbor and is, in turn, snapped up by a foe larger than itself. The story had appeared in a Zanesville paper and was later published in one of McGuffy's Readers.

One of the pupils, Miss Slaughter, was a sister-in-law of the editor of the paper and a member of his household. To her Elizabeth went on hearing this paper and asked her to go through the files of the publication, naming an approximate date. On the next Friday Miss Slaughter held the paper and Elizabeth began to read. When Miss Tappan, the principal, had heard a few lines, she said: "Stop! stop! young ladies,we have heard that paper before." Miss Tappan never divulge the name of the plagiarist.

One day in a class in physics, the teacher, who herself had a hazy idea of a siphon, was trying to explain to the class the working value of one. "If you will please excuse me for a moment, I think I can show you," said Elizabeth. There was a field of wheat growing at the back of the seat of learning. From this she gathered the straw and made the siphon and soon had it draining the water from the glass. The object lesson was as gratifying to the teach as to the pupils. She asked many questions about it and really got her first clear understanding of a siphon.

From childhood, Elizabeth never would leave a problem with a dim understanding of it. Her reading carried her into many fields and she never would leave a subject until she had thoroughly mastered it.

Elizabeth taught school for several years, sometimes in the West's School at home and again in other district schools, boarding around, board being part of the pay, usually staying a week at a time with a family, then, when the rounds were made, beginning again.

The school examiner was an old man whose poser in arithmetic, and a problem he never failed to give applicants, was:

If the third of six were three, what would the fourth of twenty be?

The Rule of Three robbed this riddle of its terrors.

Elizabeth was obedient, affectionate, and loved to consult her parents when questions arose.

Once while boarding in a one-room log house, among strangers, her host said; "Elizabeth, you never saw my piano." Then to his son: "Go to the loft and get it."

The piano proved to be a musical instrument, the harmony arising from friction on glass. Elizabeth, to whom music was an open book, and who, by the way, was considered the best singer in the countryside, could play this piano and said that it made sweet music.

"I'll sell you that for a dollar, Elizabeth," said the owner of the piano.

"Very well. I will ask father if he would like me to buy it," was her answer.

Grandfather said: "If you would like it, buy it," which she did.

When Elizabeth was twenty-six years of age, she was married to Dr. James Gallogly, M.D., of the neighborhood. They were married November 1, 1849, the day following Hallowe'en. So many fences had been built across the road the previous night that the Doctor was late in reaching the ceremony. When they were married, grandmother said: "James, you will be a happy man, Elizabeth is a good girl."

In a biography of father, published in the early 60's, this reference is made to her: "Whose sweet spirit and good sense combined have guided the Doctor through the difficulties of life."

Mother had a wealth of filial devotion. Shortly before her death, she said: "It gives me great pleasure now to know that after I left home I never missed visiting mother every week while she lived."

James and Elizabeth Gallogly lived at High Hill, Ohio where father built up a large, if not lucrative, practice of medicine.

They began a home, but before it was quite completed it burned. They were occupying it and almost all the goods mother had brought from home were destroyed, together with all the furniture father had bought.

After grandmother's death, and a sale was made of her goods, mother bought of her mother's goods to furnish beds, etc. For these the other heirs would accept no money.

The three coverlets she obtained we still have.

The seven children born to father and mother are enumerated in another paper.

Mother's characteristics were all beautiful. In the "West" household a falsehood was unpardonable and a display of temper disgraceful. She was fearless and resourceful.

Charles Hedges once went to Zanesville, a trip that in those days required usually two days. His wife accompanied him as far as Grandfather West's house. The riffraff of the neighborhood, congregated at the saloon, saw him pass and knew he would not return that day. Later in the day, however, Aunt Hedges returned to her house accompanied by mother, then a young girl.

Aunt's house was a one-room log structure, the one door opening on the opposite side from the well.

After baby Dorothy Hedges was put to bed, the girls went to the well for a pail of water. While drawing the water they were alarmed to hear a thick, drunken voice shouting: "Charles! Charles!" Aunt flew to her baby and mother quickly followed. In the house they found a man who lived near and whom they to be diabolical when drunk.

"I thought you went to Zanesville," he began.

"Charles did, I did not," said aunt.>

"When will he be home?" he asked.

"Tonight," said mother, telling her first and perhaps only falsehood. "We are looking for him now," and she went to the door to listen. "I think I hear the wagon now. You had better go at once."

"Yes," said aunt, "you know what Charles will do if he finds you here."

Mother said: "I will get you a light and you start." She climbed tot he loft where the stores were kept and took from Uncle's supply a hickory splint, made a torch, lighted it, and handing it to the ma said: "Now, hurry, he's coming."

When the torch illuminated the yard, they saw that he had brought a horse and several sacks to carry away his plunder.

