Each of us plays an important role to our family story.  Thankfully, our cousin Wayne Bowlby (Richard 7), was inspired to explore the life of his Grandaunt,  Gladys Evelyn (Bowlby) Banks (7).  Gladys was the last of the 11th generation of descendants of Rychard (1) and Alyson Bolbie from the 1500s (that we are aware of anyway...)  Some children being born today are 23 generations removed from Rychard and Alyson!

Wayne was able to obtain this information and write this story just before her passing.  Now we have a glimpse of her to forever share.

Please look around you - you are surrounded by loved ones who have much to share - and while interviewing those who are older - remember too that no one has given us a guarentee that we'll see the sun tomorrow.  You TOO have much to share!  Let's try to make that great dash between our birth and death, count!  Thank you for sharing this Wayne!

Gladys Evelyn (Bowlby) Banks
1916-2002

Gladys Evelyn (Bowlby) Banks (11) > Solomon Edward Bowlby (10) > Solomon Bowlby (9) > George Bowlby Sr. (8) > Richard (7)...

RICHARD (7) DESCENDANT NEARING 100 YEARS OF AGE

Gladys Evelyn Bowlby Banks, the only surviving child of Solomon Edward Bowlby (10) and his third wife, Bessie Zwicker Bowlby, is on her way to reaching the age of 100, having turned 98 last February 5th.  Gladys was delivered by a midwife who had traveled by horse and buggy to the home of Gladys’ parents at Whites Corner, Kings County, Nova Scoita on that cold winter day.  She was baptized near the Black Rock wharf in the Bay of  Fundy by a Black Rock Free Baptist Church clergyman on October 22, 1916. Gladys had one full brother, Vernon Lorrimer Bowlby (1901-69), and six much older half-siblings, Solomon Edward Bowlby’s children by his first wife, Margaret Elizabeth Dunham Bowlby (1839-79).  Solomon Edward and Margaret actually had nine children; however, only six lived to maturity, and all of those six married:  Margaret Lucetta (John Hatfield), Edwin Ernest Lorenzo (Margaret Sellers), Carolyn “Carrie” LeBlanche (William Fuller), Lucy Eugenia Luella (Alvie Anderson), Noble Oscar Grant (Jeanette Durgin), and Frank Emerson (Fronia Cook).  Gladys was named after a niece, a daughter of her favorite older sister, Carrie Bowlby  Fuller, and she still has a doll and tea set which Carrie gave to her.
 

Gladys is an aunt and great aunt to the many descendants of her older siblings. Her father had 11 brothers and sisters (Eunice, Joshua, George, Elizabeth,  Jordan, Achsa, Joel Banks, Susan, Mary Ann, James Rupert, and John Francis), and of those who were still living when Gladys was a child, a favorite was  Uncle Jordan, who liked to tease her.  After Gladys’ father died, the family farm at Black Rock, near Canada Creek and the Bay of Fundy, was sold,  and Gladys moved to Brickton, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, where her Uncle Joel Banks Bowlby lived and where Richard (7) and Mary Drake Bowlby, Empire Loyalists, settled in 1783, after fleeing the American Revolutionary forces in the Colony of New Jersey.  Gladys became friends with Evelyn and Adelia Banks in nearby Middleton and eventually began boarding with them.  The Banks sisters had a younger brother, Harold Gordon Banks, who farmed some land he had inherited and also worked as a mill wright at a lumber mill in Middleton.  Gladys and Harold were wed in the Middleton United Baptist Church on October 29, 1938.  The next year they both joined that church.  Gladys excelled in making quilts and  preserves and for many years played the organ at church.  Gladys and Harold had two sons, but the firstborn was lost through miscarriage.  Bessie Zwicker Bowlby died in 1959, but for some time before her death, she lived with Gladys and her family.  Since Harold’s death in 1984, Gladys has made her home in Middleton with her son, Robert Gordon Banks, and his wife, Patricia.  Robert inherited his mother’s musical talent and can play the piano, banjo, mandolin, and various guitars.

In addition to farming, Solomon Edward Bowlby (10) was an ordained United Baptist deacon, and his Bible is still in the possession of his grandson, Robert Gordon Banks.  Solomon Edward died only two weeks before his 95th birthday.  His great-grandfather, Richard Bowlby (7), reportedly lived to the age of 99 years and 10 months, and a sister, Achsa Bowlby Ward (10), is said to have lived to be almost 100 years old, too.  So, it certainly appears that the longevity of Gladys Evelyn Bowlby Banks (11) could be at least partly due to her particular Bowlby ancestry!

Story Update – I have been notified by Robert Gordon Banks of Middleton, Nova Scotia, Canada, that his “Mum,” Gladys Evelyn Bowlby Banks, died early in the morning on Sunday, October 27th, 2002.  She was 98 years, 8 months, and 21 days old.