Notes A birth registration was found for Joseph Gilbrook: Year of Registration: 1899; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Hackney; County: Greater London, London, Middlesex; Volume: 1b; Page: 438. Parents: John Joannes Leopoldus Gilbrook and Mary Slatter, married August 17, 1890 in Hackney, London, England.
In 1901, Joseph Gillbrook, 1 year of age, was shown residing at 4 Frances Terrace, North Hackney, London, England. Other family members included: John Gillbrook, 34, cigar maker; John Gillbrook, 6; lodger, John Wilson, 45, general labourer; Lilly Gillbrook, 3; Mary Gillbrook, 34; Mary Gillbrook, 5; and Violet Gillbrook, 7. (Source: 1901 Census of England; Class: RG13; Piece: 210; Folio: 139; Page: 11.)
The Gilbrook boys' mother, Mary, died suddenly of Typhoid in London, England, in 1904. A death registration was found for Mary Gilbrook: Estimated Birth Year: abt 1865; Year of Registration: 1904; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; Age at Death: 39; District: Edmonton; County: Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex; Volume: 3a; Page: 270.
Their father couldn't cope and the children were placed into orphanages. The girls stayed in England, but first the eldest boy was sent to London, Ontario, then the two younger ones were sent, eventually ending up at different locations in Saskatchewan. Sufficient to say all ties were severed.
In 1912, Joseph Gilbrook, 13 (along with his brother, Henry Gilbrook, 10), arrived at Quebec, Canada, in a group of 70 MacPherson children en route to Stratford, Ontario, Canada. (Brother, John Gilbrook, 15, arrived with MacPherson in 1910 on the Virginian.)
Years later the eldest boy managed to contact the two others and eventually they were all reunited in London, Ontario after many unhappy adventures. They carried their scars all their lives, and although they all eventually married, they all refused to talk about their previous lives to their own families, so there families grew up with no knowledge of where their fathers came from, and were left in limbo when they died.
On May 4, 1931, in Ontario, Canada, Joseph Gilbrook married Gertrude Hill. The couple had four children.
Joseph Gilbrook died in 1982 in Ontario, Canada.