Annie Russell Gillis Wells

Annie Russell Gillis was the first born of Maggie Rena Johnson and George Edgar Gillis. She was born and raised in the Stringtown/Wildcat Rd area of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. We also think they lived in what is now Salvisa, in Mercer Co area at some point and time. This could be where she met her first husband., Herbert Dennis. She and Herbert had one daughter, Barbara Ann Dennis Whitaker. She and Herbert divorced very early on. Ann pursued work in downtown Lexington, as a waitress in a local eatery. She left Barbara at Herbert's mother's residence in Mercer Co to be cared for and sent to school. Ann later met and married Prewitt Wells. They bought a home on Liberty Rd in Lexington, where she lived till she died. Barbara was Ann's only child. I have found out recently that she was probably named for Annie Russell Bond Cole, a cousin of her mother, Maggie Rena Johnson Gillis. Annie Russell Bond and Maggie Rena Johnson Gillis all hailed from the Penney families, descendents of Rev John Penney and kin to J. C. Penney (billionaire of J.C. Penney stores/catalog) Ann's mother Maggie Rena, was orphaned at 10 and lived in several households, this being the last one before she married George Edgar Gillis, Ann's dad. Maggie Rena cooked on a large Cole farm/estate in Fox Creek, Anderson County, in Annie Russell Bond Cole's household. She lived there as well. Apparently Maggie Rena loved her cousin Annie Russell dearly, since she named her first born Ann, after her.

Info by Linda Gillis Sherwood/McElwain 2009-2019