Thursday, July 17, 2008 10:29 PM CDT
New marker designates final resting place of Revolutionary War soldier
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
ASHMORE — If you are driving fast, it is easy to miss the small sign for the cemetery where Revolutionary War soldier William Galbreath’s grave is located.
The patriot’s resting place, Patsy Mitchell Golladay Cemetery, is located at the end of a long gravel lane where the graves are out of sight from the road if the corn is high.
Galbreath’s descendants have recently taken steps to ensure that those researching family genealogy, local history, and the Revolutionary War will be able to find his grave.
They applied for Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution markers to be placed at Galbreath’s grave, which will become part of the two organizations’ records.
A grave marking ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Mitchell cemetery in Ashmore Township in conjunction with the 102nd Galbreath family reunion.
Galbreath descendent Ann Winkler Hinrichs said she and her cousin Fran Williams started working on the marker application not long after the 101st reunion.
“That was just something Fran and I thought needed to be done,” Hinrichs said.
Hinrichs, who joined DAR in 2006, said information about Galbreath and his descendants is now available online at DAR’s Web site.
“It’s a good genealogy database. It really is,” Hinrichs said.
Markers at Galbreath’s grave record that he died at age 84 in 1839. His wife, Phebe Foreman Galbreath, died at age 82 in 1852.
As Hinrichs and her cousin Mary Drystad wiped dust off of the grave markers Thursday afternoon, they both marveled at the couple’s long lives.
“That is pretty good for back then,” Drystad exclaimed.
Hinrichs said family stories have told that Galbreath lived to an old age while suffering from infirmities incurred while serving six years in the Revolutionary War.
One of Galbreath’s grave markers records that he served as a sergeant with Shannons Company, Pennsylvania regiment.
Hinrichs said historical records indicate Galbreath served in the battle of Yorktown in 1781 and guarded Lord Charles Cornwallis as he negotiated the surrender of British forces to Gen. George Washington.
Galbreath married Phebe Foreman after the war when he was 30 and she was 18. Hinrichs said his wife, a Philadelphia native, told her family she remembered sitting on Wasington’s lap as a child when her uncle threw a party for him.
The couple had 10 children and six of the eight who grew to adulthood are buried at the Mitchell cemetery, Hinrichs said. Galbreath arrived in Ashmore Township circa 1833, making him one of Coles County’s earliest settlers.
Hinrichs said her two young cousins Claire and Chloe Chambers will place the wreath on Galbreath’s grave Saturday because they are part of the eighth generation to descend from him.
“I hope they will always remember it,” Hinrichs said.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.
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