1911 - 1962 (51 years)
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Name |
Gilbert, Truman Judson |
Born |
17 Mar 1911 |
Dorr, Allegan County, Michigan, USA |
Gender |
Male |
Died |
27 Nov 1962 |
Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA |
Buried |
Mount Ever-Rest Memorial Park South, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
Person ID |
I21883 |
Sackett | Descendants of John Sackett the Colonist |
Last Modified |
19 Jan 2009 |
Father |
Gilbert, Walter Joshua, b. 4 Dec 1871, Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA , d. 6 Aug 1955, Galesburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA (Age 83 years) |
Mother |
Judson, Primrose, b. 31 Jan 1876, Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA , d. 17 May 1958, Galesburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA (Age 82 years) |
Married |
14 Feb 1901 |
Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA [1, 2] |
Children |
4 children |
| 1. Gilbert, Raymond Cecil, b. 13 Mar 1902, Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA , d. 19 Aug 1967, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA (Age 65 years) | | 2. Gilbert, Ina Rae, b. 6 Jan 1904, Kent County, Michigan, USA , d. 18 Jun 1929, Michigan, USA (Age 25 years) | | 3. Gilbert, Iva Mae, b. 23 Dec 1906, Kent County, Michigan, USA , d. 25 Dec 1972, Central Lake, Antrim County, Michigan, USA (Age 66 years) | | 4. Gilbert, Truman Judson, b. 17 Mar 1911, Dorr, Allegan County, Michigan, USA , d. 27 Nov 1962, Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA (Age 51 years) | |
Family ID |
F8029 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
Family |
Galbreath, Dorothy Aileen, b. 19 Mar 1914, South Haven, Van Buren County, Michigan, USA , d. 1 Dec 2002, Lanham, Prince George's County, Maryland, USA (Age 88 years) |
Married |
30 Jun 1936 |
Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
Children |
| 1. Living |
| 2. Gilbert, Judson Truman, b. 31 May 1940, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA , d. 24 Nov 1985, Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada, USA (Age 45 years) |
| 3. Gilbert, Mary Ellen, b. 19 Oct 1943, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA , d. 11 Nov 1988, Homestead, Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA (Age 45 years) |
| 4. Living |
| 5. Gilbert, Harry Mark, b. 20 Apr 1947, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA , d. 8 Mar 2021, Vicksburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA (Age 73 years) |
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Last Modified |
19 Jan 2009 |
Family ID |
F8037 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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Event Map |
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| Born - 17 Mar 1911 - Dorr, Allegan County, Michigan, USA |
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| Married - 30 Jun 1936 - Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
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| Child - Gilbert, Judson Truman - 31 May 1940 - Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
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| Child - Gilbert, Mary Ellen - 19 Oct 1943 - Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
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| Child - Gilbert, Harry Mark - 20 Apr 1947 - Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
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| Died - 27 Nov 1962 - Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA |
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| Buried - - Mount Ever-Rest Memorial Park South, Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA |
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Pin Legend |
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Notes |
- Truman Gilbert was the youngest of four children. The family moved to Kalamazoo in about 1922 and lived near Western Michigan College (now University) which he attended for about two years. It is here that he met Dorothy Galbreath. While at Western he was a member of their tennis team. He was a tall, handsome man: between 6'2" and 6'3" tall, with blue eyes and wavy hair. He could not afford to finish college but did retain some beautiful architectural pencil sketches from one of his classes, and related several times his frustration in one class at being docked a significant number of points on an essay exam for misspelling a simple word in haste.
As a wedding present, Dorothy's mother gave them her equity in her small bungalow at 1930 East Cork St., later 2002 East. Cork, in Milwood, a southern suburb of Kalamazoo. The house was on two and one half acres of orchard, half of a five-acre plot that Eva purchased in April, 1925, from the Fischer family. It was in this house that Dorothy's grandmother, Margaret Lydia (Bortle) Tenbroeck died. With the help of college friends, Truman and Dorothy refurbished the house and moved in after their wedding, living there until their first son, Walter, was born. They then bought a house on Egleston St. in Kalamazoo and lived upstairs and rented the downstairs portion. During this time, Dorothy's mother died. They also continued to renovate the house at 1930 Cork St. having the painting done by Harry Marlette in exchange for their cow.
