Bertha was born the youngest daughter of Augustus Heck, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the US as a young boy, and Eliza Plumb Heck, who was of English ancestry and is a member of the Plumb family. I've been able to trace her roots all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Augustus was a Civil War veteran and it was a thrill to discover my family has a link to both the Civil War and Revolutionary War via my great-grandmother.
She married James C Gallagher at about the age of 16 and within a year the children started coming. All together she gave birth to 14 children, including 2 sets of twin. Of these 14 children only 7 lived to adulthood. Very sad, I can't even imagine how hard that must have been.
James C Gallagher died in 1922 and within a few months Bertha married James Collum. 1920 Census records show that she was living with him then as his wife though and James C Gallagher's death record lists his marital status as divorced. That was a total surprise too!
She outlived her second husband too, I still have not found a record of his death, but in 1930 she is living as a widow with a boarder in residence. She died in 1931. There is still so much I'd like to learn about her, Bertha Heck seemed like such an ordinary name when I began my research of my great-grandmother but she's ended up being full of surprises.
Bertha was born the youngest daughter of Augustus Heck, who was born in Germany and immigrated to the US as a young boy, and Eliza Plumb Heck, who was of English ancestry and is a member of the Plumb family. I've been able to trace her roots all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Augustus was a Civil War veteran and it was a thrill to discover my family has a link to both the Civil War and Revolutionary War via my great-grandmother.
She married James C Gallagher at about the age of 16 and within a year the children started coming. All together she gave birth to 14 children, including 2 sets of twin. Of these 14 children only 7 lived to adulthood. Very sad, I can't even imagine how hard that must have been.
James C Gallagher died in 1922 and within a few months Bertha married James Collum. 1920 Census records show that she was living with him then as his wife though and James C Gallagher's death record lists his marital status as divorced. That was a total surprise too!
She outlived her second husband too, I still have not found a record of his death, but in 1930 she is living as a widow with a boarder in residence. She died in 1931. There is still so much I'd like to learn about her, Bertha Heck seemed like such an ordinary name when I began my research of my great-grandmother but she's ended up being full of surprises.
Family Members
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Fred A Gallagher
1892–1974
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Mary Elizabeth or Eleanor Gallagher Schutz
1893–1974
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Bertha Gallagher
1895–1895
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Margaret Cordelia Gallagher Davenport
1898–1992
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James C Gallagher Jr
1899–1919
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Roland Martin Gallagher
1903–1974
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Raymond Charles "Ray" Gallagher
1905–1998
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John Gallagher
1908–1909
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Julia Gallagher
1908–1909
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John Gallagher
1910–1910
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William Gallagher
1910–1910
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Unknown Gallagher
1911–1911
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Alfred P. "Al the Barber" Gallagher
1911–1965
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Helen Evelyn Gallagher Meyer
1915–2004
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