The following is an excerpt from Celeste Boyd's obituary which appeared in the Statesville Daily Record 10 April 1952:
"Mrs. Celeste Boyd . . . served as housemother in the orphanage for some time and was with little Joe Gilland at the time of his death. Joe was the little boy who expressed a dying wish that his little savings be used to start the building of a church in Barium. Miss Boyd furthered the child's wish, helping to raise the money that built Little Joe's Church that serves Barium today."
Little Joe Gilland By S. David Carriker
Little Joe Gilland was actually Joseph Dewitt Gilleland, the son of William Lee Gilleland and Sallie Rose Ann Putnam and William Lee Gilleland. He was born in Iredell County, North Carolina in 1894 and was the 3rd child:
1) Katie Lee Gilleland (September 13, 1891-February 22, 1917),
2) Janie Tennie Gilleland [Mrs. G. W. Mayhew] (May 23, 1893-October 23, 1972),
3) Joseph Dewitt Gilleland (May 24, 1894-February 2, 1903) and
4) Isabel Elizabeth Gilleland (November 1898- a brief time after June 14, 1900).
Their father, William Lee Gilleland was born March 6, 1841 in Iredell County, NC and died April 13, 1898, seven months prior to the birth of the final child Isabel. He was 57 and had served in the military, being imprisoned for a time during the Civil War. There were several epidemic and diseases going through the Carolinas (1880-1910), but he died prior to the use of county records indicating the cause of death (for Iredell County, 1913). He was buried at New Hope United Methodist Church Cemetery in Iron Station, NC, just across the Catawba River.
Needless to say, Sallie was left with a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 4-year-old and then gave birth to Isabel seven months later. Her husband was deceased and her in-laws were deceased. She had some sickly children and was forced to live in the County Home, just down the road from the Barium Springs Orphanage. At the County Home, on June 14, 1900, Sallie (widow, 41; May 1859), Katie (9; September 1891), Tennie J. [Jane] (7; May 1893), Dewitt [Joseph] (6; May 1894) and Isabel E. Gilleland (1; November 1898) are listed as 'inmates' {as in 'residents'} at the County Home in Barium Springs. Later in 1900, Jane and Joseph were put in the orphanage up the road for better care. Katie was older and could help her mother. But I feel that Isabel may have died young from one of the diseases so prevalent in 1900 (Typhoid Fever, Scarlet Fever, Measles…). There is no other listing for Isabel in the records of death, graves, marriages, censuses or any other type of listing.
Little Joe's story at the Orphanage is well known. He could not walk with the other children to Troutman to go to the church there and set his goal to raise money to build a chapel at the Orphanage. His collected pennies became dollars and hundreds of dollars to build the chapel appropriately name "Little Joe's Chapel."
For the rest of the family, sister Katie died of measles in 1917. His mother, Sallie, lived in Katie's home in 1910, then in Janie's home in 1920 and 1930. She died October 11, 1934 and was born May 10, 1858, 76 years old. Janie lived until October 10, 1972, in the Mooresville area.
There are no descendants of William and Sallie Gilleland. William is buried in the New Hope Cemetery in Iron Station, N.C. Sallie is buried at the Willow Valley Cemetery in Mooresville, N.C.
Katie is buried at the Centre Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mooresville, N.C.
Janie is buried [unmarked] at the Willow Valley Cemetery in Mooresville, N.C.
Little Joseph is buried at the Barium Springs Orphanage Cemetery in Barium Springs, N.C. Isabel may have been buried at the County Home Cemetery, which was removed in 1972.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15620790/joseph_dewitt-gilleland
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