Vernon and Helen Gillett Family History recorded in about 1850 by Catherine(Kate) Gardner Cox.

Account regarding Joel Gillett (1778 - 1823) from his granddaughter, Kate (Catherine) Gardner Cox (born 1830 or '32).

Kate's mother was Joel's daughter, Chloa (1797 or '99 - 1870). Chloa married Thomas Gardner in 1818. They had 2 children, Roswell and Catherine . Catherine married Nelson Cox in 1852.

The following is Catherine's account.

Kate's grandfather on her husband's side, Benonia Gardner, and Caleb, his brother, left Scotland in 1730 or near that time and came to U.S. Grandfather Benonia Gardner moved to Pittsburgh, PA. My father, Thomas Gardner, was born there. Then Grandfather moved to Marietta, Washington County, Ohio. Grandfather was a quarrelsome and hard to live with (not a very good man). He put her( my Grandmother Gardner) in a canoe and paddled down the river 10 or 12 miles, then went ashore, put her out and left her and continued paddling on down the river and she never saw him again and she had to walk back to Marietta. She was left with 6 children (4 girls and 2 boys). Uncle Josh was the oldest, Thomas was the youngest. When he was 12 years old, he went to live with Rufus Putman, the son of General Putman. Grandmother lived a few years alone, divorced Genonia Gardner and married Ebenezer Nye. The children were soon all married except Thomas (my father to be).

My mother, Chloa Gillett Gardner was born in Hartford, CT. 14 Dec. 1799. She was born the day Washington died. Grandfather, Joel Gillett, moved to Marietta, Washington County and took a lease land and stayed there (until the) lease ran out. He then moved to Lawrence Co., Oh. He bought 4 lots of land and went to farming. He bought a lot of apple trees from Putman Nursery in Washington, Co. He found graft had not grown but a Natural one had grown in its place. He said to his son Alanson, "Here is an old Democrat, you can have it" and he set it in the corner of a fence and in 2 or 3 years it had 3 large fine red apples. They had never seen such fine apples before. That apple proved to be the famous Rome Beauty grown in the East.

Grandfather Joel Gillett had to borrow $100 from his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Pritchard (husband of Joel's sister, Comfort) to finish paying for his land and grandfather had only paid the interest. A man from Zanesville wanted a load of stones and hoop poles and grandfather furnished them and that was how he intended to pay off his $100 debt. The man took them and never paid. Grandmother had died before this and grandfather had married again and they had 2 children, a boy Elisha and a girl Irene. After he came back and in a short time he took sick and died so his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Pritchard, took all 4 pieces of land for that $100. His brother-in law gave each of his 4 sons a lot of land. He turned Joel's widow and her 2 children outdoors without anything. There was no one to see to them. Aunt Emily (??) was the youngest. She taught school and always made her home with my mother, (Chloa). I was 7 years old then (abt 1837). Father and Mother married Sept 5, 1818. Father was a poor man. He bought 3 lots of land in the Ohio Purchase Company. Cleared 5 acres of land and put up a little log house. He bought a few apple trees from Putman Nursery.

(Above given to Robert L. Lewis Jr. by Fran Van Winkle, 1120 S. Hill, Alvin, TX. Robert L. Lewis Jr. furnished it to Robert V. Gillett in Nov. 1991).