Gilbert Franklin Bushong

Gilbert Franklin Bushong

Bushong, Gilbert Franklin (1916-2011)

Gilbert Franklin Bushong, barefoot, as a young boy seated on a chair.

He was one of four sons of Emery Franklin (1889-1949) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Sarah (Wisman) (1889-1972) Bushong.

Gilbert and his brothers grew up on a farm west of Woodstock on Fairview Road. He was a lifelong resident of Woodstock.

In 1921, Gilbert and his older brother, Lee, survived a harrowing 250-foot fall over a precipice across the river from the Triplett power plant. It occurred when the horse their father was using to pull a wagon up a mountain was spooked by something. The horse broke away and ran over the cliff with the wagon and boys attached. The two boys were found badly bruised but alive at the foot of the cliff near the river. They had to be rescued by boat. The newspaper article described the event as “one of the most remarkable escapes in the history of the mountains”.

The name, "Bushong", is written on the glass plate of this image.

Morrison Studio

Morrison Studio Collection - Shenandoah County Historical Society

Shenandoah County Library

The glass plate negative of this image was stored in a box labeled "Jan 1918".

Identified in 2013 by Joyce (Bushong) Eastman, a niece of Gilbert F. Bushong.

Information about the Bushong accident was originally published on 1 September 1921 in the Shenandoah Herald newspaper and was also reprinted in the Past Events Section of the Free Press, Shenandoah County, Virginia, on March 11, 2011. We have extracted information from the reprinted article.

IN COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE PERMITTED

Gilbert Franklin Bushong appears in Morrison Studio Collection numbers 011167, 014138, 016520, 016522, 019150 and 019406.

019406

Glass Negative