Those “brick walls” that confound genealogists sometimes offer tiny holes through which one can snatch a bit of family history that is both surprising and unexpected. It might not be as exhilarating as bounding over those obstacles in a single leap, but it’s still rewarding!
Such was the case last spring when I received an e-mail from a gent named Glenn Gealy, who lives in Maryland. He had happened across our Galey-Miller website on Rootsweb.
“An interesting coincidence,” he wrote, that “Bernard Galey died in my hometown of Gordon Nebraska in 1995. I believe this family originated in Lancaster Co. PA about 1750 (Benjamin Galey, of Little Britain Twp, who died 1777), moved to Kentucky, then to Montgomery Co., Indiana. I would like to correspond with you. Glenn”
I was hooked. Many years earlier, I had come across a newspaper article about a “Gealy” family in Sheridan County, Nebraska. Intriguing as it was, I was confident that there was no relationship to “my” Galey family of Dawes County. It appears my confidence…..again…..was misplaced.
I had known for many years that our Galey ancestors had arrived in Dawes County from Missouri and – before that – Indiana. All of a sudden, it seemed that there just might be a relationship between the Gealys of Gordon and the Galeys of Whitney.
But then the story got even weirder.
In later correspondence with Glenn Gealy, he dropped a bombshell: “Having lived in Chadron – did you know of Gealy William Mathis, otherwise known as ‘Gealy Bill’? He is my father’s second cousin”
As Karen’s cousin Kenny Kritenbrink would say, “Who’d-a-thunk it?”
Know him?!?! Anyone living in or around Chadron, Nebraska, during the last half of the 20th century knew Gealy Mathis. Gealy was something of a “renaissance man.” He was an able individual with the instincts of a survivor. Born on a farm in Sheridan County, he grew up in the country and graduated from school in Clinton, Nebraska, got married and went in to the Navy, landing in Chadron after the service.
I remember him as a long-time employee of the once vibrant Chadron Milling Company. Those were the days when there were three major employers in Chadron: the railroad, the mill, and the college. Gealy ultimately became manger of the mill, but then it burned down. Chadron Milling was devastated not by just one fire – but two.
Doubtless, Gealy loved the community and was committed to remain there and raise his family, even after fire had snatched away his livelihood. He ran the Texaco bulk plant and service station for a while, and then became manager of the Ideal supermarket. Then he became service manager for the Chevrolet garage, and then parts manager for the Ford garage.
A member of the Chadron Volunteer Fire Department for more than 40 years, Gealy was Fire Chief for over 20 years. Involved in so many civic and community organizations, it was no surprise that he was handily elected Dawes County Clerk in 1974 – a job he held until he retired in 1986.
The week after Glen Gealy wrote to me about his uncle “Gealy Bill” in Chadron, we received the news about Gealy Mathis’ death. The Chadron Record posted his obituary on-line.
Of Gealy’s family, I know his son Jerry best. Although we went to separate schools – I was a “Cardinal” and he was a long-time “Junior Eagle,” – he was my age and we often competed in sporting events.
During those high school years, Jerry and I dated a couple of girls who were best friends: Shelley and Karen. And all the while, Jerry and Karen were likely shirt-tail "cousins."
Who’d-a-thunk it?
We didn’t.
