The Genealogy of Marine Commandant Anthony Gale

The Genealogy of Marine Commandant Anthony Gale


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Read the research paper concerning the Genealogy of Anthony Gale which provides details and sources for the information presented on this website (Updated version posted 2 May 2011).

See the article The Mystery of Lieutenant Colonel Commandant Anthony Gale by Robert T. Jordan in the March, 2007 edition of Leatherneck Magazine.

In Chapter 4 of Commandants of the Marine Corps (Millett and Shulimson, 2004, p. 45), Lt. Col. Merrill L. Bartlett, USMC (Ret.) states that Commandant Anthony Gale "traced his paternal lineage to Col. Oliver Gale, who came from England in the train of British forces sent to occupy Ireland during the reign of Henry VIII." In the citations for this chapter on Commandant Anthony Gale, an acknowledgement is cited for "the assistance of Richard A. Long, Special Projects Curator, MCHC, for sharing his extensive material on Gale."

Richard A. Long was the Curator (Special Projects) of the Marine Corps Museum and conducted extensive research into the background of Lt. Col. Anthony Gale in the late 1960s at the request of General Wallace M. Greene Jr., who was Commandant of the Marine Corps at the time. A specific document in the Richard A. Long collection that addresses this matter is Richard Long's memo of 8 May 1967 where he documents research conducted by Col. Don Pershing Wyckoff in Dublin, Ireland. Among other items, Col. Wyckoff found a "loose document" in the Dublin Genealogical Office which contained a background of a Gale Family in Ireland. According to Col. Wyckoff's transcription, Col. Oliver Gale came to Ireland at the time of Henry VIII.

Also according to Chapter 4 of Commandants of the Marine Corps, Commandant Anthony Gale was born to Ann Delany and Anthony Gale.

A Marriage Settlement of 14 Nov 1780 (See page 2 of the Long memo) identifies Malachi Delany as the father of Ann Delany. This document also identifies Thomas Gale and Mable (sic) as the parents of the Anthony Gale who married Ann Delany.

Page 1 of the Long memo discusses the Will of Mall Delany of Ballinakill, Queens County, Ireland, which lists the children of Anthony Gale and his daughter which include Anthony Gale.

Sir William Betham created family lineages from abstracts of many of the wills of Ireland up until 1800. In particular, he made a tree of the family of Martin Delany on page 205 of Volume 231 of "A genealogical analysis of all the wills and administrations registered in the Metropolitan Prerogative Court". This tree shows Malachi (Malachy) Delany as the son of Martin Delany of Ballyfin, Queens County, Ireland and Barbara Albin, daughter of James Albin of Rogerstown, County Meath, Ireland. Malachy's wife is Jane Sabatier, daughter of John Sabatier of Mountmellick, Queens County, Ireland.

The Virginia Albins, by Ethel Winifred Albin, (Anundsen Pub. Co., 1989, p. 11-12) states the parents of Barbara Albin Delany are James Albin and wife Anne of County Meath, Ireland, both originally from Derbyshire, England. (Ms. Albin mistranscribes the name of the first child of Martin Delany and Barbara Albin as David. As can be seen from Betham's Lineage of Martin Delany and the Will of Martin Delany, the first child's name is Daniel. Ms. Albin also mistranscribes the wife of Malachy Delany as "Jane Labatten (?Labatier)". From Betham's Lineage of John Sabatier, her name is of Jane Sabatier.) Betham's Lineage of James Albin confirms his daughter Barbara Albin as the wife of Martin Delany of Ballyfin, Queens County, Ireland, as well as the given name, Anne, of the wife of James Albin. (Contrary to many published lineages, there is no reliably documented evidence that Anne Albin's maiden name was Yeoman. The confusion perhaps arises from James Albin's occupation, a yeoman.)

Sir William Betham also made abstracts of the wills of John Sabatier and his son Thomas Sabatier. John's will identifies his wife as Elizabeth, while Thomas' will discusses two uncles, Thomas Freeman and John Freeman. Accordingly, John Sabatier's wife's maiden name is Elizabeth Freeman. Thomas Sabatier's will also mentions his brother-in-law, Malachy Delany, who also appears in Betham's Lineage of John Sabatier as the husband of Jane Sabatier. John (Jean) Sabatier was a French Hugenot.

Betham was also the source of the Gale Lineage that Col. Wyckoff found in Dublin. So according to these sources, the ancestry of Commandant Anthony Gale is:



Commandant Anthony Gale's brother, Malachi Gale, immigrated to America aboard the Catherine in 1817. Commandant Anthony Gale's sister, Frances Gale Kearney, immigrated to America aboard the Ship Dublin Packet in 1828. Her daughter, Bridget Kearney, married Richard McCunney, who immigrated aboard the Brig Ontario, listed as "Richd McCanny" (sic) in 1832. Richard McCunney, Frances Gale Kearney, her daughters Bridget Kearney McCunney and Jane Kearney Gale, nephew Sharp Thomas Gale and other Gale relatives are buried in the extensive McCunney family plot in Old Cathedral Cemetery in Philadelphia. Connection to the Kearney/McCunney family.

Connection to the family of Dublin Quaker Anthony Sharp.

Connection to Edward I, King of England and Charlemagne.

Richard Long Documents:
Letter to Dorothy Wulfeck, 6 Jan 1967
Letter to Pansy Pence Dinkle, 18 May 1967
Memo, 8 May 1967
Anthony Gale Manuscript

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