Three Forks of the Kentucky River Historical Association

Biography

Wilson O. & Betty Gabbard

WILSON O. & BETTY (BOWMAN) GABBARD were both born in Owsley County, KY, into families who were of the earliest settlers in this area. Both Arch & James Bowman, Betty's uncles, had done extensive work on the Bowman, Peters, and McGuire families. Fred Gabbard had done work on his and W. O.'s family of Gabbards and their direct line of ancestors. Other than that we had little organized information. We wanted to gather more information and put it into a logical form to pass on to our three children.

W. O. is a direct descendant of Henry Gabbard and Barbara Hunsecker. Betty is a direct descendant of Jacob Gabbard Sr. and Margaret "Peggy" Smith. The only other common family name is that each has a Peters grandmother several generations back. It was natural that we wanted to find more about these family connections. With both of us working in the Owsley County school system, going to school to further our education, a growing family and doing some farming, there was no time for genealogy. After 35 years in educational work, 30 of which he was principal at Owsley County High School, W. O. retired in 1977. Betty retired in 1986 after 30 years, 23 of which were as librarian at Owsley County High School.

After retirement much of our spare time, especially in the winter months was spent in research and organizing family information.

We had slowed in the work we were doing. We have our direct lines on each side back several generations. It came to our attention that an effort was being made to organize a new Owsley County Kentucky Historical Society. We felt that this was a worthy effort and should be supported. The best way to support this organization seemed to be to share the work we have done. Hopefully others who have private collections of information will share it with the younger generations of researchers.

Read his Military Biography