I might be stretching the boundaries of AA history here, if so, I apologize.? I am hoping someone with an interest in and knowledge of Bill's family might be able to shed light on a few items I discovered.
The story had always been told to me that Gilman, Bill's father, took him on a wagon ride up into the mountains and told him, while drunk, that he was leaving and that Bill should take care of his mother and his sister.? And then off he went to British Columbia Canada.? I was somewhat surprised to see that he, Gilman, married his 2nd wife, Christine, in Iowa and not Canada.? On the marriage paperwork it does show Gilman's residence as BC Canada, while Christine's is shown as Westside Iowa.? The marriage was conducted at Christine's parent's house.? The wedding notice indicates that they will make their home at Marblehead, Lardo, BC, Canada after July 8th (Marriage announcement in The Leavenworth Times, 7 June 1914). This makes me wonder how and under what circumstances Gilman met Christine?? Was it in Canada? Was it in Iowa? She had one time been a high school teacher in Leavenworth Kansas, was it there?? Is there anything in Bill's writings that might shed light on this?? I know Bill was not all that close to his father, so he may have never even addressed it.
Which leads me to a second intriguing, to me, point.? It appears from Gilman's obituary that he had a nephew, Milton Bradstreet.? From my research it appears that this was actually Christine's nephew, her sister Annette's son.? Annette and her husband, Eugene Bradstreet, died rather young, separately, but they left Milton parentless at the age of 5. According to Milton (middle name Bock, his mother and aunt's maiden name) Bradstreet's obituary, he was raised by Christine and Gilmon, although their names are misrepresented in the obituary. "Brad (his nickname) was born on March 29th 1907, on a farm in Westside Iowa, but was raised by Christine and William Gillman on a lumber mill in Alberta Canada following the early death of both parents."? I guess my question is did Bill ever make mention of Milton anywhere in his correspondence? Milton lived a long full life until his death in 2001. Makes me wonder how Bill felt about his father not only leaving to start a new family, but raising another boy as his own.??
I understand if these inquiries fall outside the realm of AA history lovers, but I figured why not ask any way and see what happens.? Thank you all.
