Eugene Howland Gailey, son of John and Josephine Howland
Gailey was born May 16, 1855 on a farm near Stone Mills, New York. He left the farm in 1875 and went to
Wisconsin. He gave up selling and
settled in Wisner, Nebraska in 1877. He took a job as a stagecoach driver from Wisner to Norfolk. In 1879, Eugene came to Oakdale to work as
a grain buyer. Later he went into the
mercantile business and was the postmaster. He married Mary Lucretia Elliott on September 15, 1884 at Albion. She was the daughter of Anthony and Amanda
Elliott and born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 25, 1863. She came with her family to Antelope
County in 1879 and settled in Beaver Valley. Her mother died in 1881 and her father moved to Oakdale. In 1887, Eugene and Mary, with daughters,
Mildred and Florence, moved from Oakdale to Elgin where they were engaged in
the mercantile business. Eugene sold
out in 1904 and went to work as manager of the Farmers Elevator Company. Eugene retired in 1937. The Gailey’s had seven children: Mildred (1886) married Jesse Lewis (1876),
two children; Florence (1887) married David Baskett (1881), two children;
Elmer (1890) married Maude Surber (1883), no children; Franke (1891) married
Clyde Nelson (1884), two children: Helen (1894) married Ray Nelson (1883), one child; Tina (1899) married
Cecil Green (1893), no children; and Norma married A Clifford Carlson, one
child. Mary Gailey died June 18, 1940
and Eugene Gailey died on July 13, 1941.
Source Unknown: Originally submitted for this website in June 2007