We left off last week talking about Frank T. and Grace (McPheeters) Glasgow. Frank was the son of William and Lizzie Glasgow. Frank and Grace had five children. Their oldest daughter was Grace Ellen “Nell” Glasgow. If you remember she was the one who wrote the note on the back of Grace Ellen (Shanks) Glasgow’s picture. Nell was born in 1881 and married in 1909 to Edwin Landis. Edwin graduated from Washington and Lee University and held a position as an Advertiser for an Adding Machine Company in Detroit, Michigan.
During the summer of 1911, Nell was recuperating at the home of her parents in Lexington after the birth of their daughter when word came that Edwin had become ill. At the time, the physician didn’t think it was serious. He was suffering from appendicitis. During surgery, however, the appendix, being abscessed, ruptured. Nell and her mother left at once for Detroit but received news in Cincinnati of his death. They waited in that city until the body accompanied by Edwin’s father, arrived on its way to Lexington for burial. Nell’s grief was overwhelming and she never married again. Nell lived with her brother Samuel and his wife Finley the rest of her life. Samuel and Edwin had been best friends and Edwin’s death was a hard blow to the whole family. Edwin was 27 years of age. Nell died in 1971 at the age of 90.
Samuel was the oldest son of Frank T. and Grace (McPheeters) Glasgow. He was born in 1883 and graduated from college with a Doctor of Divinity degree. He married in 1909 to Mary “Finley” McIlwaine. Finley was born in 187, in Petersburg, Virginia. I would like to stop here and add a story that touched my heart. Finley’s mother died during her birth. After the wake, her mother Sara was laid to rest the following day. That night Finley’s fourteen year-old brother climbed out of his second-story bedroom window, slid down a tree, walked to the cemetery and spent the night lying on his mother’s grave. After the death of his mother, in many ways, he became the parent of the rest of his brothers and sisters. He worked hard up until his forties to take care of them and sent them all to college. When that duty was completed, he married and began his own life and had children of his own.
Now back to Samuel and Finley. Samuel pastored several different churches throughout his career in many different states. Samuel and Finley were never blessed with children but thought of Nell’s daughter as their own. After Edwin’s death, Nell and her daughter Mary lived with them their entire married life. In 1946, Finley died of colon cancer at the age of 71. Samuel, a retired minister and author, died of uremia in 1963 at the age of 80.
Francus, the second son of Frank T. and Grace, was Francis Glasgow and died at the age of three in 1888.
The third son of Frank T. and Grace was Charles Glasgow, born in 1889 in Lexington. Charles graduated from college with a law degree. He married in 1922 to Rebecca “Constance” Edwards, who was born in 1887. They remained living in Lexington where Charles practiced law with his father. They had three children. Charles died in 1962 and Constance in 1975.
The last child of Frank T. and Grace was Thomas “Tom” McPheeters Glasgow. Tom was born in 1890. He completed five years of college and was Valedictorian and a member of the Debating Team. He married in 1918 to Lucy Stewart, who was born in 1890. Tom was a businessman and owned his own automobile dealership. Later in life, he is listed as an executive in the auto industry. They lived in Charlotte, North Carolina and had six children. Their first child died at birth. Lucy died of breast cancer in 1969. Her tombstone reads, “That all who knew her loved her.” Tom married again in 1970 to Catherine (Devlin) Stewart. Catherine was born in 1894. Tom died in 1973 of a bowel obstruction. Catherine died in 1982.