One of the benefits of cleaning out genealogy hard copy is noticing that important family blogs are missing from Flipside. This would be one.
Jacob VanGilder, Jr and Sarah R. McElroy are my paternal great great great grandparents. I have added the Junior suffix to distinguish him from his father, Jacob VanGilder. I have never seen him listed with the suffix in any documents.
Jacob was born in Frederick County, Maryland on January 29, 1797 to Jacob VanGilder and Anna Margaret Kibler. There are documents that show a change in her maiden name with a "G" written over the "K". Her maiden name may have been Gibler. Research I did years ago linked a Frederick Gibler, living in early Morgantown as having removed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri along with a John VanGilder. DNA has shown that John was the son of Jacob and Anna Margaret VanGilder. It is reasonable to think that Frederick Gibler was the brother of Anna Margaret VanGilder.
Sarah R. McElroy, the daughter of Irish immigrants Thomas McElroy and Elizabeth, was born on June 11, 1797 in Maryland. I have seen Elizabeth's maiden name as O'Rea or O'Ray; however, I have no documents to prove this.
The VanGilder's removed to Monongalia County, (West) Virginia in the late 1700's or early 1800's. The earliest documents I have found are county court records from 1801 and 1802.
The McElroy Family removed to Monongalia County, (West) Virginia in the early 1800's. Thomas has a tax record dated 1804. In 1806 there is a court record listing Forks of Cheat as the place where the McElroy family resided.
Both families were early settlers of Monongalia County. I have no idea the proximity of these two families homes in Monongalia County or how Jacob and Sarah met. I do know that the VanGilder's eventually settled in what would become Marion County. Perhaps the McElroy's also settled there after Forks of Cheat.
On April 25, 1825 twenty-eight year old Jacob VanGilder married twenty-seven year old Sarah R. McElroy in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia.
Jacob was a farmer and may have had a piece of property in southern Monongalia County, in the Mt. Pisgah Church vicinity, near Smithtown Hill. The area where he farmed and began to raise his children became Marion County in 1842.
 |
| 1830 (West) Virginia Census Eastern District, Monongalia County |
Jacob Vangilder
Free White Male under age 5--1 John Oliphant VanGilder
Free White Male age 30-39--1 Jacob VanGilder
Free White Male age 70-79--1 ? Maybe Jacob VanGilder Sr. ?
Free White Female under age 5--1 Eliza Jane VanGilder
Free White Female age 30-39--1 Sarah R. McElroy VanGilder
Jacob VanGilder died before September 24, 1832 at the age of thirty-five. Unfortunately, there are no death records to have the date or cause of death. From a an old record of reading done in 1940 by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), I learned that he was buried in Johnson Cemetery.
Jacob did have a will. Unfortunately, this is all I have. I wish I had the inventory. The executor, William VanGilder, was Jacob's brother.
 |
| Tombstone of Jacob VanGilder |
Recently, while preparing to write this blog, I spent time googling Johnson Cemetery. Lo and Behold I found a website that actually had photographs of the cemetery and the tombstone of my paternal great great great grandfather, Jacob VanGilder. The stone is very weathered; however, there could have been something carved under Jacob's name and possibly dates.
The cemetery is in a wooded area that is not accessible and is on private property. Thankfully someone was able to find the location and photograph the tombstones that were readable.
 |
| Tombstone of William VanGilder |
This listing and photograph caught my interest. In the same cemetery is a tombstone with the name William VanGilder. It is not Jacob's brother. There are no birth records dating back that early in Monongalia County. Was this a son born to Jacob and Sarah who either died at birth or at an early age. He does not appear in the 1830 or 1840 census report. He is not listed in the guardianship document of 1832.
This is another new document that I located when researching the blog. A court document giving Sarah guardianship of her three living children in 1832 , Eliza Jane, John and Mary, following the death of her husband, Jacob VanGilder. Sarah was pregnant with her fourth child, Rebecca VanGilder, when he died. It also alerts me to the fact that if there was a son named William VanGilder, that he was already deceased.
It appears that thirty-five year old Sarah stayed in the same area where she and Jacob lived before his death. She did have VanGilder and McElroy extended family in the area. The 1840 census lists her enumeration area as East Monongalia District.
 |
| 1840 (West) Virginia Census East Monongalia |
Sarah VanGilder
(incorrectly listed as Sarah Douglass)
Free White Male age 5 thru 9--1 John Oliphant VanGilder
Free White Females age 5 thru 9--2 Mary Isabel VanGilder and Rebecca VanGilder
Free White Females age 10 thru 15--1 Elizabeth Jane VanGilder
Free White Female age 30-39--1 Sarah R. McElroy VanGilder
Sarah's age should have been 43 in 1840. No form of employment is listed.
 |
| 1850 (West) Virginia Census Eastern District Number 36 , Monongalia County August 28, 1850 |
-Sarah Vangilder, female, white, age 52, real estate value $1800.00, born in Virginia
-Eliza J Vangilder, female, white, age 23, born in Virginia
-Rebecca A. Vangilder, female, white, age 17, born in Virginia
I believe that Sarah has relocated to Morgantown with her two daughters. This is the first census to list financial values and Sarah has a substantial sum. I believe this is from sale of the property, farm, where she lived with her deceased husband.
