Family B Sources 

B01[1]327 JOHN WESLEY GILMORE (John5, Humphrey4, John3, ?2, ?1)75-77 was born in Jan 1812 in Morgan Co, GA78. He died on 16 Mar 1901 in Davilla, Milam Co., TX (buried in Friendship cemetery79. He married (1) MARTHA “PATSY” WEAVER, daughter of Frederick Weaver and Frances Willie, about 1835 in Monroe Co., MS5. She was born on 12 Jul 1818 in Monroe Co., MS80-81. She died on 08 Jan 1873 in Hays Co., TX82. He married (2) ELVINA MASSEY CRAPPS in 1877 in Hays Co., TX. She was born about 1818 in Georgia83. She died in Hays Co., TX.

Notes for John Wesley Gilmore:

John Wesley Gilmore migrated to Texas around 1855. It appears that his brother, Thomas Griffin Gilmore, migrated two to three years before him to the same area of Milam Co., TX as they are both in the Milam Co., TX census in 1860 plus, Thomas G. shows up in property tax records in 1853 and John W. by 1856 (years 1854-1855 weren’t found or were unreadable; however, John W. Gilmore of Monroe Co., MS sold property in Monroe Co., MS in 1855 so he was still in Monroe Co., MS in 1855 and moved after he sold the land or the next year in 1856). It is stated in a write up on Rev. Thomas Griffin Gilmore in a history book on Freestone Co., TX that Thomas spent a short time in the Louisiana Conference before coming to TX.

John W. appears to have moved from Milam Co., TX in 1862/3 to Bastrop Co., TX near his wife’s family, and Thomas G. moved from Milam Co., TX to Freestone Co., TX in 1866/7 according to property tax records.  There is a deed for J. W. Gilmore that contradicts who I think the J. W. Gilmore stands for. The deed states at the end that the J. W. Gilmore is “Josiah” W. Gilmore (Vol O, p. 24). I believe this to be a mistake as there is other evidence that the John Wesley Gilmore of this study lived in Bastrop Co., TX and I’ve seen no other evidence there was ever a Josiah W. Gilmore in Bastrop Co., TX.  For example, several of John Wesley Gilmore’s children marry in this county at the time the tax records say a J. W. Gilmore lived there.

In an interview with siblings Peck, Skeet, and Edith Gilmore–great grandkids of John Wesley–(along with Peck’s son, Terry), they stated that they were told of 3 Gilmore brothers who came to TX: Ed who went down into Old Mexico, Wash who went to the Waco area, and their grandfather George who stayed in Hays Co. The Ed they mention must be Augustine Edward Gilmore; Wash, Carvin Washington Gilmore; and of course George, George Shafer Gilmore. The question is, what happened to the other sons. A probable answer is they died between 1860 and 1880. They all fall from records between these dates. It looks as if the Bastrop Co. and surrounding areas were hit hard with decease in the later 1860’s and early 1870’s. In fact, Peck Gilmore said the reason the family moved from Bastrop Co.to Hays Co. in 1871/72 was because there was a malaria outbreak in Bastop Co. All the old community/church cemeteries I’ve been in the counties surrounding Austin (I’ve checked Burnet Co., Hays Co., Milam Co., and Bastrop Co.) have many rows of graves marked only by pieces of chipped shalestone with nothing to identify who these people were. What do you want to bet these graves would date back to that period between later 1860 and early 1870?

Annie Laura Gilmore Green, granddaughter of John W., knew her grandfather as a little girl because he was living in her father’s household sometime after 1880. She was about 7 or a little older when he died. She is the only source for John Wesley Gilmore’s middle name. In her notes she wrote “John Wesley Gilmore, doctar rased and traned horses”. These notes are in the possession of Avonelle “Ava” Andrews, a niece of Annie Laura Gilmore Green. I speculate that J. W. had no formal training as a doctor probably able to doctor his horses when needed.

Ophelia Arnett Gilmore and Annie Laura Green (via her niece, Avonella Andrews and great nephew Bobby Andrews) both said that John Wesley Gilmore was a Methodist preacher. As mentioned below, there is no record of him being ordained as a Methodist preacher; however, he was Methodist and it is very likely that he was a local preacher and probably did the local Sunday preaching when there was no circuit rider to do so.

I have not found a primary source that states John Wesley Gilmore’s father was the Rev. John Gilmore who was a Methodist circuit rider in AL. Though I have no primary source to prove this relationship, there are several events that, put together, lead me to state this relationship with a large degree of confidence as follows:

1. Rev. John Gilmore’s circuit, though in AL, covered the part of MS, Monroe Co., that John W. lived in, and indeed, there was a Rev. John Gilmore who was on a list of ministers for the First Methodist Church in Aberdeen, Monroe Co., MS in 1837.

2. John W. married a girl whose father was a Methodist preacher which puts them in a common community.

3. The Rev. John Gilmore seemed to be very fond of naming his children after Methodist ministers. John Wesley was the founder of Methodism. Two other children, Thomas Griffin Gilmore and Peter Cartwright Gilmore also seem to be named after Methodist preachers around the Monroe Co., MS area in the early 1800’s.

