So here are all the places I went to today: the Dutchess County Genealogical Society Research Library, the Adriance Memorial Library, the DC County Clerk and the DC Surrogate Court - all these in Poughkeepsie, then off to the Pleasant Valley Historical Society where a volunteer on oxygen agreed to come meet me (!!!), and finally to the Blodgett Memorial Library where I decided to stop on a pure whim, and who should be there only from 2-7 p.m ONLY on Thursdays but the local town historian. OMG did I have fun talking to her. AND she was able to explain a whole lot to me about Dutchess County township lines as well as church affiliations. I explained to her that I couldn't quite understand why I was suddenly finding Greer's in Dutch Reformed Church Records when I know they were Presbyterian and she said because those churches are basically the same in the catechism and that people back then as well as today went/go between them with no trouble. She said she herself was raised Presbyterian but currently attends a Reformed Church. So this is very interesting, and gives me hope that the Greer's (or GRIER as the earlier spelling seems to be) found in Reformed Church Records might indeed be ours.
I found a whole lot of things today that are noteworthy, but not much earth-shaking and so I will probably post more in-depth details on my Gillespie-Greer blog page when I get home. However, there was one thing that made my pulse pick up. When going through a publication called "Vital Records of the Presbyterian Church of Pleasant Valley", I found the following: a child named Jane, born 4 Aug 1812, baptized 23 Apr 1816, parents Robert and Nancy Greer. Also on 1 May 1814 is a confirmation for Nancy Grier.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
To remind some, the family story that was passed down was that two Gillespie sisters married two Greer brothers and they emigrated to America. James Greer and his wife Jane Gillespie Greer definitely represent one of those couples, and they are among the pioneers who we know came from New York and then migrated to Michigan where they lived out their lives. We know that Jane Gillespie had a sister named Nancy, who also ended up in Michigan, and we know from Nancy's probate records that she had a daughter named Mary Greer, and thus we can assume that Nancy's first husband was a GREER, AND this couple obviously qualifies as the second Gillespie-Greer couple. But we have never known who the mystery Greer was, Nancy's first husband. I would have bet money based on naming patterns that we were looking for a Thomas Greer, but Noooooooooooooo. I think our mystery Greer was Robert. And they had a child named Jane who apparently did not survive.
So maybe this is the one tiny clue I was hoping to find, although I can still wish to find a few more. It occurs to me there was a Robert Greer who could be found in the Fishkill area in the decades after everybody else left for Michigan and it then occurred to me today that maybe Nancy's first husband didn't die as we have presumed but rather their marriage was divorced. Unfortunately I was nowhere close to any place I might hunt for such information, but that can be added to a list of something to check. Suffice it to say I have been madly looking for any other mentions of a Robert and/or Nancy Greer, and so far nada. After all, a clue is only a clue. Be careful what you ask for, right? :-)
I will end by saying that I am spending the night in New Windsor, NY, which meant crossing the Hudson again, going west at sunset. I cannot remember when I last saw a sunset that breathtaking - it was stupendous, even magical setting over the hills - or do they call those things mountains here? Hmmm, yes, looking it up, it seems some rise to 750 feet at Newburgh. Well, even if not the Rockies, the sight which I imagine the ancestors sharing was stunning.
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