Wednesday, February 06, 2013


THE GARMAN-GILL FAMILIES, Elizabeth Garman Gill, January 1971.

Eva loved horses and could hitch up a horse to a buggy or a cart and drive as well as a boy. When she rode a horse she rode at a gallop. She had long wavy brown hair that hung to her waist, and when she rode she drew many admiring glances as she galloped along, her long hair flying.
...
Ernest didn't like school but loved to read. He liked the outdoors, hunting and fishing, and he was an excellent ice-skater.

From the time he was a small child, Harry lugged around an old satchel and proclaimed himself a doctor. But, of course, even doctors if they are raised on a farm have to take their share of the farm work as did each of the boys. Harry was always a willing worker in anything he did.

In 1890 our new white house on the farm was built and the family moved in. Here, on August 13, 1890 I was born.


Our Farm and Our Home Life

One side of our farm was crossed by the Somerville Road which was a part of the old Indian Trail through to Kittanning. On the other side of this road was a high hill, a part of our land we called Bunker Hill,--why, I do not know. I know for sure that the battle wasn’t fought there. We kids gathered strawberries, and dew berries on that hill for mother to make preserve and jelly. Part of our land was covered with trees which we called the Hollow. A fine brook flowed down through the Hollow and on across the fields on its way to the Susquehanna River. The water was crystal clear. It gave us kids great pleasure to catch minnows in it and paddle our bare feet. Many a picnic we have had with our friends out in the Hollow beside the brook. Many a basket or bucket of blackberries and black raspberries came from our Hollow, and along the fences were rows of elder berries.

[My mother, Mrs. Gill's daughter, told me a story of her grandmother cooking in her outside kitchen and being surprised by an Indian come up behind her. She hit him on the head with a skillet.]

Images: Above, the Kittanning Path, "the old Indian Trail" used by the Lenape, Shawnee and John Hart who traded with them at Hart's Sleeping Place; header, part of the Path today.