Josephine Cross

Third great-grandparents – 1 of 32 in this generation

(c1855-1929 )

Josephine was born about 1855 in Essex, New York. She resided with her parents, Lucy Allen and Joseph Cross, and her older sister in Schroon, NY in 1860. By 1867, when Josephine was 12, she was living in Brandon, Rutland, Vermont with her family.

She married Louis Bashaw in Brandon when she was 18 years old. Her mother’s name, according to her marriage record, was Lucy Gardener, but it’s a mystery where the name “Gardener” came from. The Allen family ancestry is confirmed through DNA matches.

Josephine gave birth to her only child Grace Annie Bashaw when she was 19. By 1880, the three had moved to Chicopee, Massachusetts. They were in Springfield, Massachusetts from at least 1890 to at least 1910. They had relocated to Revere, Massachusetts by 1914 and her husband, Louis, died the following year in Revere. Josephine died on 23 February 1929 in Revere at the age of 79, having outlived her husband by 15 years. Her burial site is unknown.

Louis Bashaw

Third great-grandparent – 1 of 32 in this generation

(1849 – 1915)

Louis was born in Vermont, most likely in Brandon, Rutland, Vermont, on 6 Dec 1849. His parents were Charles Bashaw and Marie Zepherine Letourneau. Louis grew up in Brandon as the second oldest of nine children. He appears in the 1860-1880 U.S. Censuses in Brandon but has not yet been found in 1850. On 13 October 1873, at the age of 23, Louis was married in Brandon to Josephine Cross by a Catholic priest. By 1880, they had one child, Grace Annie Bashaw, and had moved to Chicopee, Massachusetts. Within another 10 years, they had relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts; and by 1914, Louis was living in Revere, Massachusetts.

Louis died in Revere on Dec 19, 1915 of lobar pneumonia and acute myocarditis. He was buried in nearby Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden, Massachusetts, in an unmarked grave. Link to record on findagrave.com. I requested a photo through findagrave.com and “BobBoston” kindly replied. The photo is of the site where Louis is buried, but there is no headstone or marker for him.

Sebastiana Milardo

Great-grandparent – 1 of 8 in this generation

(7 July 1910 – 22 September 1989)

Sebastiana was born in July 1910 in Melilli, Sicily to Filippo Milardo and Lucia Marino. Her birth record can be viewed here.

She married Salvatore Sanzaro in Melilli when she was 17 and he was 24; their marriage record can be viewed here.

Sebastiana and Salvatore immigrated to the U.S. in 1955 on the ship Olympia and settled in Middletown, Connecticut with their family.

Sebastiana died at the age of 79 and was buried next to her husband in St. Sebastian’s Cemetery, Middlefield, CT.

View her tree at familysearch.org: Sebastiana’s tree

Norman Ralph Gaylord

Grandparent – 1 of 4 in this generation

Norman was born in East Hampton, Connecticut on 9 June 1941, the third son and tenth child of Frank Quinn Gaylord and Mildred Hazel Kelsey.

At the age of 22, Norman married Maria Concetta Sanzaro at St. Sebastian’s Church in Middletown, Connecticut and had three children.

He was a volunteer fireman and worked as a forklift operator at Pratt & Whitney until he was injured on the job. His injury led to other health issues which eventually claimed his life on 20 December 1991. His funeral was held on Christmas Eve and he was laid to rest in St. Sebastian’s Cemetery, Middlefield, Connecticut.

DNA RESULTS: In 2016, a brother of Norman’s, “WG,” submitted a DNA kit to Ancestry.com. Based on Ancestry’s most recent update, WG’s origins are: 29% England and Western Europe; 27% Scotland; 20% Ireland; 13% Germanic Europe; and 8% France. He had quite a bit of English on both the Gaylord and Kelsey sides. His great-grandmother, Ellen Hurley, was Irish. My guess is that both the 13% roots from Germanic Europe and 8% France were inherited from WG’s grandmother, Grace Bashaw, and possibly others to a smaller extent. His Scottish roots were likely inherited from his great-grandfather, John Patrick Lane.

The DNA results indicate that WG has Irish roots in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. The likely link is through the Driscoll – or O’Driscoll – family. The relationship projections on www.gedmatch.com revealed that WG has several cousins in Ireland who are all likely to be 3rd cousins once removed. For research on this region, check out this website.