I was able to find very little about Rebecca Miller Gailbraith/Gailbreath, the fourth daughter of Robert and Agnes Miller but count myself lucky to find what I did. Hopefully, someone who finds my website over the internet will be able to add more information about this family. I was able to uncover the family on the 1820, 1830, and 1840 Census records from Jefferson Twp., Jefferson Co., Kentucky which is in the same county as Louisville, Kentucky. Since this is so close to where Rebecca's two sisters (Jane Miller Biggs and Mary Miller Cairns) lived just across the Ohio River in Indiana, I am betting they had family get-togethers at times.
On the 1820 Census only Joseph Gailbreath is found with his family.
There is a male and female who fit the ages of Joseph and Rebecca.
The 1830 Census taken in that same area shows Joseph, and 3 of their son's
families all living next to each other. Robert (named after Rebecca's
father), Alexander H. and George L.
Gailbreath. I do not know what has happened to their oldest son, William but
there is a William Gailbreath who matches his age and who dies in 1851 in
Jackson Co., Tennessee. Joseph Gailbreath dies in 1832 so he no longer shows up on
any census record after 1830. I could not
find Rebecca again for surety, who is said to have died in 1864, but she may
have lived with one of her sons or daughters who have married again under a
different name.
I also believe that Joseph Gailbreath was born in Pennsylvania (However, it
is impossible for me to prove that ) as I found a
William Gailbraith living
in Washington Co., Pennsylvania on the 1790 Census. Washington County is just 15 miles
west of Sewickley Twp. in Westmoreland County, PA where Rebecca Miller lived.
It is not too far-fetched to imagine how they could have become acquainted.
Both came from reformed Presbyterian families. Another clue is that they
name their first born son William, a common custom those days. Looking at
the names of their own children on the former page you can see a daughter named Nancy which is
the English diminutive for Agnes. Until I found that out, I have
long wondered why
none of Robert and Agnes' children named any of their daughters, "Agnes".
But
several name one of their daughters, "Nancy".
I did find the following story about one of their sons,
Robert.
It is an odd story but has a but true ring. Robert and his wife Mary, carry on the family
tradition by naming their first born son Joseph (after his father) and
their first born daughter, Rebecca (after his mother). I also found Robert
listed on the 1850 and 1860 census living in the suburban area of Louisville. Their
son Joseph is listed in 1860 as an "Attorney" and living with what looks
like is own family in the same
household as his father, Robert .
A History of Kentucky Baptists From 1769 to 1885, Including More Than 800
Biographical Sketches,
J. H. Spencer, Manuscript Revised and Corrected by Mrs. Burilla B. Spencer,
In Two Volumes.
Printed For the Author. 1886.
Republished By Church History Research & Archives 1976 Lafayette, Tennessee.
Vol. 2, pages 180-181.
ROBERT GAILBREATH was of Irish extraction, and was born in Westmoreland
County, Penn., 1791. His parents
moved to Kentucky when he was about eight years old.
Being fond of study, he acquired, with few advantages from schools, a
very fair English education. He
was raised up in a Presbyterian church, but when he obtained evidence of his
conversion, a candid examination of the subject of baptism led him to accept
Baptist views. He united with
old Beargrass Church, not from 1817.
He was licensed to exercise his preaching gift, in 1819, and having
been sufficiently proved, he was ordained to the pastoral care of Little
Flock church in Bullitt County, by Moses Pierson, George Waller, Ben. Allen
and Z. Carpenter, April 24, 1824.
In 1827, Mr. Gailbreath gathered a small church called Fishpool, some four
miles North of Little Flock. Of
this new organization, also, he was chosen pastor, having, for the sake of
convenience, given his membership to it.
He was also pastor of the church at Shepherdsville, for a time.
In
1851, he resigned the charge of Little Flock and Fishpool, and moved to
Louisville. This move was
unwise. It took him from a field
of labor in which he was appreciated and loved, and where he had spent the
prime of his life, usefully, and might still have been useful, for years to
come. In the city, he was
comparatively a stranger, he was a country preacher, and there was no demand
for his ministrations. The move
virtually closed his labors, and he spent about thirteen years in idleness,
as far as his holy calling was concerned.
He died at his home in Louisville, August 23, 1864.
Mr. Gailbreath was above medium, as a preacher.
He had considerable poetical genius, which he indulged, for
recreation. He was a man of
unblemished morals, and of faultless Christian deportment.
Allen, Carpenter,
Gailbreath,
Pierson,
Waller
Bullitt, KY, Westmoreland, PA
