Robert Gamble was born l807 in County Cavan and lived most of his life in Ohio. He was the oldest brother of great-great grandfather, Alex Gamble.
sue<william ervin lynch<ivan lynch<belle gamble<alex gamble
Van Wert, Ohio
1896, June 19
Dear Nephew and Family - -
As I am all alone, I will converse with you through the silent language (this pen) hoping when these few lines reach you that they may find that you are all in the enjoyment of good health as they leave us all here at the present writing except myself. I am not so well as I ought to be on account of a hurt I got last fall in crossing my own fence eight rails high. I thought nothing of jumping down as I allways [sic] have done but I strained the neck of my bladder and I had to have the doctor to wait on me for three days but I am in tolerable health again for a man my age. I sent east to my cousin Alexander Gamble to know my age. He can tell my age by his brother William who married my sister Isabell and I am a little younger than him. [This Alexander and Willliam are first cousins of our great great grandfather, Alexander.)
My brother-in-law William Gamble will be 90 years old this coming September and I will be 89 years old this next December on the 25th day of December, 1896. As I, Robert, am the oldest of the Gambles now living, I will give you a small account of the Gambles. It may be a satisfaction to you in your old days to know how many uncles you have and their names. I will give you the name of the township your father came from, or the parish we call it. We came from County Cavan. We lived in Rooskey Township that is 40 miles from Dublin. My father and I was in the bank of Dublin getting some money changed, it was well guarded with soldiers, they had their red coats on and their big guns in their hands. We left Rooskey the eighth day of May eighteen hundred and twenty one. We staid [sic] one day in Dublin then my father got a ship that was to sail the next day for Saint John's New Brunswick that is in the British Dominion. Then we landed in Saint John's New Brunswick, then my brother William got sick and we staid there nine days. Then my father got another ship that was loaded with the plaster of paris to bring us to moose island on leubeck, the lake or river was between them, then he got another ship to bring us to Baltimore, then he hired a four horse team to bring us over the mountains to Steubenville that is on the Ohio River. His name was Sam Quaintance. Then he hired another man to bring us to Leesburg, Ohio, to his brother. The man's name was John Maddin. So we staid there all winter with his brother and in the spring my father had enough of money to enter eighty acres of land in the woods. Then it was root, hot, or die. You would laugh to see my father chopping. He would stand on the ground and chop big logs and little ones too. Well, I must tell how many uncles you had in Ireland. My Uncle John Gamble is the oldest. He had Robert Edward and Mary Jane and Moses, then his wife dies and he would not let him get married again. so he got a nice little woman to live in one of his houses about 40 rods from his house and supported her there, she was a nice young woman and she had one child to him. His name was John. The woman's name was Ginny Murray so he died. He was middling well off then. My father had another brother, his name was James, he would drink whiskey so he was coming home from the market late, he had been drinking whiskey, and he fell off the bridge and drowned in about a foot deep of water. It was supposed he had hurt himself for he was lying on his face when found. Then there was another brother, his name was Alexander, he lived in Baltimore. He was rich, he followed bottling whiskey but he was dead when we came to Baltimore.
Names of all my children. My first wife's name was Malinda Price, whe was seventeen years old the day that we were married. Our first child was a girl, we called he Margaret Jane, the second was a boy we called him William Willson, the next was a girl her name was Mary Ann, the next was a girl we called her Malinda Louise, the next was still born. These are all my first wife's children. My second wife's name was Jane Patterson, she was eighteen years old when we got married. Our first child was a boy we called him Robert Wesley, the next was a girl her name was Matilda Leticia, the next was a boy his name was Richard Weirick, the next was Clarinda Isabell, the next was Amanda Maria, the next was Daniel George. Now I will give you the name of my last wife her name was Mary Wolfe, she was just the same age of my first child Malinda. Our first child was Nannie Catherine, the second was Daniel George, the next was Richard Weirick and Martha Emily. My uncle William Gamble's family was Robert John and William and Anne and Alexander. They are all dead but Alexander my brother. William's children were Calvin and Rowley and George Leonard, Omar and Sarah Jane.
Yours truly -
Robert Gamble
Girls. You put some dough in a dish what makes them pick it. Answer in your next letter. Robert, what goes through the water and through the water and never touches it. Robert, Uncle George and wife is dead and Uncle John Gamble's wife is dead last week. I got my spectacles broke and I have to write without my glasses. Robert, I have put a nice monument up to my wife's grave in Woodland Cemetry, it cost three hundred dollars it is the finest granite I ever saw their is not a cloud on it. It is as nice a monument as you ever saw, it took four horses to haul it, it is beautiful. Write soon.
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