4. In the notes of Ophelia Arnett Gilmore (a descendent) of Rev. John Gilmore, she states that there may be more children, but the “proven” sons of Rev. John Gilmore were Archibald, Thomas Griffin, Peter Cartwright, and Wesley and that Thomas Griffin and Wesley were methodist ministers. I don’t know what she bases this proof on, but I suspect it is within the correspondence she received on this family from Olivia Slater Gilmore, the wife of Dr. John Arcade Gilmore, a nephew of Rev. John Gilmore. As you can see, the name Wesley fits nicely with John Wesley Gilmore. I haven’t found any proof among the Methodist Episcopal South archives in TX that John Wesley Gilmore was an ordained minister  though if he was a local preacher he wouldn’t be in these archives; however, his “proven brother”, Thomas Griffin, was in these archives.

John Wesley Gilmore was a member of the Methodist church. According to a book entitled “Book Four: A History of Dripping Springs”, John W. Gilmore, W. L. Massey, and J. W. Phillips received land as trustee’s of church property of Blanco Circuit West Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church “for the use and benefit of said Methodist Church South.”

5. Annie Laura Gilmore Green, John Wesley Gilmore’s granddaughter, lived her later life with a niece, Avonelle “Ava” Gilmore Andrews. Ava’s son, Bobby Andrews remembers his great aunt mentioning that John Wesley Gilmore was a methodist preacher as was a child of his Charles Wesley Gilmore and other’s in the Gilmore family he can’t remember. This reinforces that the family had some kind of Methodist preacher background and that John Wesley Gilmore, though not ordained in the Methodist church was possibly an invitational preacher.

6. One of John Wesley Gilmore’s “proven” brothers, Thomas Griffin Gilmore, was living in Monroe Co., MS as seen in deed records and according to the history book in Freestone Co., TX, Thomas also joined the Methodist Church in Monroe Co., MS in Oct. 1835.

7. One of John Wesley Gilmore’s sons, William Humphrey Gilmore, appears to be partially named for Rev. John’s father, Humphrey Gilmore or for Rev. John’s brother, Rev. Humphrey Gilmore Jr.

There is another Gilmore lineage in the Monroe Co., MS area that John Wesley Gilmore has been mistakenly linked with. This family I call Family A and does not appear to be related or at least not closely related to John Wesley Gilmore (It has since been learned through y-DNA testing on familytreedna.com that Family A and Family B are related) even though The family followed similar migration paths from Cumberland Co., NC to GA then through TN into AL/MS. The mistaken link in Monroe County, MS has been proven incorrect through census records.  The Family A/Family B connection is possibly back  in Cumberland Co., NC;  in one of the New England states; or in Northern Ireland or in the lowlands of Scodland.

The confusion between these two Gilmore families in Monroe Co., MS is they both lived in the same part of Monroe Co., MS, plus, they were both of the methodist religion, and too, Rev. Frederick Weaver Sr., Patsy Weaver Gilmore’s father, had contact with Family A Gilmores by marrying some of their descendents.

John Wesley Gilmore and Martha “Patsy” Weaver had the following children:

B01[1]3271 JOHN F(REDERICK)  GILMORE129 was born about 1836 in Monroe Co., MS. He possibly died between 1850-1860 in MS or TX130.

Notes for John F(rederick) Gilmore:

His middle initial is “F” in the 1850 census. The Frederick is a hypothesis based on the fact that Martha’s father’s name is Frederick, making this first child’s name a possible combination of his two grandparents. His date of death is also a hypothesis as he seems to disappear from records between 1850 and 1860.

B01[1]3272 FRANCES E(LIZABETH) GILMORE131 was born about 1837 in Monroe Co., MS5. She died between 1864-1867 in Bastrop Co, TX.132 She married William Jasper Smith on 06 Jan 1863 in Bastrop Co., TX36. He died before 1880 in Bastrop Co., TX.

B01[1]3273 WILLIAM HUMPHREY GILMORE was born about 1838 in Monroe Co., MS133. He died about 1877 in Hays Co., TX?. He married Mary Carpenter on 18 Apr 1874 in Hays Co., TX36.

Notes for William Humphrey Gilmore:

The last records I’ve seen on William Humphrey Gilmore is his marriage record in 1874 and then two years of property tax records , 1875 and 1876, mention a W. H. Gilmore in Hays Co., TX that I suspect is William Humphrey Gilmore. His death date is based on the fact that he disappears from records after 1876 and he isn’t remembered by any of the Gilmore family of John W. Gilmore’s line. Another possibility is that he moved from TX to an area I’ve not found, but again the fact that he is not remembered tells me otherwise.

I’ve not found a marriage record for Mary Carpenter Gilmore nor can I find her in census records so it is a good possibility that she too passed around 1877.  In fact, a number of the Gilmore children disappeared between 1860 and 1880.

There are about 30 or 40 graves marked only with small stones in the Gatlin/Garrett Cemetery, the same for other cemeteries in that area. Also, I noticed the same scenario in Burnett Co., TX in Naruna. Could all these graves be between 1870 and 1880? Something to check is whether there was some type of epidemic that wiped out a number of the population around the Austin area in the 1870’s.