Her son, John Oliphant VanGilder is also living in the same area and is employed as a chairmaker. Her daughter Mary Isabel VanGilder is MIA in 1850. She married James Henry Leps on May 8, 1857 in Kanawha County, (West) Virginia.
I have not found an 1860 census report for Sarah. I scanned page by page through the 1860 Taylor County, West Virginia census looking for both VanGilder and Jenkins to no avail.
 |
| Obituary of Eliza Jane VanGilder Jenkins Grafton Sentinel Grafton, West Virginia Friday, October 26, 1900 page 1 |
According to the obituary of her married daughter, Eliza Jane VanGilder Jenkins, Mr. and Mrs. VanGilder moved to Grafton in 1858 and the house they purchased is the house Eliza died in. We know that Jacob VanGilder was not alive in 1858 and that Sarah lived in Morgantown in 1850. I always wondered how Eliza met her husband Francis Jenkins and it appears that she and her mother removed to the town of Grafton. Whether the date of 1858 is anyone's guess.
 |
| 1870 West Virginia Census Grafton, Taylor County Pruntytown Post Office June 28, 1870 |
-Francis Jenkins, age 48, male, white, blacksmith, real estate $3000, personal estate $800, birthplace Virginia
-Eliza J. Jenkins, age 44, female, white, keeping house, born in Virginia
-Mary Jenkins, age 8, female, white born in Virginia attended school
-Samuel Jenkins, age 3/12, male, white, born in West Virginia, born in September
-Sarah R. VanGilder, age 73, female, white, born in Maryland, father and mother both foreign born.
I have learned through obituaries that Francis, known as Frank, was a blacksmith with the B & O Railroad, that had a huge presence in Grafton. Also, their son, Samuel, was born in March not September.
 |
| 1880 West Virginia Census Grafton District 81, Taylor County June 11, 1880 |
-Francis Jenkins, white, male, age 58, married, blacksmithing for Rail Roads, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
-Eliza J. Jenkins, white, male, age 54, wife, keeping house, born in Virginia, father born in Virginia, mother born in Maryland
-Mary M. Jenkins, white, female, age 18, daughter, single, at home, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
-Samuel R. Jenkins, white, male, age 10, son, single, attending school, born in West Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
-Sarah R. VanGilder, white, female, age 83, boarder, mother-in-law, single, widowed, born in Maryland, both parents born in Ireland
I should mention that Francis, Eliza and Mary Jenkins were all born in the area of West Virginia following the Civil War.
 |
| Death Record of Sarah R. McElroy VanGilder Taylor County, West Virginia 1881, page 19 |
On February 8, 1881, at age eighty-three, Sarah R. McElroy VanGilder died from a fall on the ice in Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia. The report is signed by her son-in-law, Frank Jenkins. Her spouse is listed as Jacob VanGilder.
As a woman at age 78, falling on the ice continues to be risky even in 2026.
 |
| My brothers and I visiting our paternal great great grant grandmother Sarah R. McElroy VanGilder  |
Sarah is buried in Union Cemetery, between Independence and Gladesville, Preston County, Virginia. I have no idea why her daughter, Eliza VanGilder Jenkins, decided to inter her so far away from Grafton.
Eliza Jane VanGilder Jenkins and her family are all buried in Bluemont Cemetery in Grafton, as is Sarah's daughter, Rebecca Ann VanGilder Church.
Unfortunately, Sarah's story is lost in time. Other than census and her death records, I have not found any other mention of her. To her credit she raised four children who married and had successful lives. I wish there was an old photo--carte de visite or tintype--among a descendant's records.
Children of Jacob VanGilder and Sarah R. McElroy
- Eliza Jane VanGilder was born on March, 1826 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia; died before 1910 in Grafton, Taylor County, West Virginia and married Francis Jenkins on May 10, 1860 in Grafton, Taylor County, (West) Virginia.
- John Oliphant VanGilder was born on February 22, 1829 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia; died on February 19, 1904 in Morgantown, West Virginia and married Mary Louise Hill on July 14, 1853 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia. My paternal great great grandparents.
- Mary Isabel VanGilder was born in 1831 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia; died on April 12, 1877, Greenbrier County, West Virginia and married James Henry Leps on May 12, 1857 in Kanawha County, (West) Virginia.
- Rebecca Ann VanGilder was born in 1833 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia; died in 1903 in Preston County, West Virginia and married William Church on February 19, 1857 in Marion County, (West) Virginia.
I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. All comments are welcome; however, if they are inappropriate, they will not be published. PLEASE post your e-mail in the comment section if you would like to network about a particular surname or topic. I will capture it for my use only and not include it when I publish your comment.
© 2026, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser
