Ellen McCree Pallister was the fourth child of John McCree Pallister & Barbara Hall born January 5th,1881 at Ryhope, Co. Durham
In 1881 Ellen (Helen in census), aged 5 months, was living with her parents & 3 brothers at 14 Gibson Terrace, Ryhope
The family were still living at 14 Gibson Terr, Ryhope in 1891 where her father John worked at the colliery as an engineman. Ellen’s 3 older brothers were still at home & there were new additions to the family – Margaret (7), who was noted as blind on the census, Robert S (5) & Dorothy (11 months).
Ellen was still at home at Gibson Terr at the time of the 1901 census.
Ellen lost her mother in 1901 & her father in 1902 which may have been a stimulus for her leaving the country. Aged 21 she left Liverpool on the S.S. Oceanic on November 5th, 1902 sailing to New York. She travelled with her aunt Sarah McCree Pallister who was at that time married to Thomas Simpson. Their final destination was given as Wellsforce, Jackson County, Ohio. Ellen’s uncle Ralph Pallister had emigrated to Ohio in 1881 & her cousin John McCree Pallister (Sarah’s son) had joined his uncle in 1892 in Jackson County.
Ellen married Stephen Lewis Gilliland on April 6th, 1907 in Jackson County, Ohio. Stephen was born March 4th, 1876 in Gallia County, Ohio, the son of Mary Frances Jones & John Gilliland. John was a cement labourer & had been married previously.
In the 1910 census of Coal, Jackson, Ohio, Ellen is listed as Ellen Gilliland, but her husband was not listed with her. She was a housekeeper for the Williams family & she had a 2 year old daughter Barbara. Her aunt Sarah McCree Simpson was listed next to Ellen in the census. Husband Stephen was with his widowed mother, Mary F Gilliland, a washerwoman, at the time of the census in Wellston Ward 3, Jackson, Ohio & had no occupation & was listed as blind. With them was his sister Martha Gilliland & married sister Linnie Linton & her 5 year old son, Stephen.
Stephen’s WW1 registration card of September 12th, 1918 shows that he was totally blind. It gave his wife’s name as ‘Nellie’.
Ellen (listed as Ellen McC Gilliland) was still living Ohio in 1920, now at Jefferson Township, Montgomery County. She was living at the Central Branch of National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers & was described as a waiter. She was still listed as married, although no husband was with her.
There is a death for Steve Gilliland in 1927 who was buried in Ridgewood Cemetery, Wellston, Jackson on June 4th, 1927.
The children of Ellen McCree Pallister and Stephen Lewis Gilliland were:
p.1.6.3.1.1.7.4.1. Barbara Gilliland born c1908 in Jackson, Ohio
p.1.6.3.1.1.7.4.2. Ruth Frances Gilliland born January 29th, 1909 in Jackson, Ohio; died January 20th 1993 in Orange County, Florida
p.1.6.3.1.1.7.4.3. Margaret L. Gilliland born c1915 in Ohio
On June 4th, 1927 Ellen married for the second time. Her second husband was Charles C Constable who was born in Missouri on March 8th 1874, the son of Martha Cain & Isaac DeSilver Sylvester Constable.
The US 1930 & 1940 censuses show Ellen & Charles living in Bath, Greene, Ohio. It was noted in the 1930 census that Ellen’s daughter Margaret L Gilliland (15) was living with them & their address was 54 Xenia Avenue.
Daughter Ruth Frances Gilliland married Harry Lewis in Ohio in the 1920s. After Harry’s death she married Pete Corzetto, a fire inspector, on November 7th, 1946 in Vigo County, Indiana. In 1972 Ruth moved to Orlando, Florida.
Ellen died, aged 76, on August 13th, 1956 at Fairborn, Ohio & was buried at Fairfield Cemetery. Her daughter Ruth Corzetto is commemorated on Ellen’s headstone.
Charles died, aged 85, on June 16th, 1959 at Hannibal, Marion, Missouri & was buried at Grandview Cemetery.