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THE STORY OF THE GILMANS and a GILMAN GENEALOGY of the DESCENDANTS OF EDWARD GILMAN of HINGHAM, ENGLAND 1550-1950 By Constance Le Neve Gilman. Ames YAKIMA, WASHINGTON Copyright 1950 by Constance Le Neve Gilman Ames Printed for the Author by Shields Rainier Printing Comp.any Yakima, Washington THiS WORK IS DEDICATED TO MY FATHER CHARLES ANDREW GILMAN WHOSE INTEREST IN FAMILY HISTORY HAS INSPIRED THE WISH TO LEAVE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS A CHRONICLE OF THI: PAST. PREFACE In this unpretentious volume I have attempted to present some of the highlights of family history and to assemble as many Gilman pedigrees as possible. It concerns the descendants of Edward Gilman of Hingham, England, and his wife, Mary Clark, who came to America in 1638. For the basis of my work I have used Alexander W. Gilman's com.prehensive English publication "The Gillman or Gilman Family"; Charles H. Bell's outstanding "History of Exeter"; Lanca.ster's century old "Hi-story of Gilmanton" and Arthur Gilman's well known "Gilman Genealogy," all of these works having been pu:bJished in the past century. These invaluruble sources of information have been supplemented by scores of town histories, genealogies, war records, wills, deeds, and vital statistics. A number of privately printed family histories have been generously given to my use. College archivists have been most courteous. The great Genealogi-cal Libraries of Washington, New York, Chicago, Boston, and Concord have acfforded a wealth of informatio·n. Most important of all, many Gilmans have taken great pains to a.ssemble their family records from old Bibles, letters and other sources in a fine cooperative spirit. Three able Genealogists, Prof. A. F. Gilman of Chicago, Clarence A. Torrey of Dorchester, Mass., and Samuel Copp Worthen, President of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, have placed their findings at my disposal. There are a number of inaccuracies in the old Gilman Genealogy, which, with new information, have been corrected. I know that there will be errors in this volume which I hope its readers will pardon. One who has made even the simplest attempt at genealog­ ical work knows the difficutlies involving similarity of names, errors of recording clerks, family records presented in a confused order, and town •hi-stories which are sometimes far from accurate. My ta.sk has been a very pleasant one and I hope its fruits will be af some value to present as well a.s future generations. I have made friends, some of whom I may never meet in person but their interest and friendly attitude have been an inestimable inspiration. It has left me with a feeling of satisfaction that I belong to the people whom I have re­ corded in these pages. EXPLANATIONS Since there are many objections to Roman numerals, Ara,bic figures are used in the Genealogical enumeration. Each individual is numbered in order of his recording, his num­ eral being used when reference is made to him. When a male has descendants, the number indicating his eldest child is placed in parentheses after the father's name. In case two or more children of the same family have no record their names may be combined under the same number. ·The descendants of Gilman women are included in the mother's record and do not extend beyond the second generation. The Genealogy is arranged in three sections, a section for each of Edward the Emi­ grant's sons, Edward, John ,and Moses, in order of their birth. When there is any doubt concerning the authenticity of a record it Is indicated in the text. The towns, Belmont, Alton and Gilford were often referred to as Gilmanton in their early days. Lakeport became Laconia. Exeter included Brentwood and Newmarket at an early period. Edward Gilman, the Emigrant, whose descendants we have recorded, ,was of the third generation of Gilroans whose records are in an unbroken line back to the birth of Edward his grandfather who •married Rose Rysse in Caston, Norfolk, England, June 22, 1550. 1 .l<"'rom ••Vincent's Welsh Coat. of Arms," con. of Arms, London. 