B01[1]3274 SARAH E. GILMORE was born about 1840 in Monroe Co., MS. She died before 1880 in Bastrop or Hays Co., TX?. She married William Jasper* Smith on 03 Jan 1867 in Bastrop Co., TX36. He died 6 Dec 1917; in Red Rock, Bastrop Co., TX.

Notes for Sarah E. Gilmore:

Sarah did marry a Wm J. Smith. It’s my hypothesis that this man is the same husband of Sarah’s sister, Frances E(lizabeth) Gilmore and that Sarah married him after Frances’ possible death after 1865.

Notes for William Jasper* Smith:

William Jasper Smith also married a 3rd time to Ada Chapman Dec 1870 in Bastrop Co., TX.

B01[1]3275 CARVIN WASHINGTON GILMORE134-135 was born in Jun 1842 in Monroe Co., MS136. He died on 07 Apr 1909 in Hill Co., TX (Aquilla, in Vaughan Cem.)33, 137. He married Nancy Adah Peal on 02 Aug 1874 in Hays Co., TX36. She was born on 03 Nov 1858 in TX. She died on 13 Jan 1912 in Hill Co., TX (Aquilla, in Vaughan Cem.).

B01[1]3276 MARY LENA GILMORE was born about 1844 in Monroe Co., MS. She died between 1869-1880 in Bastrop Co., TX?. She married A. G. Welch on 24 Jan 1869 in Bastrop Co., TX. He died between 1869-1880 in Bastrop Co., TX?  NEW INFORMATION HAS TURNED UP ON MARY LENA GILMORE. SHE HAS BEEN FOUND IN WISE COUNTY, TX IN 1880 CENSUS AND THEN IN OK WHERE SHE AND HER HUSBAND DIED. ONCE I COMPILE THIS INFO, I’LL ADD IT TO THIS WEBSITE.

B01[1]3277 THOMAS J. GILMORE was born about 1845 in Monroe Co., MS. He died between 1860-1880 in Hays Co., TX?.

B01[1]3278 JAMES N. GILMORE was born about 1846 in Monroe Co., MS. He died between 1860-1880.

B01[1]3279 CASTANUELLAR E. “CASSIE” GILMORE was born on 14 Feb 1848 in Monroe Co., MS. She died on 16 Apr 1900 in Hays Co., TX. She married James Foster Massey, son of Morgan Massey and Mary Ann Davis, on 04 Jun 1872 in Hays Co., TX. He was born on 26 Dec 1850 in Hickory Creek??? (1 hour north of Port Lavaca) perhaps in Victoria or Jackson Co., TX.

B01[1]327(14) ALEXANDER M. GILMOREE was born about 1850 in Monroe Co., MS. He died between 1860-1880 in Hays Co., TX?.

B01[1]327(11) GEORGE SHAFER GILMORE138 was born in May 1853 in Monroe Co., MS33. He died in 1907 in (Hays Co., TX (Gatlin/Garrett Cem)33). He married Sarah Louise “Lou” Bryant, daughter of Stephen Henry Bryant and Martha Jane Barringer, on 24 Feb 1876 in Hays Co., TX35. She was born on 24 Sep 1857 in AR. She died on 15 Jul 1939 in Garrett Cem (Travis Co., TX (Austin) Buried in Hays Co., TX in the Gatlin/Garrett Cem).

B01[1]327(12) MANUELLAR GILMORE was born about 1854 in Monroe Co., MS. She married Wiley L. Massey on 08 Aug 1877 in Hays Co., TX.

B01[1]327(13) CHARLES W(ESLEY) GILMORE was born about 1857 in Milam Co., TX. He died in Hays Co., TX?. He married Delia Barnett on 08 Jun 1882 in Hays Co., TX.

B01[1]327(14) AUGUSTINE EDWARD GILMORE was born about 1859 in Milam Co., TX. He died on 27 Mar 1929 in Maricopa Co, AZ. He married JENNIE PURCELLA.

Notes for Elvina Massey:

There’s a story past on to one of the descendants of the John Wesley Gilmore family still living in Dripping Springs, Hays Co., TX area (have to look up the name in my notes-I remember visiting her house and interviewing her personally) that said Elvina Massey Crapps was rather an outspoken personality with a strong will . She got angry with her husband Lemuel Crapps because he wouldn’t hike to town to get her something she wanted so she simply left him and moved in with John Wesley Gilmore who was widowed at the time and still had children to raise whereby they officially married in 1877.  Their marriage is recorded in the county clerks office in Hays Co.

Interestingly, there is no official divorce recorded between Crapps and Elvina.  J. W. Gilmore and Elvina moved to Llano Co., TX next door to Hays Co. soon after that.  Makes you wonder if they moved because of bad feelings from her old husband and children by him and J. W.’s brood many of whom lived in the same community.

When J. W.’s health began to fail, he moved in with his eldest living son, Carvin Washington Gilmore, then living in the Davilla area of Milam Co., TX where he was buried in the Friendship United Methodist Church cemetery. Ironically, Elvina has a tombstone in the Crapps/Massey cemetery next to her old husband.