John and family arrived within a week of when the US Civil War started at Fort Sumpter on April 12th. Can you imagine their thoughts? After spending their whole life in Scotland, scraping out a living as farmers and servants, they finally take the huge step of emigrating to the land of freedom and opportunity and a better life for their children. But as soon as they step off the boat, they discover that their new country has started what would become a horrible four-year long civil war. But there's no going back for them.
I was able to find their immigration record because John's daughters Isabelle and Janet Bell give 1861 as their immigration date in the 1900 census. Janet Bell's obituary further states that she immigrated in April, 1861.
According to Janet Bell Gilchrist's obituary, the family came on to Iowa in 1861. Perhaps they stopped to visit John's son David who had settled in New York State before coming on west. Arriving in Iowa John and Janet Bell, at least, joined the North English Christian Church, also in 1861.
The first list of members of the North English Christian Church which was made in February 1864 shows John and Jannette as charter members.
John Gilchrist's farm in Iowa was in the far northeast corner of Keokuk County, in English River Township (the N. 1/2 of the SE quarter of Section 1 --- 80 acres).
The family of John Gilchrist and Margaret Rome is relatively straightforward to assemble from the Kirkpatrick Fleming parish registers. With several different John Gilchrists in this family, it is a little more difficult to know that it is this John who fathered Isabelle by Rachel McKee and married Rachel Goodridge in Iowa. The key to this seems to be the 1880 census entry for John's widow, Rachel (Goodridge) in English River township, Keokuk County, Iowa. This lists the following Gilchrists and relationships: Rachel, 71, widow; James, 52, stepson; Isabel, 21, stepdau., Rachel Ann, 1, stepdau. (Rachel Ann, later census records show, is actually a daughter of Isabelle, thus a step-grand-daughter to the widow Rachel.) The age of James in that census fits John's son James. And if Isabel (whose age fits the daughter of Rachel McKee) is Rachel Goodridge's stepdaughter, then this John is her father. We also know that the widow Rachel in 1880 isn't Rachel McKee because this widow Rachel was born in Pennsylvania, not Scotland.
John's middle initial of J. comes from his heir list after his death. The initial `J' is given nearly several times in that, except once where it is given as `G', apparently a typo. The heir list includes Rachel 68, Peter 55, Jane 52, James 51, David 49, Janette Bell Simons 37, John 35, and Isabella 19.
Sources for this individual: @S237@ @S238@ @S239@ @S240@ @S106@ @S33@ @S241@ @S996@
