Uncle David: Tall, Dark, and Handsome! (52 Ancestors #5)
My
grandfather emigrated from Wales with his parents in 1878. David Richard Gill and Ellenor Morrison had
six kids—five boys and one girl. My
Uncle David Richard Gill (1894-1963) is one of this first native-born generation
in my family. He carries the family
tradition of son with the same name as father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather; his son and grandson.
All of the other sons have their mother’s maiden name as their middle
name.
Uncle David Richard Gill was
born February 25, 1894, in … Ogden? Salt
Lake City? He lists Salt Lake on his WW
I draft registration and Ogden on his WW II draft registration.
Six-year-old
schoolboy David lives with his family at 147 7th West Street, Salt
Lake City. The 1910 census puts
16-year-old David at 824 Hoyt Ave, as an “apprentice tire maker” and “driver”. A 1912 city directory lists 18-year-old David as chauffeur,
living at 824 Hoyt Avenue, about the same time that John Jacob Astor went down
with the Titanic.
Somehow,
David makes his way to the Snake River basin – a country of wide, arid plains and
rolling hills, bordered by high mountains.
The Snake River
is the boundary between Idaho and Washington.
David lived in Lewiston and Nez Perce, Idaho; Clarkston and Highland,
Washington. Lewiston is in Nez Perce
County; Nez Perce is in Lewis County, Idaho; Clarkston and Highland are across
the Snake River in Washington. Lewis and
Clark and the Corps of Discovery named these places. The Lewiston ferry crossed the river until
1913, when the tolls were removed from the Lewiston-Clarkston bridge in 1913.
At the outbreak of World War I, the United States pursued
a policy of non-intervention,
but was eventually drawn into it.
President Wilson called for war and the U.S. Congress declared war on
April 6, and passed the
Selective Service Act on May 18, and
2.8 million men were drafted.
David
registered for the draft, June 5, 1917.
His World War I draft card:
23 years old; Home address City Hall,
Lewiston; car tire repairman, Kaddatz Tire Vulcanizing Co at 311 Main Street,
Lewiston; single, tall, slender, blue eyes, light hair.
One week
later, he marries local girl Mable Adams on June 12, 1917, in Nez Perce, Idaho. The war ended in summer 1918, and David and
Mable head back to Salt Lake City, where a 1919-city directory places them at
258 N 8th West, with his parents. The 1920
census places David, Mable and their 2-year-old daughter, Geraldine, with his
parents in Salt Lake City; he’s 25, a mechanic at Karl Winger auto shop.
The couple
is in Clarkston, Washington, in 1929, where 11-year-old Geraldine dies January
18, 1929.
The 1930 census
lists David and Mable on 8th Street in Highland, Asotin County, WA; he’s a
Fireman.
David
marries Katherine Shepler on March 17, 1934, in Spokane. He’s 40, she’s 30. In 1940, they own a home at 301 5th
Avenue with 2-year-old Richard David (aka Dee Richard Gill, 1938 - 2009).
As with
WWI, the United States stayed out of World War II until the bombing of Pearl
Harbor in December 1941. Although he’s
42, David has to register for another draft.
His draft registration card:
Idaho;
April 27, 1942; 301 5th Ave, Lewiston; telephone 292 R, 47 YO, spouse,
Mrs. Kathryn S Gill; Employer, City of Lewiston, City Hall, Idaho. 5’11-3/4, 158 lbs, blue eyes, dark brown
complexion; burn on inside left leg, scar on upper lip. He signs the card “D. Richard Gill”.
David was a
member of the Lewiston Fire Department for 38 years, retiring in 1959 as chief
of the department. A post in the local paper reports David in the ER for a "laceration on face", which could explain the scar on upper lip.
David died
on May 25, 1963, 69 years old, in Lewiston, Idaho. He
is buried in the Normal Hill Cemetery, where he and wife Kathryn (1906-1994) share
a red granite double monument along with Stacy Jean - wait, who’s Stacy Jean – haven’t found any
information. She was born after David Richard died.
Kathryn
was a member of Order of Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile, past president of
Ladies Auxiliary of Western Fire Chiefs and secretary to the Idaho State
Senators in 1965. The two symbols above
her name are the five-pointed star, the symbol for the Order of the Eastern
Star (letters OES around the star); the scimitar and rose, the symbol for Daughters
of the Nile - an International fraternal organization for women who are related
by birth or marriage to a Shriner or Master Mason.
David was a Freemason (square and
compass with the letter G). I do not know what the little cross with rose and
leaves represents.
The single rose above
Stacy Jean represents purity or death in childhood.
My summer road trip will be to Lewiston. It's beautiful country with loads of history.
Not all cemeteries are a green oasis. Nevada, the central state in the Great Basin, is a land of high mountain ranges, wide basins, and scant rainfall - about 13 inches a year. Vast fields of alfalfa are irrigated from abundant basin groundwater supplies. Not the local cemeteries. 
I pass through on my way to my hometown and usually stop to enjoy the wide open spaces and the creativity of the memorials. 
