| My grandfather, John Herbert Milton Johnson Gundy, had ten children which have produced numerous descendants, all of which are invited to a Gundy Family Reunion each July to keep his memory alive. On this, his web page, you can link to not only his descendants but to his ancestry, most lines of which are traced to pre-Revolution years, and as far back as the Plymouth Colony. His three middle names reflect some of those lines. I hope you enjoy this page and if you can add to or correct anything found here please contact me. THE GUNDY FAMILY HISTORY Our “immigrant ancestor,” James William "Jim" Gundy worked in the coal mines of Derbyshire England as a boy. Derbyshire is an inland county in the north midlands of England with the city of Derby being the historic “county town”. (Derby is usually pronounced “Darby” which explains the spellings found in the U.S. Census records.) Jim began working, as most boys, picking slate, but worked his way up to miner, assistant bookkeeper, foreman and eventually superintendent of mines, all before he turned 30 years old. At the age of twenty-two he married his sixteen year old girl friend, Mary Jane Watson. We think that they were both Scottish by birth although have no official documents to prove this. They were probably married in Scotland and moved to Derby where Jim found work in the mines. Pigot's Commercial Directory of Derbyshire 1835, lists only one Gundy in all of Derbyshire, a Blacksmith named John Gundy. There were several Watsons in Derby, including three John Watsons: a brewer, a butcher, and a grocer. Birth and marriage records from the early 1800’s exist for most of the parishes of the British Isles but a James Gundy born about 1810 has not been located. There were a few Mary Watsons born about 1816. Mary recorded her own birthdate in the Gundy and Kay Family Bible as October 2, 1816 Like most miners of earlier times, Jim Gundy suffered from “miner's consumption”, now known as “black lung” and needed to get out of the mines to improve his health. His first son,Thomas, was also very ill. In hopes of finding improved health, in 1840, the young, growing Gundy family sailed to America. By this time the family included Jim and Mary and four young sons, Thomas (7), John (5), James Jr. (3) and William (1). To pay for the voyage Gundy may have had to agree to work after arriving in the “land of opportunity” hauling freight over the Alleghenies as far as Frankfort Springs in Beaver County, PA. Settling his family on a farm near Frankfort Springs (Hanover Twp.) Jim continued working as a teamster. He hauled freight arriving from the east at Pittsburgh through Frankfort and to the Ohio River, below its rapids and falls, to continue its trip westward. In the fall of 1841 a fifth son was born named Simon Cyrus*2 but four months later their oldest son, Thomas, not yet nine years old, died, having never gained the good health as once hoped. Jim’s health did not appear to be getting better either, but he continued working the best he could. In 1844 another son was born to the Gundys and he was named Thomas Scott, in memory of the first son, and would be called “Thomas Two”. Jim Gundy would father one more child in 1846, this one a girl, Nancy Jane. On October 10, 1846 James W. Gundy became a citizen of the United States, two years after declaring his intentions to “entirely renounce ... all allegiance and fidelity to the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.” He only would enjoy his life as an American citizen for two more years. After a ten year battle with black lung, Jim Gundy died, September 1, 1848. His son, John James Gundy, was my gg-grandfather. |
John Herbert Milton Johnson Gundy
Updated July 24, 2010 |
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John J Matviya PO Box 64 New Alexandria, PA 15670 United States jjmatv@aol.com |
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