Gilliam Family Genealogy

  The Hildreth In-laws: The Belzers In our last post, we left off with the May 7, 1974 death of Martha Faurot Chapman Hildreth in Sullivan County, Missouri. Her son, Rees Hildreth, moved with her from Lee County, Iowa, to Missouri after she buried his father in 1849 and his grandfather in 1853. Rees Hildreth enlisted in 1862 at age 18 in the 27th Missouri Infantry Regiment with his older brother Henry, and returned to Missouri after the Civil War. He married Rachel Ann Belzer (my generation’s second great-grandmother) on July 20, 1874 in Sullivan County, Missouri, just a few months after his mother's death . Rachel Belzer’s grandfather, John Belzer (1769-1830) (my generation’s fourth great-grandfather), immigrated from Germany and settled in Jessamine County, Kentucky sometime around 1790. He was a blacksmith. He married Mary McCollister (possibly spelled McAlester or McAlister) in 1796. According to A History of Early Settlement of Highland County, Ohio by Daniel Scott  (l...

Hildreth, Belzer and Faurot Civil War Veterans  In a previous post  (link) , we discussed the many descendants of Hinchea Gilliam (1775-1858) who fought in the Civil War. In this post, we take a look at the Civil War veterans in the Hildreth, Belzer and Faurot branches of the family. My generation's second great grandfather, Rees Hildreth (the father of Annie and Maggie Hildreth Gilliam) enlisted in the 27th Missouri Infantry Regiment on March 26, 1864, as an 18 year old. Rees joined the same unit with his older brother, Henry Hildreth (Henry was 22) and both enlisted for three year terms. Rees was in Company C; Henry was in Company F. The 27th Missouri Regiment was formed in the Chillicothe, Missouri area between September 1862 and January 1863 and formed part of the guard for St. Louis until the unit was fully formed. The unit moved first to participate in the sieges at Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi until July of 1863. When those operations concluded, the unit man...

  The Hildreth In-Laws: The Faurots In the last post, we left off with Rees Bowen Hildreth’s death in Lee County, Iowa in December, 1849. His death, of a self-inflicted gunshot, left his 41-year-old widow, Martha Faurot Chapman Hildreth, with five minor sons: 17-year-old Isaac Chapman (from her first marriage to Stuckley Chapman), nine-year-old Henry Hildreth, eight-year-old John Hildreth, three-year-old Rees Hildreth (my generation’s second great-grandfather) and infant Eli Hildreth.   Martha Faurot Chapman Hildreth was born in Gorham Township, Ontario County, New York in 1808, the fourth child of eight to my generation’s fourth great-grandparents, Jacob Faurot (1775-1853) and Hannah Cory (1779-1844). The Faurots (sometimes spelled "Farotte" or "Faurote") were probably French, emigrating to North America sometime before 1700. My generation’s eighth great-grandfather, James Faurot (1654-1725) settled near Rahway, New Jersey, and the next three generations--Hen...

  Gilliam In-Laws: The Hildreths, Part 3 In two preceding blog posts, we reviewed the first five generations of Hildreth ancestors (and the families they married into) in North America. Three generations of Hildreth ancestors helped settle the English colonies in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. The fourth generation, Joseph Hildreth, moved his family from Orange County, New York to the Virginia frontier after the American Revolution commenced. His son, Jeffrey Hildreth, left his mark in Virginia before moving to Bourbon County, Kentucky a few years prior to his death in 1820. In this post, we will pick up with the sixth American Hildreth in our direct line, Rees Bowen Hildreth (1790-1849), as the Hildreths help pioneer the American Midwest. My generation’s 3rd great-grandfather, Rees Bowen Hildreth (I will refer to him as RBH in the remainder of this post) was born in about 1790 in Wythe County, Virginia. He was the fourth or fifth child of Jeffrey and Lily Bowen Hildret...

  The Hildreth In-Laws: The Bowens of Virginia In this post, we briefly depart from our discussion of the Hildreths and their migration across America to discuss the families that were joined with the Hildreths by the marriage of Jeffrey Hildreth and Lily Bowen in 1785. The Bowens and their related families were fierce defenders of the settlements in the New World, fighting and dying to protect their new lives. According to the chapter entitled “The Bowens of Tazewell” contained in History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 , by William Cecil Pendleton, (link) the Bowens were Celtic Welsh. Moses and Rebecca Rees Bowen (7th great-grandparents to my generation) migrated from Wales to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania “a good many years before the Revolution.” Their son John was a Quaker and married Lily McIlhany. John and Lily McIlhany Bowen (6th great-grandparents to my generation), moved to Augusta County, Virginia (now Rockbridge County) shortly after the first set...

Gilliam In-Laws: The Hildreths, Part 2 In the immediately preceding blog post, we reviewed the first three generations of Hildreth ancestors (and the families they married into) in North America. After short stays in Massachusetts and Connecticut, three generations of Hildreth ancestors helped settle the eastern tip of Long Island, New York, in and surrounding the town of Southampton. We pick up the Hildreths’ story in this post with the next Hildreth in our direct line, Joseph. My generation’s 5th great-grandfather, Joseph Hildreth (1720-1792), was the eldest son of John Hildreth and Phebe Squire. He was born in Orange County, New York in about 1720, shortly after his parents moved there from Southampton. Located on the west bank of the Hudson River, Orange County was on the edge of the frontier. In his adulthood in the years leading up to the Revolution, Joseph became a prominent citizen in Orange County. He was named to some local colonial commissions and was a signee to a ple...