In Memoriam - Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr.
Frank joined our Galbraith Clan in 1984 as member 232 and died on
February 18, 2001. He was born in New Jersey in 1911, fifth of twelve
children to Frank Sr. and Lillian Moller Gilbreth, the developers of the
principals of time and motion studies. Son Frank was a prolific writer
with a dozen books (four New York Times Best-Sellers) to his credit as
well as serving as Vice President of the Evening Post and Assistant
publisher to the Post and Courier, newspapers covering Charleston, South
Carolina. He penned his best-known book in 1949 with sister Ernestine
"Cheaper by the Dozen", which was adapted by 20th Century Fox to film in
1950.
See Obituary, click here
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Frank's mother Dr. Lillian Evelyn Moller Gilbreth, of German descent,
was the more famous of his parents. Father Frank had died in 1924 (born
in Maine in 1868) and Lillian put her eleven children (one died young)
through college. She was honored on a US postage stamp. In 1948 Lillian
was Time Magazine's 'Man' of the Year for her evolving efforts to
improve the efficiency of many processes and for her many patented
kitchen appliances: e.g., redesigned refrigerator doors with shelves,
and butter and egg keepers, the electric mixer, the trashcan with
foot-pedal lid-opener, etc.
Many of son Frank's books were
autobiographical. His 1950 Belles on Their Toes also became a movie, in
1952. In 1994, at age 83, he published Ancestors of the Dozen which was
the basis for our family history on him. A major portion of his history
relies on an 1864 letter prepared by his great grandfather Benjamin
Gilbreth, born 23 September 1783. (Relation Deborah L Galbraith, #1117,
provided the typed copy for our November 2012 Red Tower.) The letter
refers to Benjamin's conversations with Father Patrick who gives his
parents as John Galbraith and Mary Stuart, born around 1705 and lived
near Stirling Castle Scotland. Patrick (born in 1739, as Peter) in 1765
settled in the extreme NW of County Antrim Ireland at Ballywillin co.
Antrim. This is at Portrush where he spent seven years in the millwright
trade before arriving in 1773 Pennsylvania and then moving on to Maine.
Patrick joined the American cause and was taken prisoner at the Battle
of Brandywine, confined to a prison ship in New York harbor, transported
to Halifax Nova Scotia, inducted into the English Army, stole a boat and
came to Maine, married Mary Allen and had eight children. The first son
John in 1782 after his Scot father, second was Benjamin in 1883-Frank's
great grandfather. The fifth was Isaac in 1795, only noted by Frank but
discussed in detail in our August 2014 Red Tower, pages 94-96, as a
gigantic blacksmith, veteran of the War of 1812, in 1826 the first white
non-Spanish settler in California, last reported in 1829. Benjamin
married Betsy Weld Carr and Frank's history continued with John Hiram
Gilbreth of Maine (1833-1871), who had the son Frank Bunker, Senior, as
above.
Our member Frank died several years before our DNA test
program began and we assumed that his early John was of DNA Group 1, as
ancestor John resided a few miles north of Culcreuch Castle. Our search
for a willing male descendant took over two years. We had a couple
female descendants as members, but their male Galbraith relatives
refused. We thank Ann Marie Nicolich (our member #1199, aka Nicols) for
alerting us to the existence of a blood relation via a cousin of her
in-laws, then negotiating and finally, assisting with the kit cost
(along with Chris Galbreath, #890, and the Clan). The DNA was a match
for our Group 7! We have about 50 members in Group 7 and most are from
Argyllshire, largely the Isle of Gigha. Frank has six relatives as
members who would have begun in Stirling. There are three other members
from Campsie, just east of Culcreuch, but they began nearly a century
later and might be connected. Group 7 also has members traced to 1750
from the Knapdale Peninsula of Argyll, which include cousins of
economist and Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith (his member son Jamie
#969). The chances are good that the various subgroups all came Frank's
earlier ancestors.
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