1620. -( . () Y,, V \] KILl\lYN DROED-DU (Circe 8201 CHAPTER I "In Days of Old, When Knights Were Bold." A few years before the birth of Christ there lived a great warrior and states­ man, Julius Caeser. It was he who conquered Gaul, crossed the Channel in his Ro­ man galleys and re.vealed the Isle of Britain to the Roman world. It was, however, not for him to conquer this new race of people. A full century passed before its com­ plete subjugation by the Romans, but the work of civilization quickly followed the path of the sword. Linked together by magnificent roads which reached from one end of the island to the other, the cities of Britain were thoroughly Romanized. For 300 years peace and prosperity reigned. Finally evils sapped the strength of the whole Roman Empire and, in the 15th century, Rome -was obliged to with­ draw her legions from Britain to protect herself from the Goths. It was then that the savage Picts from the North and the barbarians from Ireland bore down on the Britains who. in desperation, hired a band of Pirates from Jutland to aid them. Jutland was a part of Germany, the home of the Saxons or Angles. Cross­ ing the Channel in their huge flat bottomed boats they quickly scattered the Picts jlnd took possession of the coast lands granted to them. During the next 125 years hordes of Angles came over and, by the might of fire and sword, pushed the Britains back. Moreover they brought their families with them and settled the land as fast as they conquered it. In the end Britain become Angland or England. A Teutonic society had been built upon the wreck of Rome by the Angles who brought 'with them their entire system of village life and culture. Pagans they were, but not savages, and the base of this new England was the freeman, not the slave. Years later a Saxon king married Bercta, daughter of King Cheribert of Paris. She was a Christian and brought a Christian Bishop with her. The king gave her a ruined Christian church in Canterbury for her worship, permitted missionaries to come from France and eventually was himself converted. Canterbury became a center for Roman civilization, arts and letters, long since fled before the Angles. Frightful internal and external wars wracked the country for centuries. It was 2 conquered by Cnut the Dane, and by William the Conqueror of Normandy, when the blood of foreigners again mingled with that of the English. The wars between the clans of England were worst of all. The Britains who had fled into Wales stood against the other English clans for generations but finally Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, succumbed to the might of King Edward 1st and the fabric of Welsh greatness dissolved at a single blow. To all appearances Wales became utterly barbarous, stripped of its Roman civilization by ages of warfare and isolation from the culture of Christendom. This savage mass of herdsmen, clad in the skins and fed by the milk of the cattle they tended, maintained no higher organization than that of the clan and only united when in battle against the invader. Strangely, there still lingered in the hearts of this wild people a spark of poetic fire. The intense patriotism of the early bards, their joy in battle and their love of freedom burst forth in ode after ode, depicting famous deeds of their kings and heroes and handed down from generation to generation. In this way the Welshmen kept an account of the suc­ cession of their kings. They were also recorded in writing, through the monas­ teries from which Welsh chieftains obtained a primitive culture. A few of these men made pligrimages to Jerusalem. About the year 843 there lived in Glynllyson, North Wales, a knight known as Cilmin-Troed-Dhu, or Cilmin of the black leg. He came there with his father's brother Mervyn, either from the Isle of Man or from Mervyn's possessions in the North of Britain and founded the Fourth Noble Tribe of Wales, probably known as the Cilmins. Cilmin's uncle, Mervyn Vryshe, King of the Isle of Man, married Esyllt, only daughter and heir of Conan, son of Roderick, King of the Britains. Conan died and Mervyn and Esyllt became King and Queen of Wales in 818. Their son was the last Roderick the Great and ancestor of the Tudors. Thus we can picture Cilmin-Troed-Dhu as a warrior living in a world that knew little else than the power of conquest. His clan were barbaric herdsmen, his abode no doubt crude, but as luxurious as his high station afforded. His education and religion were the evolution . of four . centuries since the English occupation of Britain, conserved by the monks in their monasteries. We must believe that he was outstanding in his generation, for, in the ensuing sixteen centuries, his descendants held a high place, each one in his day. The following is quoted from the Cambrian Register, published in 1790, "Cilmin-Troed-Dhu­ He lived in the time of Mervyn Vryshe, King of Man, being his brother's st>n1' with whom he came from the North of Britain ... his posterity were wise and discreet men in all their ages and many of them learned in the Laws and Judges under the Kings and Princes of Wales, as Mongene Ynad and Apnerth his son, whose law book is still extant, fairly written on parchment." As nephew to Mer­ vyn, King of Wales, and as cousin to Roderick the Great, Cilmin must have had considerable prestige, aside from the fact that he was chieftain of one of the noble tribes of Wales.

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