In this late depression time, Truman worked as a carpenter, finding work for a while in Alabama and later at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was called for service in WW II but failed the physical in Detroit because of a grapefruit-size goiter he had at the time. From the time they moved to 2002 East Cork Street until some time after the second World War, they always had a pen of chickens and at least one cow. Truman built a small barn and chicken coop for the animals and provided most of their care. The cow provided milk and enough butter to have excess which was sold to neighbors. Hand churning several gallons of cream was a task often performed by the children. After the butterfat had coagulated, it was extracted from the buttermilk with cheese cloth and formed into one-pound pats. It was then stored in a large, old, commercial-style chest freezer in the basement. The buttermilk was bottled for drinking. Often the cow was bred for a calf which was used for meat for the family. The chickens provided eggs and were also eaten. Before chicken feeds were supplemented with vitamins and minerals, eggs shells were saved, baked, ground, and mixed with their feed. The baking operation produced a stench usually sufficient to drive the family from the house.
During this time, the early 1940s, Truman acquired an exterminating company from ____ Barker. Dorothy had dated the Barker's son, ____, until he died of a floor burn from playing basketball. They remained close and when ____ Barker wanted to retire from his business, he offered it to Truman. Truman renamed it "Gilbert's Exterminating Service" and operated it out of the family home. This entailed storing hundreds of pounds of DDT, canisters of other poisons, and carboys of sulphuric acid in the workshop building that Truman built about 50 feet behind the house. Fortunately, no accidents ever occurred with these materials except the time when someone who was assisting in the preparation for a fumigation opened a carboy of acid while standing down wind-the vapors ate large holes in his pants. Occasionally, when explaining his father's occupation at "show and tell" in school, one of the children would take a small can of pyrethrin and describe how it was used. Then, with the class thoroughly impressed by the toxicity of the material, he would eat a pinch of it, much to the horror of the teacher and class. It would then be explained that pyrethrin is harmless to humans.
After the war, Truman returned to carpentry and built several houses in the Kalamazoo area, including one for his sister, Iva Mohl, and her husband. The shop building was often used to make items for these homes, usually those requiring finer woodworking. This shop was about 20' by 24' and had wide workbenches along the two long walls, except for a break at one end for a garage door. A large radial arm saw was built into the middle of the complete workbench and there was a small door in the walls at the end of the workbench so the very long lumber could be slid in and cut. The shop also had a fine table saw built of oak by Truman's father, Walter, who, with his wife, had lived in a house built between the main house and the shop. Walter also built a wood lathe and many smaller, specialized hand tools. There was also a drill press. The facilities were such that the children had ample opportunity to learn basic woodworking and other skills. Several go-carts were assembled here, and son Walter used it several times for overhauling automobiles. The shop stood until 197_ when it was dismantled during a family reunion, having degenerated significantly from neglect.
After having been his own contractor and carpenter for a few years, Truman went to work for the Ray Stevens Construction Company as their field superintendent. In this capacity he supervised the construction of many buildings, schools, churches, etc., in southern Michigan. The company failed in November, 1958, which had a serious physical and psychological effect on Truman. He was unemployed for eight weeks, refusing to apply to the Miller-Davis Construction Company which had forced the Stevens company out of business. However, Miller-Davis eventually offered him a job, which he accepted, because other attempts at finding work had not been fruitful. His annual salary with Stevens had been $11,000, a princely sum at the time, but he was offered only $8,000 by Miller-Davis. They had no work for him for the first several months and then he was sent to various construction sites out of town where he could return home only infrequently. He died of a heart attack while building a Holiday Inn in Danville, Illinois. He did not appear at work on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and was found dead in bed at his rooming house.
