Dora Isabelle (Green) Gillespie Pulliam Johnston - Week 7, #52 Ancestors

This week's prompt is "outcast," and while I'm not sure this ancestor necessarily fits the exact definition of an outcast, I've always found it odd that she settled so far away from her family for most of her life, only to return to her hometown when there was no one left.

Dora Isabelle Green was the second daughter of Thomas J. Green and Ann Elizabeth Echols.  Her birthdate is uncertain.  While the 1860 census lists her as being 2 years old, most other documents place her year of birth as 1860.  By 1870, Dora's parents have divorced, and Thomas has married a young widow, Harriet Youngblood. Interestingly, Dora is listed in the 1870 census as living with her father and Harriet, but she is also listed as living with her mother, Ann, and sister, Emma Kate. In 1873, Ann marries Benjamin Everett Pearson, and the next year, Dora's sister marries one of Benjamin Everett's sons.  In 1876, Ann gives birth to Dora's half-sister, Virginia.

I could speculate about what happens next, I suppose.  Dora's father has had a son with his second wife, and Dora's only full sibling has married and moved to Virginia.  Perhaps Dora, a young, unmarried woman, is left with the unenviable task of looking after her half-siblings.  Perhaps she doesn't get along with her new stepfather and/or new stepmother. The only thing that is certain is that in October of 1877, Dora marries Henry C. Gillespie in Rock Island County, Illinois - about 400 miles northwest of where she's lived her entire life.  

The Rock Island Argus, 20 Oct. 1877

The most reasonable explanation was that Dora was visiting her Aunt Louisiana Adams when she fell in love, but I find it odd that the article mentions Mr. A. A. Adams (her uncle by marriage) but not Dora's parents.  At any rate, in 1880, Dora and Henry are still in the Rock Island area, and a single son is born to them in December, Lawrence Henry Gillespie.  

Though I have never found a divorce record for Henry and Dora, Henry marries Jennie Williamson in 1884, and Dora marries William Pulliam in 1883.  At some point, that marriage fails, too, because Dora marries John Johnston in Algonquin, Illinois, in 1895.  What she did between 1883 and 1895 is a mystery.  There is no census, and I have been unable to find any newspaper clippings related to this time of her life.  Why, as a single woman with a small child, did she not return to her family in southern Illinois?  Her sister had returned to Pulaski County, Illinois, from Virginia and married another Pearson cousin, and her father was still living in the area. Furthermore, Rock Island to McHenry County, Illinois is no mean trip for the late 1800s - about 150 miles.  How/why did she travel that distance?

In 1898, Dora's father dies.  There is no mention of Dora or her sister in Thomas's obituary.  Only the surviving children of his marriage to Harriet are named.  

However, if Mr. John Johnston's obituary was a true account of his life, Dora had a peaceful and comfortable 12 years until his death in 1907.  He must have left her a significant amount of money because she purchases a milk and creamery business in 1908 and runs it in partnership with her son.

The Herald, 16 July 1908

The 1910 census finds Dora living with a cousin by the last name of Shearer.  I don't have anyone by that name in my tree, but I have not fully fleshed out Aunt Louisiana's family, so my best guess is that this cousin is one of Louisiana's children.  In any case, Dora is working as a cashier in a dry goods store.  Lawrence Gillespie and family don't live far away, and I find it strange that Dora does not live with them.

In 1917, Dora's only full sibling, Emma Kate Pearson, dies.  There is no indication in the obituary that Dora attended the funeral.

By 1918, if not earlier, Dora has relocated back to Rock Island County and is working as a servant in the Watertown State Hospital.  This information is corroborated in a 1918 city directory and Lawrence's WWI Draft Registration Card.  Lawrence and his wife, Rachel, have divorced.  She remarried in 1917 and Lawrence apparently decided to try his luck in New York while leaving his 60 year old mother to try her luck as a domestic worker.  Dora is still working there on the 1920 census.

Who knows what transpires between 1920 and 1930, but by 1930, Dora has made the long trek "home" to Pulaski County, Illinois. She is living with her uncle by marriage, Horace A. Hannon and also her son, Lawrence Gillespie.

A few brief mentions in The Pulaski Enterprise in 1938 tell us all that is apparently worth knowing of the last few days of Dora's life, concluding with her death on December 4th:

SENT TO ANNA

Dora Johnson, 78 years of age, an invalid at Olmstead, who is practically without home or kinfolks and who has been cared for by household aid and pension, was sent to Anna yesterday.  She was one of the sorry pictures of old age, neglected and without family.

MRS. DORA JOHNSON

Mrs. Dora Johnson, 78, who was taken to the State Hospital in Anna Thursday, died at the hospital Sunday morning.  She is survived by one son, Lawrence Gillespie, of Olmstead, four grandchildren and other relatives. The body was removed Monday afternoon to Olmstead, where services were held Tuesday afternoon in the M. E. Church South.  Interment was made in the Masonic Cemetery.