Gilleys of Wolfe Co. KY and surrounding counties
I'm looking for two women named JOSIE (Josephine?) GILLEY. The two are a generation apart, but not mother and daughter.
1. JOSIE GILLEY I: Born 1877 in Kentucky, died 1966 in Lincoln Co. OK. She married Samuel Henry "Big Henry" STIDHAM in 1898. They had one daughter of their own, Mary Margaret Stidham (1899-1984), and they adopted Josie the First and Lonnie B., who acquired the name Stidham through adoption. No other children.
Josie may have had a brother named John D. Gilley, born in Wolfe Co. KY 1882, died in Lincoln Co. OK in 1949. Family tradition makes them siblings. But John D.'s father was Samuel C. Gilley (1849-1916) of Wolfe Co., and no census for him shows a daughter named Josie.
2. JOSIE GILLEY II: Born in Kentucky in 1914, date and place of death unknown. She grew up with Lonnie as the adopted children of Big Henry and Josie Stidham. She may have married a man named Morris in OK around 1929, but if so she was back home for the 1930 census with Big Henry and Josie. That's the last record I have of her. After that, I suspect she ran off (she was 16), maybe back to her folks in KY. But who were her folks? I have no idea.
Thanks for any help!
Wayne