His son, Walter, relates the following about the death of his father:
For several months before my father's death, I had the same terrifying dream about twice a week. In it I could see him sleeping in a single bed against a wall in an unfamiliar room with the nitroglycerine pills that he took for his heart condition on the nightstand beside the bed. He awakens at night with severe chest pains and reaches for his medication which, due to the darkness and the severity of the pain, he knocks onto the floor. He thinks or says, "Oh dear, damnit!" and dies quickly, being unable to move to retrieve the fallen bottle.
Every time I would have this dream, I would awaken completely shaken, and would not be able to return to sleep for some time. After his death, the dream never recurred.
Truman enjoyed hunting and was active in Little League Baseball with his sons Eugene and Harry. He also enjoyed occasionally playing the piano and had several pieces he played from memory remarkably well considering that he had probably learned them in his childhood and had not practiced them for many years.
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Sources:
* Truman's birth certificate is from Allegan County, Michigan, record 4246, local file number vol. 7, p. 332, date of record, April 11, 1911: Truman J. Gilbert was born March 17, 1911, male, white, in Dorr, Mich. His father was Walter Gilbert of Dorr, Mich., born in Mich.; occupation Farmer. His mother was Rose Judson of Dorr, Mich. born in Mich..
* Walter Gilbert
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Sources |
- [S600] Walter Gilbert, Gilbert, Walter, (Walter Gilbert: 3941 Perry Hall Road; Perry Hall, Maryland, USA; 1128-9751; http://www.otal.umd.edu/~walt/gen/htmfile/frames.htm).
- [S543] Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) (Reliability: 2), 24 Mar 2022.
Memorial ID 97482645
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97482645
Walter Josiah Gilbert
Birth 4 Dec 1871
Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA
Death 6 Aug 1955 (aged 83)
Galesburg, Kalamazoo County, Michigan, USA
Burial
Winchester Cemetery
Byron Center, Kent County, Michigan, USA
Son of Truman Gilbert 1827 ? 1919 and Henrietta P Robins 1834 ? 1908.
1900: Byron, Kent, Michigan
Truman Gilbert 73
Henrietta P Gilbert 65
Walter J Gilbert 28 Dec 1871
Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952:
Name: Rose Judson
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age: 26
Birth Year: abt 1875
Birth Place: Byron Tp M
Marriage Date: 14 Feb 1901
Marriage Place: Byron Center, Kent, Michigan, USA
Residence Place: Byron Tp, Michigan
Father: W Judson
Mother: Mary Mc Kenney
Spouse: Walter J Gilbert
Contributor: Stasiu (49754129)
1910: Dorr, Allegan, Michigan
Walter J Gilbert 38
Rose Gilbert 34
Raymond C Gilbert 8
Ina A Gilbert 6
Iva M Gilbert 3
1920: Wayland, Allegan, Michigan
Walter Gilbert 48
Rose Gilbert 44
Raymond Gilbert 17
Ina Gilbert 15
Iva Gilbert 13
Truman Gilbert 8
1930: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Walter J Gilbert 58 MI
Rose Gilbert 54 MI
Iva Gilbert 23
Truman Gilbert 19
1940: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Street: Hawley Street
House Number: 722
Farm: No
Inferred Residence in 1935: Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Walter Gilbert 68
Rose Gilbert 34
Raymond Gilbert 38
Thelma Gilbert 34
Jacqueline Gilbert 13
Raymond Gilbert 11
Walter Gilbert 3
Name: Walter Josiah Gilbert
Birth Date: 4 Dec 1871
Birth Place: Michigan
Death Date: 6 Aug 1955
Death Place: Galesburg, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Burial Date: 9 Aug 1955
Burial Place: Kenty County, Michigan
Cemetery Name: Winchester Cemetery
Death Age: 83
Occupation: Cabinet Maker
Race: White
Marital Status: Married
Gender: Male
Street Address: 2002 East Cork St.
Residence: Kalamazoo Typ, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Father Name: Truman Gilbert
Mother Name: Henrietta Robins
FHL Film Number: 2113660
Researched by Ted Smith
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