52 Ancestors - # 9 Edith Louisa Gill

Welsh Flag

While Wales is a relatively small country it plays a fairly significant role in my family history.  Lines on both sides of my family go back to this corner of the United Kingdom.  With mystic stories of the knights, wizards, Druid priests and bards, the heritage is colorful and fascinating. Beyond the tales of King Arthur, Merlin and the Knights of the Round Table, stories of the hard life of coal miner families, Tom Jones, the title Prince of Wales bestowed on the heir apparent to the English throne, I knew little about the country.

As I go back on my family lines, my great grandmother, Edith Louisa Gill Backman, is the first of my forebears on my direct line to have been born in Wales. So I decided it is high time to gather a few facts about this ancestral country. Continuous human history in Wales, or Cymru in Welsh, dates back to 9000 BC. With this extensive history I obviously won't have space or time to do more than mention a few highlights and perhaps some favorite tidbits of information I have unearthed.

The Iron Age was the period associated with the Celts who dominated the area until the arrival of the Romans in 43 AD.  The Romans retained control until the 5th century when they departed their outposts on the island.  This opened the door to invasion by the Anglo-Saxons.  In the subsequent splintering of the British language ad culture throughout the island, the Welsh people were the largest group to successfully retain their language and culture.  This continued through centuries of dominance by the English and incorporation into the United Kingdom.

The Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century led the country to turn increasingly nonconformist in its beliefs and away from the UK's dominant Church of England.  The Industrial Revolution brought dramatic increases in population as a result of the explosive growth of the coal and iron industries.  I will stop here as it was in the late 19th century when my ancestors left Wales for the United States.

Dragons have always intrigued me so it was not surprise that the Welsh flag is one of my favorite national flags.  The white and green bars of the flag are associated with the Tudors who claimed Welsh ancestry while the dragon dates back to a dragon banner carried by the Welsh hero Cadwaladr in the 700s.  The flag is known as Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon.

The color white in flags is often used to represent peace and honesty while the color green is often used to denote hope, joy, and love.  In many cultures it also has a sacred significance.  The color red of the dragon is often used to represent bravery, strength and valor.

Let me introduce you to Edith or Edie as she was often called.  She was born July 20, 1870 in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales.  Located in South Wales, Pontypridd is about 12 miles north of Cardiff and is the gateway to the beautiful valleys of south Wales.  It is also famous for its Old Bridge which has stood since 1750.

Edith Louisa Gill

Edie's parents were David Richard Gill and Sarah Ann Hodges Gill. At the time of her birth she had three older brothers; David Richard Gill named after his father, Thomas George and Henery (Henry) Hodges Gill, an orphaned cousin who was adopted by her parents.  Two other siblings, Sarah Jane and William Henry, had not survived childhood.  Four other siblings would be born after Edie:  Elijah, Emily Jane, Albert James, and Joseph John.

Prior to her birth, David and Sarah joined the LDS Church and the family left Wales and set sail for the United States in 1878 aboard the Nevada. Departing from Liverpool, the ship arrived in New York on July 10, 1878.  Next the family traveled by train to Salt Lake City and eventually to Fillmore, Utah.  They would return to Salt Lake City and make that their final home.

On November 26, 1890, Edie married William Jacob Backman in Logan, Utah.  Logan was selected as it was the site of the nearest LDS temple.  The Salt Lake temple was not dedicated until April 6, 1893.  The happy couple would welcome their first child almost a year to the day later.  Little William David Backman (Bill) was born November 19, 1891 in Salt Lake City.  There would be a little gap in additional children as her husband would leave to serve a mission in Sweden.

Following William's return in 1893, the family would continue to grow.  In 1894, Evelyn joined the family.  A second daughter, Edith Louise was born in 1896 followed by Richard Samuel in 1899.  Little Richard would not survive the day.  Three more sons would be born to the couple:  Franklin Gill (Bud) in 1901; Herbert Spencer (Spen) in 1903; and, finally George Siegfried in 1909.

As difficult as it was to deal with the death of little Richard in 1899, a more difficult time would face the couple in 1902 when little Evelyn would become ill and pass away on November 16, 1902.  She would be buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.  Her death was very difficult for Edith to come to terms with.

Hand-painted dish belonging to
Edith Louisa Gill Backman

Edith was a kind, loving mother.  Her daughter wrote of how grateful she was for the help her mother gave her with her children, Donna and Jack, who were born just 13 months apart.  She helped Edith again when she was pregnant with her second son, Bill who was born in January 1925.  Shortly after his birth Edie was diagnosed with liver cancer.  She had surgery in February but her condition continued to deteriorate until her death on December 13, 1925.

My grandmother, Edith Louise Backman Martin, gave me the hand-painted dish pictured at the right.  This dish had belonged to her mother and she remembered it being used on many occasions on her mother's table.  

