Hi! I'm looking for my GGGrandfather

[CGillman]

I am so thankful I found this forum because I am stuck. ... Just like everyone else all the way back to the person I'm looking for.
Here is what I know about GGGrandfather:
Name - Joseph Gillman
Country Of Birth - France, probably. That's where he was adopted from, anyway.
Born - 1 Sept. 1869 (He was an orphan in the 1800's. So I'm not sure how accurate this is.)
Died - April 21 1940 Muscogee, GA
Wife - Hannah Jones

He has a sister. All we know about her is he went back to France to find her or info on her, but the orphanage they were in had burned down. She was potentially adopted in the United States as well. I can't find his birth parents or his adoptive parents which is weird.

[jorose]

Hi there,

Several of the elements of the story strike me as possibly exaggerations, which is not uncommon in these situations.
He may have had a sister, and DNA may help you link to her descendants.
His family may well have been French in origin.
It is extremely unlikely that he was brought from an orphanage in France to the US.

1910 census:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLMR-FWQ
Joseph here is shown as born France around 1874, and came to the US in around 1880, married 11 years at the time of the census

1920 census:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZJC-6VD
Joseph is shown as born around 1872, arrived 1880

1930 census:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:37KS-Q6Z

He is a little vague on his birthdate/arrival and doesn't seem to have naturalised.


I don't think the 1940 death is him, also.  This man was born Russia, and is buried in a Jewish cemetery. His wife Celia is buried in the same cemetery:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939F-MTT1-D?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQJX9-H315&action=view&i=214
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14740165/celia-s-gillman

[Kloumann]

Welcome to Rootschat.

Just to confirm the error in the burial of Joseph Gillman. His wife, Hannah & son Joe are buried in Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery in Godfrey, Georgia. It would be unlikely that Joseph would have been buried in a Jewish Cemetery.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104648766/hannah_gillman

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104649041/joe_gillman

The question is where was he after 1930 & when did he die?

On the 1940 census on April 16th, Hannah is a widow living with her 2 sons

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K7PM-JHK

[Dave Francis]

Joseph was definitely alive in 1925. There's a death certificate on Ancestry for his son, Bill, who was born on 15 Sept 1904 and died on 30 Aug 1925 in North Carolina (apparently as a result of electrocution). The certificate confirms that Joseph Gillman was born in France and that his wife (Bill's mother) was Hannah Jones. Joseph was the informant.

[Dave Francis]

Maybe just a coincidence, but Ancestry also has the birth record for a Joseph Gilmann [note spelling] born 8 March 1873 in Paris (5th district) mother Helene Gillmann.

[Dave Francis]

Born - 1 Sept. 1869 (He was an orphan in the 1800's. So I'm not sure how accurate this is.)
Died - April 21 1940 Muscogee, GA

Dates are both for the other Joseph Gillman.
Census records show that the husband of Hannah Jones was born early- to mid-1870s.

[polarbear]

Hello and welcome from me too.

There are apparently two Joseph Gillmans, one with wife Hannah Jones and the other with wife Celia. Both can be followed through the censuses with their respective families.

I also concur that the Joseph who died in 1940 is not the husband of Hannah. On the the main grave photo on Find a Grave for the Joseph who died in 1940 one can just make out the name Celia on the stone to the right of Joseph’s.

PB

[shellyesq]

There is a 1939 obituary for a Jack Gillman, son of Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Gillman and grandson of Hannah Gillman of Georgia.  https://www.newspapers.com/article/elizabethton-star/156364567/  If that's the right family, it would seem likely that Joseph was deceased (or no longer considered part of the family) before then.

Hannah's obituary does not mention Joseph one way or the other.  https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-constitution-obituary-for-ha/156364708/

[CGillman]

Thank you all. I have had concerns for a long time that some or perhaps all of the story was misinformation.
My grandfather was so invested in finding the ancestry of this man that we would go on road trips to different towns to find out information. Even my great-grandfather spent years on this subject and still nothing.
Part of me wonders if the entire thing was made up to cover something else up (I'm wondering if perhaps he wasn't French, but simply made something up. It would certainly explain some things in the family.)
Thank you all again.