The girls quickly barricaded the door for fear he might reason that Uncle could not return that night. But the ruse worked, for, although Uncle Charles was a peace-loving man, he was known to be utterly fearless and the rowdy knew exactly what justice would be measured out to him if Uncle found him prowling.

At one time mother was keeping house for her brother James. During his absence an older neighbor girl kept her company. One morning she heard the girl shriek out "Eliz-a-beth" and dash from the house. Mother looked up to see an Indian standing in the door. The days of warfare were not so remote that the word "Indian" did not pale the cheek. Mother advance to meet him, determined to stand her ground. He wanted water. He had a fever and croaked: "Water, water." Mother gave him a drink and while he still hesitated she said: "Now I have given you a drink. Go!" He obeyed.

Mother walked at one time to spend the afternoon with a friend. On the way an ugly looking bull separated himself from the band and challenged her right to pass. Mother was carrying an umbrella. She opened it quickly and, putting it before her, charged the bull. With a bellow he turned and fled.

She reported the incident when she arrived at her friend's house. Her hostess was almost hysterical. "Elizabeth, you didn't put that awful brute to flight. The men are all in terror of him." She would not let mother risk meeting him again, but sent a man and horse with when she returned home.

Her moral fearlessness was the same. An act was either right or wrong and she spent no time trimming between them.

It has been told so often and by so many people, both men and women who knew her as a girl, that I state it without fear of contradiction that she was the most beautiful girl in the part of the state in which she lived and she was loved by all her knew her.

Hers was a life of service. She wrote and read many letters for illiterate neighbors.

When mail routes were under private ownership, she wrote for a mother to her absent son: "Do not answer this letter. We cannot afford it. We had to sell our last bushel of potatoes to take your last letter from the office."

As a girl mother's life was carefree. In later life disappointments came. The burning of the house changed the trend of her ambition. The death of her oldest son, William West, at the age of eight years, changed her greatly. Willy was the apple of her eye and she was never so gay and joyous after his death, but always she was cheerful, a veritable sunbeam in the home.

As a girl she never had hard work to do, but when we were all little and father's professional practice heavy, she worked very hard, but she was never too tired to spend the evening playing and singing to us, or reading aloud to us, or telling stories of which she had a great fund. She had memorized more than one hundred songs which she never forgot and each one was a gem.

There was nothing harsh or arbitrary in mother's rule of her household, always kind, patient, and sunny, a well-balanced mind. But there were a few laws for which we suffered if we violated. One was "Tell the truth though the heavens fall" and this was no idle dictation. Her family and friends and neighbors were never in the least deceived by what she said and yet she knew just when to speak the truth. No unkindness ever fell from her lips, unless it was like a surgeon's knife to heal a wound.

Another law was that we children were not to trade with other children any article we possessed. This involved a moral law. Children who trade are tempted to take article from home or other people's homes, articles to which they had no right.

Another law was etiquette, also involving a moral phase. We were never allowed to comment unfavorably or criticize our hostess, her house, her table or anything that happened in her house. The love of gossip was nipped in the bud.

I remember, as a very small girl, I asked on mother's return from a neighbor's house: "What did you have to eat?" I will never forget the look she gave me, as she answered "Victuals." The lesson has lasted my thus far and I think it will to the end.

Another law in this class was that we were to eat what was set before us and not call for anything not on the table, and to eat what she provided without adverse comment.

Mother was a favorite with her brothers and sisters and each one, whether younger or older, sought her advice, relying on her clear judgment.

When mother married she united with father with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which they were both active members during the remainder of their lives.

When mother was sixteen years old she was driving to meet some friends of her mother's. The horse, old and trusty heretofore, took fright and ran away. Mother was thrown from her carriage and very badly hurt. She was carried to a house near the scene of the accident, where she was confined to her bed for six weeks. She never fully recovered, but suffered the remainder of her life from the injury. An autopsy revealed the extent of the injury which was the ultimate cause of her death.

She died in the village of New Concord in her forty-sixth year and was buried at Bluerock beside her parents and her son, William West Gallogly.

Mother was called from earth when we needed her most, and, as her sweet, patient spirit guided our young lives in the way of life, is it too much to believe that that dear Spirit may have been delegated to watch over each one of us until we are reunited with her forever?

 

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed reading this history of the Gallogly family. The daughter (Frances MOORE)of my great great grandfather married Charles Hedges GALLOGLY. I knew their son, Co. James Arthur GALLOGLY, who was my grandfather's cousin. Even after my grandfather's death, he kept in touch with his Moore relatives and was a great inspiration to my father. I knew some of the Gallogly history, but not the personal accounts that were included here. Thank you for posting it.

7:33 PM  
Blogger Calvin said...

I'm a descendant of Frances Gallogly. Really enjoyed reading this.

11:10 AM  
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11:35 PM  

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