When One Wife Isn’t Enough (52 Ancestors #2 Frank’s 1st
Family)
Like many people, my father was
married twice. Frank Morrison Gill was very young when he
started his first family. He was 21,
living in Salt Lake City with his parents in 1925. One year later, 1926, he was 22, living in
Ruth, Nevada, and married.[1] Jennie “Peggy” Holmquist was 20. By 1930 they had two children: One-year-old Ora
was named after Frank’s mother and 4-month-old David was names after Frank’s
father.[2] Peggy was back in Utah in 1935. Daughter Ora Eleanore Gill died in Park City,
Utah, May 7, 1935, of “septic sore throat, tonsillitis”.[3] Their son, Richard David Gill, lived until
1998. He was married and divorced;
served as PFC in the Korean Conflict. 
Frank
lived in Ruth the rest of his life, through his second marriage to my mother,
through the change from steam locomotive to Euclid dump trucks, and through the
death of his nephew (Uncle Bunny). And he
was rarely any fun. Frank's mother warned
his women "Don't marry him. He has a terrible temper. He was in reform school. He's a drunk and a wife beater.”
Ruth is a copper mining town
in White Pine County in eastern
Nevada. In its heyday, it was the largest
open pit mine in the world. Frank
drove steam locomotive in and out of the open pit for Kennecott Copper.
After work, it was off to the Commercial Club, a mine town
saloon. Frank drank Sunny Brook whiskey;
there was always a quart in the fridge. 
Frank is buried in the Ely Cemetery, on a hill overlooking
the town. The date on Frank’s grave
marker is wrong. The original interment
record states, “9 Dec 1895 (1905) SLC, UT – 2 Jul 1971. In WP for 46 years. KCC locomotive engineer”. 
No comments:
Post a Comment