Histories

History of Westmoreland County Volume 3 - Genealogical Memoirs, pgs 394-395

THOMAS M. GALLATIN

Among the representatives of an ancient French family is numbered Thomas M. Gallatin, of East Huntingdon township. The recognized founder of the race was Guillaume Gallatin who, with his wife, Jeannette de Gengins, went from Savoy to Geneva, Switzerland in 1319. The next in line of whom we have any record was Henri Gallatin, who in 1402 married Agnes de Leuthnay, and after whom came the following generations: Jean. Jean (2d), who married Pernette d'Entremants, in 1507. Pierre, who married Jeanne Jordan, in 1539. Marin, who married Elizabeth Mairanneuve Aime, who married Madeline Humbert. Aime (2d), who married Elizabeth Bordier, in 1637. Pierre, who married Jeanne Allion. Jacques, who married Susanna de Chaudens, in 1705. Abraham, who married Anne Pictet and Gaspard.

Abraham Gallatin, son of Gaspard Gallatin, was a resident of Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and was the first member of the family known to have lived in this country. The date of the immigration has not been preserved. Abraham Gallatin served in the war of 1812, and married Christina Snyder, by whom he was the father of a son Daniel, mentioned hereafter. Mr. Gallatin was a man of a roving disposition and travelled much. When last heard of he was in South America, where he is supposed to have died.

Daniel Gallatin, son of Abraham and Christina (Snyder) Gallatin, was born in 1794, in Fayette county, and in 1846 moved to Westmoreland county, settling in East Huntingdon township, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Disciple church. Mr. Gallatin married a Miss Wade, who bore him a daughter and two sons: Mary, deceased, Abraham, who in early life was engaged in boating; later he went to California where for eighteen years he was a gold-miner, becoming the owner of an extensive ranch, and where he died. John, who was a farmer and mechanic, and died in Westmoreland county. After the death of his wife Mr. Gallatin married Jane, daughter of Oliver and Margaret (Kerr) Montgomery, and the following children were born to them: Samuel, deceased. Adam, deceased. Caroline, deceased. Sophia, widow of Ira Hutchinson, of this county. Jane, who became the wife of Dr. Nathan Barnett, and is now deceased. Albert, who served three years in the army during the civil war as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. At the battle of Fredericksburg, he received a wound in the foot which resulted in tetanus, or lockjaw, from which he recovered, this being the first cure of that disease on record on the army that recovered. He is now a farmer in Carroll county, Ohio. Thomas M., mentioned hereafter. Mr. Gallatin, the father, died in 1857.

Thomas M. Gallatin, son of Daniel and Jane (Montgomery) Gallatin, was born May 24, 1842, in Caledonia, Putnam county, Illinois, and was educated in the common schools of Westmoreland county. He adopted as his own the calling of a farmer, which he has followed very successfully. About 1870 he purchased the old homestead of sixty acres and there made his home until 1889, when he bought the farm which he now occupies. This estate consists of eighty-three and one-half acres and on it he has made many valuable improvements, erecting most of the buildings. Politically he is a Democrat, and in religious belief a Presbyterian, being a member and trustee of the church which he attends. Mr. Gallatin is one of those who responded to the call for defenders of the Union. In August, 1864, he enlisted in Company K, Two Hundred and Eleventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and on November 17, 1864, was taken prisoner near Bermuda Hundred and consigned to Libby prison where he remained three weeks.He was then removed to Salisbury, North Carolina, where he was held until February 22, 1865, when he was paroled. On June 20, 1865, he was mustered out of service.

Mr. Gallatin married, January 17, 1867, in Jackson county, Missouri, Sarah, daughter of Frank A. and Susan (Bayliss) Yocum, and they were the parents of the following children: Pearl, wife of A. S. Walter, of this county, and have one child, William E. Walter. Arthur S., a farmer of Trumbull county, Ohio, married Ella Lowe, and has one child, Russell O. Gallatin. Quinn, a farmer on the homestead, married Sarah M. Smith, and has two children: Clarence V. and Arthur O. Gallatin. Gail, wife of R. L. Robb, a farmer of Trumbull county, Ohio and has two children: Arthur Lee and Robert Robb. Mrs. Gallatin, the mother of the family, died September 28, 1897, at the age of fifty-seven.

John W. Jordan, Ed. and John N. Boucher, History of Westmoreland County Volume 3 - Genealogical Memoirs, Lewis Publishing Co., NY 1906