Child of Nathaniel Squire Gilmer and Mary Virginia Myers and husband of (marriage #1) Minerva Alice Smith and of (marriage #2) Ethel Ellis.
Married Minerva on February 10, 1914 in Albion, Boone County, Nebraska.
Child of John and Ethel: Virginia
Message from Judy Fowler dated October 17, 2011:
John Earl Gilmer died on the French Front, not in Albion as the web site says. He was older, around 29, so he really did not have to join and go off to war, but it was the popular thing to do, plus he heard someone say they thought he might try to use the fact that he was going to be a dad to get out of the war.
His company had several slow starts with all kinds of illnesses that slowed them down on getting to the war and he was afraid it would be over before he got there. He wrote a letter to his brother three days before he died. He had scraps of paper only to write on and asked how they liked his fancy French stationary. I am sure he wrote his wife too, but her second husband threw out all his letters.
When my Grandfather died he was training some others on how to shoot. A rifle misfired and he knew that all four of them standing there would be killed or he could knock the gun down from the soldier firing it, quickly throwing himself on it so only one died instead of all four. He got lots of awards from both the French and American Armies and his company had a yearbook they dedicated to him.
After the war the Smith Family asked my Grandmother if they could bring him back to the states and bury him next to his first wife. The first wife had slipped and fell on the ice and snow causing her to miscarry their child and then she also died.
His second wife, Ethel (Minter) Ellis, is buried in Allen, Nebraska and his only child is Virgina Gilmer Johnson and she is almost 94.
Married Minerva on February 10, 1914 in Albion, Boone County, Nebraska.
Child of John and Ethel: Virginia
Message from Judy Fowler dated October 17, 2011:
John Earl Gilmer died on the French Front, not in Albion as the web site says. He was older, around 29, so he really did not have to join and go off to war, but it was the popular thing to do, plus he heard someone say they thought he might try to use the fact that he was going to be a dad to get out of the war.
His company had several slow starts with all kinds of illnesses that slowed them down on getting to the war and he was afraid it would be over before he got there. He wrote a letter to his brother three days before he died. He had scraps of paper only to write on and asked how they liked his fancy French stationary. I am sure he wrote his wife too, but her second husband threw out all his letters.
When my Grandfather died he was training some others on how to shoot. A rifle misfired and he knew that all four of them standing there would be killed or he could knock the gun down from the soldier firing it, quickly throwing himself on it so only one died instead of all four. He got lots of awards from both the French and American Armies and his company had a yearbook they dedicated to him.
After the war the Smith Family asked my Grandmother if they could bring him back to the states and bury him next to his first wife. The first wife had slipped and fell on the ice and snow causing her to miscarry their child and then she also died.
His second wife, Ethel (Minter) Ellis, is buried in Allen, Nebraska and his only child is Virgina Gilmer Johnson and she is almost 94.
Child of Nathaniel Squire Gilmer and Mary Virginia Myers and husband of (marriage #1) Minerva Alice Smith and of (marriage #2) Ethel Ellis.
Married Minerva on February 10, 1914 in Albion, Boone County, Nebraska.
Child of John and Ethel: Virginia
Message from Judy Fowler dated October 17, 2011:
John Earl Gilmer died on the French Front, not in Albion as the web site says. He was older, around 29, so he really did not have to join and go off to war, but it was the popular thing to do, plus he heard someone say they thought he might try to use the fact that he was going to be a dad to get out of the war.
His company had several slow starts with all kinds of illnesses that slowed them down on getting to the war and he was afraid it would be over before he got there. He wrote a letter to his brother three days before he died. He had scraps of paper only to write on and asked how they liked his fancy French stationary. I am sure he wrote his wife too, but her second husband threw out all his letters.
When my Grandfather died he was training some others on how to shoot. A rifle misfired and he knew that all four of them standing there would be killed or he could knock the gun down from the soldier firing it, quickly throwing himself on it so only one died instead of all four. He got lots of awards from both the French and American Armies and his company had a yearbook they dedicated to him.
After the war the Smith Family asked my Grandmother if they could bring him back to the states and bury him next to his first wife. The first wife had slipped and fell on the ice and snow causing her to miscarry their child and then she also died.
His second wife, Ethel (Minter) Ellis, is buried in Allen, Nebraska and his only child is Virgina Gilmer Johnson and she is almost 94.
Married Minerva on February 10, 1914 in Albion, Boone County, Nebraska.
Child of John and Ethel: Virginia
Message from Judy Fowler dated October 17, 2011:
John Earl Gilmer died on the French Front, not in Albion as the web site says. He was older, around 29, so he really did not have to join and go off to war, but it was the popular thing to do, plus he heard someone say they thought he might try to use the fact that he was going to be a dad to get out of the war.
His company had several slow starts with all kinds of illnesses that slowed them down on getting to the war and he was afraid it would be over before he got there. He wrote a letter to his brother three days before he died. He had scraps of paper only to write on and asked how they liked his fancy French stationary. I am sure he wrote his wife too, but her second husband threw out all his letters.
When my Grandfather died he was training some others on how to shoot. A rifle misfired and he knew that all four of them standing there would be killed or he could knock the gun down from the soldier firing it, quickly throwing himself on it so only one died instead of all four. He got lots of awards from both the French and American Armies and his company had a yearbook they dedicated to him.
After the war the Smith Family asked my Grandmother if they could bring him back to the states and bury him next to his first wife. The first wife had slipped and fell on the ice and snow causing her to miscarry their child and then she also died.
His second wife, Ethel (Minter) Ellis, is buried in Allen, Nebraska and his only child is Virgina Gilmer Johnson and she is almost 94.
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