Re: a question or two
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In reply to:
a question or two
Becky Ferguson 9/12/05
Hi Becky,
I am just curious as to where your Gilfilen family came from as the spelling is the same as my family's.My line came from Ireland in the 1700s to what is today Greenwood Township Perry county, Pa. All of the male members of this family died out with no male heirs to carry on the surname with the possible exception of William Henry Gilfilen, who moved to Topeka, Kansas and had a son named Charles Gilfilen.
In the early census of Cumberland County, Pa. the name was variously spelled Gilfillen, Gilfillin, Gilfillan, etc. by the early 1800s my family was spelling it Gilfilen.There are a number of other spellings, but they are all the same surname and in whatever form, are a sept of clan Macnab, as I understand it. The legend says that the Gilfillans were from the Isle of Mull (I believe) and were all but wiped out excepting for twin brothers who re-established the family. From what I have been able to find out, they seemed to have lived close to the area of Sterling, Scotland and are said to have descended from the Picts. Some of them removed to Ireland after unsuccessfully backing the enemies of Robert the Bruce.