This week’s prompt was a new one for me. “FAN” stands for Friends, Acquaintances, and Neighbors—a term used in cluster research, which involves studying the people surrounding your ancestor. This approach can be especially helpful when records are sparse or when you are stuck with a genealogical brick wall. It is also useful if your ancestor had a common surname (like Smith or Jones) or one with many spelling variations (hello, “Cossart” family). By examining the people your ancestor interacted with, you can often uncover additional clues about their life.
One of the lines I have been researching is the Gilmartin family. My 3rd-great-grandparents, John Gilmartin (b. 1812) and Mary Gallaher, were married in Ireland. Their son Anthony, my 2nd-great-grandfather, has a well-documented Civil War service and post-war life in Missouri, but details about the family’s earlier years are harder to pin down.
According to published family history, John and Mary had some means but chafed under British rule. They decided to pursue farming in America and settled near Chicago. Tragically, John was reportedly killed in a fight on October 10, 1848, leaving Mary a widow with three young children. Based on the stories that were handed down, she was remarried to a man named Henry Hyde, but at her death, she was buried beside John.
Can we piece together this struggling family using the FAN method? The answers range from “yes and no” to “it depends.” Thanks to more online records, we’ve been able to fill in some gaps and correct a few old assumptions. While the picture is coming together, some pieces are still missing.
Census records confirm that John and Mary were born in Ireland, but we’ve yet to find a birth or marriage record for them in County Mayo or any passenger lists. The gravestone lists John’s birth year as 1812 and Mary’s as 1829, which seems questionable given that their son Anthony was born around 1840.
The 1840 U.S. Census shows a John Gilmartin living in Will County, Illinois. There are two people who match a couple in their 20s and a child under 5, but also two older males in the household, possibly boarders or extended family. By 1850, Mary appears in the St. Louis census, age 30, with children Anthony (11), Bridget (8), John (5), and Alice (1), along with a 20-year-old Ann Gallaher—possibly her sister. Interestingly, John’s will was recorded in Macoupin County, Illinois, suggesting that the family, including John, had relocated there in the 1840s, and that Mary may have moved to St. Louis for support after his death.
The early 1850s brought Henry Hyde into the picture, another Irish immigrant. Although there’s no marriage record, his children's records list their mother as Mary Gallaher. Interestingly, in 1857, “Mary Gilmartin” (not Mary Hyde) was appointed guardian of her four children, alongside Thomas Gallaher—possibly her brother. In 1858, John Davidson replaced her as guardian of the remaining three children, suggesting Mary had died. Her gravestone confirms her passing in 1858 and her continued use of the Gilmartin name. There’s no known gravestone for young John Gilmartin, who likely died around this time.
What became of the children? Anthony, around 18 when Mary died, joined the Union Army and served honorably. Bridget married a man 24 years her senior, Joseph Gerlach, who also served the Union cause, in 1860. Alice, only about 9 years old when Mary died, appears in the 1860 census living with Dr. Charles Holiday’s family in Verdin, Illinois. She eventually was married to George Wright. Henry Hyde, listed as a widower that same year, is still a mystery. We can follow him through the census and through his children, but from what we know, it is hard to disprove the possibility that his spouse had the same name as Mary’s and coincidentally died around the same time.
Much of the new information has come through tracking the Gilmartin children. I have more complete records for Bridget and Alice attached to their spouses and descendents through FamilySearch, and was able to connect them to their ancestors. The three children eventually moved with their families to Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma. As for the others—Ann Gallaher, Thomas Gallaher, John Davidson, and Dr. Holiday—I haven’t uncovered much yet. But with patience and a bit more digging, maybe the FAN method will reveal more, and this story will have a sequel.
Photo and historical credit: Gilmartin History, Shiela Fast McReynolds, 1999
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