Penn-Gaskell Notes

Penn-Gaskell Notes JOHN INSLEY CODDINGTON, F.A.S.G., F.G.S.P. T HE following items are offered as supplements to the article on "The Penn-Gaskell Family: Addenda to the Family of Penn," which appeared in the Number 2 (1967) issue of Volume XXV of this Magazine. On pages 114-115 of that issue is an account of the family of the youngest child of 3. Peter Penn-Gaskell, Jr.: 7. Peter Penn-Gaskell, 3rd (1843 -ca. 1905), and his wife Mary Kathleen Stubbs. The daughter of this couple, MISS WINIFRED ETHEL PENN-GASKELL, was a great friend of my mother, Elizabeth (Magevney) Coddington (17 September 1873 - 30 December 1914), and of my half-sister, Elizabeth (Coddington) Coddington (21 April 1883 - 3 August 1968). My sister had a "Birthday Book," in which many of her friends inscribed their birthdays, usually, one regrets to say, omitting the years. In this book are listed the birthdays of Miss Penn-Gaskell, of her mother, Mrs. Mary Kathleen (Stubbs) Penn-Gaskell, and of the latter's mother, Dona Manuela R. C. de Stubbs, who was born in Bolivia on "2 June." She married Charles Edward Stubbs, a mining engineer in Bolivia and Peru, and their daughter Mary Kathleen Stubbs was born in Lima on "16 November." As stated in "The Penn-Gaskell Family," Peter Penn-Gaskell, 3rd, and Mary Kathleen Stubbs were married in England on 6 July 1869. William Penn-Gaskell of Shanagarry, County Cork, was their oldest child, and was born about 1870. WINIFRED ETHEL PENN-GASKELL was their second (not third) child, and she stated her date of birth fully in the Birthday Book, as "20 September 1873." I also remember that she once remarked to me that she was "just three days younger than" my mother. Miss Penn-Gaskell died in Ashburton Hospital, Ashburton, Devonshire, 6 November 1949, aged 76. Her executor was Mr. S. W. Smith of the Trustee Branch of the National Provincial Bank, Ltd., of Exeter, Devonshire. Mr. Smith has died since 1949. Miss Penn-Gaskell's brother, Percy Charles Penn-Gaskell, a Major in World War I, was the third and youngest of his parents' children. His only child, Patricia Maud Penn-Gaskell, was in 1967 Mrs. Patricia Maud Fox; her address was in care of the Westminster Bank, Ltd., Kensington 167 168 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Branch, 115 Old Brompton Road, London, S.W. 7. Mrs. Fox does not answer genealogical inquiries. The eldest sister of 7. Peter Penn-Gaskell, 3rd, was 6. ELIZABETH PENN-GASKELL (1825-1866), who married DR. SAMUEL RUFF SIM: LERN ( 1834- 1921 ). On page 113, lines 13-15, of "The Penn-Gaskell Family," it is stated that according to the present Dr. Penn-Gaskell Skillern, Samuel R. Skillern was "a nephew of the famous international beauty and wit, Madame Claude Le Verte, of Mobile." There may be a confusion of generations here. Dr. Claude Le Vert (with no final "e" to his name), of Mobile, Ala., married Ann Lea Metcalf, and both of them died before 1840. Whether or not Mrs. Ann Lea (Metcalf) Le Vert was "a famous international beauty and wit" is doubtful, but her daughter-in-law certainly was just such a lady. A son of Dr. Claude and Ann Lea (Metcalf) Le Vert was Henry Strachey Le Vert, M.D., born in King William County, Virginia, 25 December 1804, and died at Mobile 16 March 1864. He married at Mobile, 14 February 1836, Octavia Celestia Walton. She was born at Augusta, Ga., 10 August 1811, and died at Augusta, 13 March 1877, daughter of George Walton (1787-1863) and his wife Sarah Minge Walker (1793-1861), and granddaughter of George Walton (17491804), Signer of the Declaration of Independence from Georgia. Mrs. Octavia Celestia (Walton) Le Vert had no French ancestors, but she gave herself great airs as "Madame Le Vert," spoke French fluently, and presided over a celebrated salon in Mobile, where she was indeed renowned for her beauty and wit. She and her husband had five children, three of whom died in childhood. Of the two surviving daughters, one was a spinster, and only the youngest, Cornelia Henrietta Le Vert (18461876) married. Her husband was Lawrence Augustus Rigail Reab of Augusta, Ga., to whom she was married on 16 December 1868. In view of the foregoing, it would appear that Dr. Samuel R. Skillern's relationship to Madame Le Vert is more likely to have been one of cousinship, than that of nephew and aunt. Information Wanted Mn. Henrietta Freeman, Box 25, Burleson, Texas, seeks the parentage of Joxx Bnowx, b. 28 March 1806, d. 24 January 1866, in Clinton Co., Ills., and of his wife REBECCA INSCHO, b. New Jersey, 10 October 1811, d. 26 September 1873, in Clinton Co., Ills. They were married 18 October 1827, place unknown; lived in Huntingdon Co., Pa., in 1850; moved to Clinton Co. m 1860.