Daniel Gill
(M. Paul Millard)
At the age of 30 or 31 Daniel made his choice, deserted the army, reached the sanctuary of the States, and initially settled at Ghent / Kinderhook, (near Albany) N.Y., and where we believe some family relations of some degree, of Sarah (Sluyter) Gill were living at the time. There some of the children were baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church. He eventually settled near Castleton, VT, and later moved to Stony Creek, New York, where he remained until his death. In his later years he taught in the local school. The school building stood right near the site of the present school house, (about 1900) and Daniel is said to have taught there before 1815, Daniel was on the list of freemen at Castleton, Vermont in the fall of 1799. (Researched by F.P. Gill IV)
Stony Creek is in the Adirondacs, a few miles north of Hadley, and about 15 / 20 miles northwest of Lake George, New York. An early history of the town, (township) places it in Warren CO, (this may have changed?) which is just north of Saratoga Co. is bounded on the east, (across the Hudson River,) by Warrensburg, and on the west by Hamilton CO.
It is even now, (and still is,) nearly all a wilderness with a mountain range extending through the center, and some peaks reach 2000 ft. The valleys are narrow ravines, and the soil is a light sand loam. Stony Creek was founded very early in the 1800's as a lumbering center and this is still its main focus.
Daniel, his wife Asseneth, some children of that marriage, and some descendants are buried in the Gill Family Cemetery at Stony Creek. The date engraved on the stone reads, October 5, 1757. Is it possible he made his birth date on enlistment a year earlier to make him 21???
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Daniel married (1) Sarah SLUYTER. Sarah was born about 1767 in New York State, USA. She died: 22 Jan 1801 in Castleton, West Rutland CO, Vermont, USA.
(**F. P. Gill has had correspondence with a John Henry Slayter, a descendant of William K. Sluyter who was born 16 May 1788, at Kinderhook Town, Columbia CO, New York. Frank's research has paralleled that of Norman and his brother Jack Gill. John Slayter, wrote that, "The Sluyters were loyalists and fled to Nova Scotia in the late 1700's where they were prominent physicians (excellent records,) with descendants in the US today. Name spelling variants are; Slater, Slaughter, Slayter, Sleider, Sleuter, Sleyder, Sliter, Sloughter, Sluider, Slyuder, Sluyter, Slayer, and Schlater. The earliest record we have for the subject is Sluyter.)
**The thought is she may have met Daniel in Canada after his Regiment was shipped there for further duty after the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, because it would appear that William or Wiliam their eldest son was born about 6 months after Daniel's desertion to the United States. Sarah (Sluyter) Gill at the age of 34 died in January 1801 with her unnamed child of 22 days. This makes her birth date 1767, or about.
Daniel and Sarah had the following children:
1. M i. William GILL was born 12 Feb 1788 and was christened in Ghent, NY, USA. William or Wiliam is believed to have been the first child of Daniel and Sarah ( Sluyter) Gill.
The records of the Reformed Dutch Church, called Christ Church in the town of Ghent, Columbia CO, NY, Transcribed by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, New York City, edited January 1920. A current copy in possession of the Montgomery CO, Department of History and Archives, Fonda, New York has recorded Wiliams, (Dutch spelling of William,) birth date as 12 February, 1788.
**This is 6 months after the date of Daniel's desertion, so Sarah must have been with Daniel in New Brunswick for at least several months and probably met and married Daniel while there.
**There has been another conclusion that Daniel met Sarah in NY. We are still pondering this dilemma!
The actual baptism took place in 1789, many months later. Do not believe he survived into adulthood and that he died without issue.
2. M ii. Daniel Brett GILL was born 11 Jul 1790 in Kinderhook, Columbia CO, New York, USA and was christened. He died in USA.
This may be the same Daniel B. Gill listed in the Newport, Rhode Island Census of 1830. A letter of Daniel Gill (the father) to Jacob Gill in Orillia does mention Daniel as being there about this time frame. It also mentions that he had previously been in the army.
Daniel married (1) Elenor B. LEWIS on 28 Mar 1830 in 1st Baptist Church
+ 3. F iii. Susan (Susanna) GILL was born 4 Feb 1792 and died 1877.
+ 4. M iv. Jacob Charles GILL was born 13 Apr 1794 and
died: 14 Sep 1846.
"A BIOGRAPHY"
WRITTEN BY NORMAN M. GILL IN MAY 1995
JACOB CHARLES, GILL
. Born April 13 1794 at Kinderhook, in Columbia County, NY State, was the fourth child and third son of Daniel Gill and Sarah (Sluyter) Gill. This revelation partly dismisses the legend of, "Jessie Campbell," as having been Daniel's first wife. It also strongly indicates a marriage for Daniel and Sarah before Daniel's desertion from the British Army which might have occurred at St. John NB or at Halifax NS Canada, May or June 1787 or even earlier. This possibility is still under investigation. Their first born child was "William," born at Ghent / Kinderhook, 12th February 1788. Further details are included with a revision to Daniel's record. Jacob's family moved to Castleton, Vermont sometime between 1794 and 1799, when it is noted that his father, Daniel was elected, a "freeman" of Castleton. Jacob's mother, Sarah, died shortly after the birth of her last child on January 22nd 1801, at the age of 34 years. Apparently Jacob remained with his family after his father's second marriage to Asseneth Hartwell until they moved to Hadley, Saratoga CO, NY circa 1811 -1812. It was about this time Jacob may have "teamed up" with a man named Borland and together they went to Canada, possibly in late 1811, or even in the summer of 1812, after the war of 1812 had just begun. The man may have been Noah Borland, age 41 whose father had been a captain in the British army, who may have known Jacob's father during the recent Revolutionary war. Doubtless the two older men were acquainted and had at least compared notes on that conflict many times. Speculative as it may be, Noah Borland may have had some military or navel contact to whom he might report on arrival at the British military establishment at Penetang, Upper Canada. Later he became known as "Captain Borland" but whether or not he was honoured with a Royal Commission is as yet unknown. The title may have been a "social" one, granted because of the special duties he performed for and with the military commissariat.Jacob Gill never visited Hadley, and never saw his father again.
+ M 4. John Gill Unknown.
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Daniel also married (2) Assenath HARTWELL "Sina", daughter of Ebenezer HARTWELL and Hannah BANGS after 1801 in Castleton, Vermont, USA. Assenath was born Dec 1777 in Dutchess CO, New York, USA. She died in Stony Creek, Near Hadley, New York State. Her father Ebenezer Hartwell signed the "Association," [enlisted,] in June or July of 1775 at North East, Dutchess Co. NY, as reported by Uriah Lawrence, Esq. committee. He was a sergeant in Capt. Abraham's Company. Colonel James Vanderburgh's Regiment. From a payroll record for a 20-day period dated 25th September 1778, at Clinton, NY His name also appears on a list of, "Land Bounty Rights," to which he was entitled because of his military service during the Revolution.
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