The surname Gilbert is of Germanic origin. The English-language surname is derived from Giselbert, a mediaeval personal name composed of the following Germanic elements gisil (“pledge”, “hostage”, “noble youth”) and berht (“bright”, “famous”).
Frank Orrin Gilbert III was born May 25, 1948, in Compton, California, an only child. He attended schools in Compton until his family moved to nearby Long Beach, Calif., where he attended Jordan High School, Long Beach City College, and Calif. State University at Long Beach, where he majored in history and minored in track and field.
Frank ran track and was a pole vaulter in high school and college. After graduating from college, and while working full-time, he was an assistant track coach. Frank had worked in retail clothing during college and continued in that field until he eventually bought a clothing store in Belmont Shore, a section of Long Beach. Later he sold the store and went into the custom printed garment business until his retirement in 2014.
Frank married Cheryl Jones on October 13, 1973.
Early in life Frank developed an interest in collecting sea shells, which he continues to this day. He loves to travel and has a timeshare in Hawaii which he visits yearly. He has also traveled to several states and Washington D.C., as well as Tonga, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, England, Scotland and Germany.
Frank and his wife love to swing dance and visit Disneyland, two activities which they combine.
Frank had long known that he had German ancestry on his mother’s side. He believed that he was mostly English on his father’s side. His DNA results show that he is 92% European: 49% from Great Britian (England, Scotland, Wales), Ireland 22%, Scandinavian 12%, Western Europe (including Germany) 5%, Eastern Europe 4% and 8% Western Asia (Caucasus). He was surprised that he did not have more German blood.
Frank’s parents were: Frank Orrin Gilbert II and Wanda Elizabeth (Betty) Pollack (see Pollack lineage).
Frank Orrin Gilbert II was born in Springfield, Mass. December 29, 1918. His father died before he was born, leaving his mother with a young son (his brother Lawrence, called Larry) and a baby (Frank) on the way. When Frank was two years old he and his brother were placed in a Masonic Children’s Home in St. Petersburg, Florida. His brother said that he cried himself to sleep every night for a long time.
Frank’s mother, Ruth, eventually remarried and tried to obtain custody of her two sons. Since she had signed away her rights, the Home had the final say in whether or not to return them to her. The Home ruled several times that her new husband was not stable or reliable and refused her requests. After Frank and his brother had been in the Home for 9 years, they were finally returned to the custody of their mother (Frank was 11 by this time).
Frank’s mother and stepfather took the boys to Texas. Frank’s brother Larry said that their stepfather had a hard time keeping a job, and may have been a drinker. At one point their mother and stepfather left the two boys on their own to go looking for work. Larry said they were gone about two months, leaving the boys on their own with very little food and no money. Their landlord took pity on them and didn’t evict them. Larry said they did odd jobs for money for food and some of the neighbors occasionally gave them food.
When Frank was 17 he had had enough and rode the rails to California. He got a job and lived in the Compton area. By 1940 his mother and brother joined him in California.
About early 1941 Frank was married. He joined the Navy soon after World War II started in December 1941. Frank served on several ships in the South Pacific, more than one of which was sunk during the war. While he was away during the War his wife sent him a Dear John letter and divorced him.
When he returned from the War he met his second wife, Betty. They married and settled in Compton, Calif., had a son, and eventually moving to Long Beach. Frank II had remained in the Naval Reserves after WWII and was called up for the Korean War. Betty and their son moved to Hunter’s Point in San Francisco while he was deployed.
Frank worked for the Bethlehem Steel Company for many years. He loved bowling and fishing and every summer took his family to the Colorado River on vacation. He died of a brain aneurism in August, 1969 and is buried in Compton, Calif.
Frank’s parents were: Frank Orrin Gilbert I and Ruth Maureen Hackett.
Frank Orrin Gilbert I was born in St. Louis, Missouri in November, 1889. His father died when he was young. By 1910 he was living in Chicago and working as a clerk. Since his father died in Chicago in 1897, it is likely that the family had moved there before 1897.
His oldest child was born in 1915, so he probably married about 1914 or early 1915. His oldest son was born in Florida.
In 1917 he registered for the draft in Florida. According to his draft card he was of medium height, slender build with blue eyes and black hair. At the time he was working cleaning and pressing clothes. He claimed an exemption as he was the sole support of his wife and child.
There is a record of enlistment in 1906 for a Frank Gilbert, born about the same time, in the same place. It shows he was discharged in 1911 and that he was a farmer when he enlisted. Although the circumstantial evidence suggests this may have been Frank I, on his draft registration in 1917 he shows no previous military experience. I believe this is a different person.
Frank I died and was buried in 1918 in Ridgefield, Connecticut. According to his widow, he died in the Spanish Flu pandemic. “In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the Allies closer to victory against the Germans. Deep within the trenches these men lived through some of the most brutal conditions of life, which it seemed could not be any worse. Then, in pockets across the globe, something erupted that seemed as benign as the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world’s population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice). An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace.”
His son, Larry, although he was only a toddler, said that he remembered that so many people were dying that in the morning wagons would go down the street and people would bring out those who had died during the night, reminiscent of the Plague in Europe.
Ruth Maureen Hackett was born in 1892 in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1900 she was living in Alabama with her parents. It is unknown when or where she met Frank. Ruth’s father, Rev. William Lemon Hackett, was born in Ontario, Canada in 1851. He was a Presbyterian minister; Ruth’s oldest son, Larry, was also a minister. Her father and his family emigrated to the U.S. before 1900. Both of his parents were born in Ireland. He died in 1916 and is buried in St. Cloud, Florida.
Ruth died in 1967 and is buried in Compton, Calif.
Frank I’s parents were Edmund Clark Gilbert and Elizabeth (Bessie) Amelia Doolin.
Edmund Clark Gilbert was born in February 1837 in Gilbertsville, Otsego County, New York. Gilbertsville is now part of Butternuts, New York.
Gilbertsville was founded in 1787 by Abijah Gilbert. Abijah had a son of the same name who served as a U.S. Congressman from Florida. The Gilbert family was large and there were several members named Orrin, which is probably where the middle name used in 3 later generations derived. Edmund was the first in his line born in Gilbertsville. I am certain there is a connection to Abijah Gilbert, but I have yet to find it.
Edmund grew up in the Gilbertsville area. In 1860 he was not married and was working as a printer or painter (the handwriting on the 1860 census is unclear, but other records show printer). In October 18961 he enlisted in the New York Volunteers in the 152nd Regiment of the Infantry. He enlisted as a musician and was stationed in Washington, D.C. He was promoted from “First Grade” to “Leader” in 1862. He was later promoted to Major. He was captured and held prisoner in Libby Prison, Richmond, Va. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Luther Libby was running a ship supply shop from the corner of a large warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. In need of a new prison for captured Union officers, Confederate soldiers gave Libby 48 hours to evacuate his property. The sign over the north-west corner reading “L. Libby & Son, Ship Chandlers” was never removed, and consequently the building and prison bore his name. Since the Confederates believed the building inescapable, the staff considered their job relatively easy.
Led by Colonel Thomas E. Rose of the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry, the prisoners started tunnelling in a rat-infested zone which the Confederate guards were reluctant to enter. The tunnel emerged in a vacant lot beside a warehouse, from where the escapees could walk out through the gate without arousing suspicion. Since the prison was believed to be escape-proof, there was less vigilance by the authorities than in other camps, and the alarm was not raised for nearly twelve hours. Over half the prisoners were able to reach Union lines Edmund was one of them.
He was later recaptured and moved to prisons in Macon, Savannah, Charleston, Camp Asylum in Columbia, S.C., and Charlotte N.C. He again escaped and returned to his unit. In 1863 he had a leave of absence as he was suffering from diphtheria. He saw action at Laurel Hill, Mine Run, Totopotomoy Creek, VA., Wilderness, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. His unit last saw action two days before Lee’s surrender. He was mustered out in July 1865. Later in life he received a pension as he suffered from malaria. After his death his widow received a pension.
After the War he returned to Gilbertsville, where he served as Postmaster from 1867-68. In 1869 he married his wife, Bessie, in New Jersey. By 1870 they were living in Ohio where his son was born. In the next few years he moved to Chicago, San Francisco, back to Ohio, to St.Louis, Missouri, and finally to Chicago where he lived the rest of his life. He worked as a printer for most of his life.
In 1890 the Federal government ordered a census of the surviving Civil War veterans. Edmund conducted the census for St. Louis, Missouri, where he was then living. On the census he lists his rank as Major.
Edmund died in August 1897 and is buried in Mount Greenwood Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. His tombstone reads “Colonel Edmund Gilbert, Sr.” I don’t know if the use of Colonel was an honorarium, or perhaps he received a brevet promotion during the War; if so I found no record of it.
Edmund’s wife was Elizabeth Bessie Doolin. She was born in 1842 in Tipperary, Ireland. Her family later moved to Scotland and emigrated about 1863 on the ship City of Glasgow. Her parents were John Fenton Doolin and Elizabeth Murray, both born in Tipperary.
Edmund’s parents were William Johnson Gilbert and Nancy Barber.
William was born in 1805 in Middletown, Connecticut. As mentioned before, there is a family connection to Abijah Gilbert, founder of Gilbertsville, N.Y. When Abijah brought his family over from England they lived in Middletown while Abijah started the settlement in Gilbertsville. Abijah’s wife did not find Gilbertsville to her liking, as it was quite remote, and returned to Middletown to live. I found many Gilberts on the census records for Middletown. (AKA Middleton).
By 1820 William’s father had moved the family to Otsego County, New York. In 1827 he married Nancy Barber. In 1830 they were living in Butternuts, Otsego County, New York. This is the area settled by Abijah Gilbert.
Prior to the 1850 census, census records only show the name of the Head of Household and how many people lived in the household, broken down by gender and age groups. Little is known of William’s early life.
By 1850 he is living with his mother and two young sons, his first wife Nancy being deceased, and his profession was listed as carpenter. He apparently married again shortly after the death of his first wife to Alma Wooding, who died in 1850. In 1860 he remarried to Eunice Strong and was listed as being a farmer. By 1880 his third wife had died and he was living in Bainbridge, New York with his younger son, Eben. He died in 1882 and is buried with his second and third wives in West Bainbridge Cemetery, Chenango County, New York.
Little is known of any of William’s three wives.
William Johnson’s parents were William Gilbert and Elizabeth Sarah Johnson.
William was born in December 1784 in Middletown, Connecticut. Little is known of his life. The first Federal census wasn’t conducted until 1790, after the Revolutionary War. Prior to that time, there were state censuses, but I do not find him listed. He married in 1805 and had 4 children. He died in 1816 and is buried in Mortimer Cemetery, Middletown, Connecticut.
It is known that his widow remarried to a Joseph Gilbert, probably a cousin.
His wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Lt. col. Jonathon Johnson, who fought in the Revolutionary War.
William’s parents were Captain Joseph Gilbert and Anna Baggs.
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