David Richard Gill Family
Back row:  Elijah, David, Independencia Ruth, Albert, and Joseph
Front:  Sarah Ann, David R. Gill, Edith and Thomas
Photo from Amber McKean family collection

 

52 Ancestors - #5 Robert Henry McCune

Robert Henry McCune was the maternal grandfather that I knew and loved growing up.  My mother

Robert McCune with his sister, Marie

often comments how lucky she feels to have had two loving, caring fathers.  Having lost his father at an early age, I am sure he understood and related to his wife, Virginia and her two children, Boyd and Iris.

Robert was born on May 21, 1901 to Henry and Mary Jane Slaven McCune.  At the time the family lived in Galesburg, Illinois.  Galesburg is located in northwest central Illinois.  It was built around the foundation of Knox College.  The railroad played an important role in the growth of the city as well. The city has a claim to fame as the birthplace of Carl Sandberg.

During high school, I had an assignment to interview two people who lived during the 1920s.  The following are Robert's responses to the questions I asked.

Where did you live during the 1920s?  "I lived in Galesburg, Illinois, and Salt Lake City, during that period."

What was your mother's occupation?  "Since my father was deceased, my mother worked as a seamstress." (Notice the similarities in the childhood of Robert and his wife Virginia.)

What was your occupation?  "I lived with my older sister, Jane, in Salt Lake City for a while, and worked on the Bingham and Garfield railroad which is a part of Kennecott.  I worked for the CBQ railroad when I was in Illinois, and I worked for Independence Gas and Oil.  I made about $140 a month when I worked for the railroad."

On politicians:

• Harding - "He was a front for corrupt politicians and they used him as a tool."
• Coolidge - "He was riding the tide of popularity although he was more capable than Harding."
• Hoover - "At that time it was not very good"
• Al Smith - "He would have made a wonderful President.  He did a great job as governor of New York.  I voted for him when he ran for President."

On prohibition:

"Prohibition was a farce, it accomplished nothing.  I feel that a country cannot legislate a man to stop drinking, in fact, I think this caused many people to drink who would otherwise not touch the stuff.

The boarding house, in which I lived in downtown Salt Lake, was a speak-easy.  I helped make some bathtub gin.  We used pure grain alcohol." 

On beauty pageants:
"That was something!  I remember the girl that made my bed in the boarding house became Miss Utah, then Miss America, and then went to Rio to compete for Miss Universe."

On the Teapot Dome Scandal:
"I don't think you would have (heard) very much about Teapot Dome if Sinclair hadn't beaten Rockefellar to get the lease."

On the persecution of Negroes, Catholics, and Jews:
"This had no place here in America.  Everyone, regardless of creed or color, is entitled to his own religious beliefs.

Comparing the 20s to the 60s:
"We have the same short skirts.  There are more tensions today, and the pace is faster today."

Robert married Virginia Sparks Lunn on Valentine's Day 1938.  At that time he became a father to Virginia's son and daughter as well as a husband.  They lived in Virginia's home on McClelland Street.  He was a loving husband and father.

The family enjoyed the typical family life of the period working and playing together.  This pleasant time would be interrupted by the world turmoil of World War II.  Robert enlisted and was made a Navy recruiter.  At lease he was able to stay stateside.

After the war, Robert worked for Sinclair Oil.  Over the years his assignments took him to Kansas City, Cheyenne, and Denver.  He loved spending time with his children and grandchildren when they visited and shared the highlights of these destinations with them:  Frontier Days in Cheyenne with the colorful parade and rodeo; the Natural History Museum of Denver, the Capitol; The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs; and, rowing boats on the lake in the Denver City Park.

Traveling through his territory in Wyoming, his grandchildren learned that the first numbers on Wyoming license plates indicated the county where the car was registered:  19 meant Uinta, county seat Evanston; 1 meant Natrona, county seat Casper; 2 meant Laramie, county seat Cheyenne; 4 meant Sweetwater, county seat Green River.

Robert and Virginia would move back to Salt Lake in 1963.  His eyesight was failing due to cataracts.  He suffered a detached retina following surgery to remove the cataracts which led to his retirement. he took his grandchildren to Denver Bear baseball games each summer.

Grandpa was an avid baseball fan.  Every summer we made at least one trip to the see the Denver Bears play in their stadium.  He would have been so proud to have a major league team in his hometown.  He missed the Rockies by a few decades.

His other sports interests included boxing, wrestling, horse racing, football and dog racing.  We were fortunate to see the customs associated with horse racing on visits to Englewood.  I still watch the Triple Crown races each year in his honor.  The bugle calling the horses to the track and the color silks of the jockeys combined with the beauty and grace of the horses make racing a marvelous spectator sport.  I never could understand the science behind picking the winning horse and remember one time Grandpa's horse didn't finish the race.  He never bet on a gray horse again.

Robert passed away on March 2, 1973 at his home in Salt Lake City.

McCune Siblings
Bernard, Jerome, Robert
Jane and Marie

Jane, unknown, Marie, Robert,
and Mary Jane

Virginia and Robert in the Redwoods