Gamble Family Reunion

My Grandpa Neill "Bo" Gamble gave me this photo of the William Neill Gamble farmhouse where he grew up near St. Vincent, Minnesota. His mother, Lillie Maud Griffith Gamble has written on the back: "According to size Kathleen & Frances in the back row. Kathleen has her hands on Wilhelmina's shoulders. May below Frances and Neill in front of Wilhelmina. Taken when Jean was a few days old." (My Grandpa Bo added FALL 1914.) - Posted by Lori Kohut Bianco

As many long-time readers know, I serialized an important part of local history on this blog - the Gamble Family Letters. It's rare such documents survive, and being able to share them here with the public was an incredible honor.

The descendants of that family will once again be gathering for a family reunion this summer in Hallock, MN. They have roots in our area that they deeply appreciate, and I will be attending the reunion to meet more of the family. It's exciting to be reaching back through the sharing of our common heritage while at the same time realizing and appreciating where it's taken us!

While local history has a very special place in my heart, so does genealogy. Lori wrote this week to say they had exciting family history news, and it was tied directly to an early St. Vincent settler:

Exciting news on the genealogy front to report...Alice Edkins Jablonski - a cousin descended from Elizabeth Gamble Griffith, sister of William Neill Gamble (who will be attending the reunion) - has made contact with a distant cousin in Scotland, via some Internet genealogy message boards! His name is William (Billy) Irvine, & his ancestor, Samuel Gamble, was the chief police inspector in the city of Dundee and the brother of our ancestor, Alexander Gamble. He has promised to dig up some information to send us.

...we e-mailed him a copy of one of the photos...from Dorothy Griffith - the one from the photography studio in Dundee - & he has confirmed that it is of Samuel Gamble & his family.