The American branch of the Gledhill family was established when Walter Gledhill born 1821 emigrated from Yorkshire to Ohio in 1841.  Walter married Mary A Smith in 1847.  You'll see Walter Gledhill in the fifth column of our family's Descendant Chart.  Walter settled in Mansfield, Ohio - see map below.  Or go direct to the chart of the Gledhills in America.

Walter & Mary's first son, Joseph Smith Gledhill, lived in Pennsylvania for a time and settled in Massachusetts.  Joseph's sister Jane ("Jenny") married Frank Rice and they also settled in Massachusetts  There are many descendants of Joseph and Jenny to be found in New England today.

Walter & Mary's second son, John J Gledhill, went to California around 1910 and founded with his nephews what came to be known as the Gledhill Colony, a farming enterprise, in Sutter County. 

Their third son, Thomas Humphrey Gledhill, stayed in Ohio but it was his sons, Earl and Harrison Gledhill, who joined their uncle in California. Thomas H Gledhill lived in Galion, Ohio, where another large and probably unrelated Gledhill family lived (though the jury is still out on that question).

There are numerous Gledhill descendants in California today.

My own great-great-grandfather, Humphrey Gledhill, emigrated from Yorkshire after the death of his wife Henrietta to join his brother Walter in Ohio in 1869.  The brothers share the same gravestone in the IOOF Cemetery near Mansfield.  Humphrey died in 1886 in the same month as his son Joseph William Gledhill went to Australia and, with his son Humphrey John and six other children, established the branch of the family in that country.


Related family named France in America

Another branch of the family bears the surname France.  Themembers of that family are descended from Walter Gledhill's parents, Jane France and Joseph Gledhill (born 1788).  See descendant chart of this France family from Charles France in Yorkshire circa 1740.

Some members of this family also settled near Mansfield, Ohio, later in Iowa and Wisconsin.  They are descended from William & Malinda France who went from Yorkshire to America in 1827-28.  Click here to see the descendant chart of this France branch.

Bill France who founded NASCAR and established the Daytona International Speedway is a member of this France family.  He is probably a descendant of William H France Jnr. 
According to Wikipedia he is the son of William Henry France and Emma Graham. 
Bill was William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992).
His son was Bill France, Jr. (1933–2007), nicknamed "Little Bill" who ran NASCAR from 1972–2000.

Mansfield, Ohio
 

Contributors acknowledged with gratitude

Descendant
Sue Rich
(Cape Cod)
 

Descendants
Roger Bird
(Oakland)
& Janis
(Sacramento)

Roger is
a valued
collaborator
on this project.

 

France
Descendant
Lorie Fain-Parenti
(Daytona Beach)