Also known as Florence Lancina, Florence Gilbert, and Florence Wells Lancina Gilbert.

Believed to have made a typewritten copy of William H. Zilhart's diary. From a letter from her son to Shirley Pope:

The enclosed is a typed copy of the original made by my mother in the late 1920's. The spelling corrections are hers as are the pedantic explanations - she was, after all, only seventeen. At some time after that, her grandmother, Ellen Wells, whom your mother knew, returned the diary to the Zilharts.and they threw it away, according to my mother. What I do know about the diary, is that some of the McReynolds clan, or their kin, had come across in this party with Zilhart. My mother was vague about who, but I believe she thought it was a Gauldin girl, or the Gauldins.

She is listed as Mrs. Florence Laucena, SR, the informant for the burial information of her grandmother, Ellen Sarah (McReynolds) Wells, the daughter of James Madison McReynolds and Mary Frances Gauldin, who appear to have come to California a year before the 1853 Cockrill-Hagans group.

Florence Wells shares a gravestone with her second husband (photo by Susan Zeni):

Obituary from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 8 March 1990, page B4, column 2 (from Jeremy Nichols/Susan Zeni):

Florence Gilbert

Florence Wells Gilbert, whose family settled in Sonoma County in 1851, died Tuesday at a Santa Rosa hospital after a short illness. She was 79.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Daniels Chapel of the Rosa, with inurnment at Spring Hill Cemetery.

Mrs. Gilbert's grandmother, Sara Ellen McReynolds, came to the Green Valley area near Sebastopol 139 years ago, then moved to Santa Rosa in the 1870's, said James Lancina, one of her sons. Gilbert was born in San Jose, but grew up in Santa Rosa, graduating from Fremont, Santa Rosa Junior High and Santa Rosa High schools before attending Burbank Business School.

She was a legal secretary for 50 years in Santa Rosa, starting with Harry T. Kyle and last working for Nick DeMeo. In between, she worked for many different lawyers, including a stint in the District Attorney's Office during the 1960s, her son said.

She was a member of the Rose Valley Chapter No. 23 of the Order of the Eastern Star, of Delta Chi Sigma sorority and of the Legal Secretaries Associaton of Santa Rosa.

She is survived by her children; Lancina of Carmel Valley, Christin Ligon of Brentwood and Kennon R. Gilbert Jr. of San Francisco; a stepdaughter, Lorna Hammer; and five grandchildren.

Contributions may be made to Volunteer Wheels of Sonoma County, 1041 Fourth St., Santa Rosa 95404, or to Community Hospital's Intensive Care Unit or Dialysis Floor, in care of Administration, 3325 Chanate Road, Santa Rosa, 95404.