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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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Benjamin
S. Gilson The enterprise of Benjamin S. Gilson, long connected with the agricultural interests of Jasper County, now living in retirement in Newton, has been crowned by success, as the result of rightly applied principles which never fail in their ultimate effect when coupled with integrity, uprightness and congenial disposition, as they have been done in the present instance, judging from the high standing of Mr. Gilson among his fellow men, who’s individual esteem he has justly won and retained. Mr.
Gilson was born near Emmetsburg, Maryland, October 25, 1846. He is the son of
Thomas S. and Susan E. (Groff) Gilson, the father born in Frederick County,
Maryland, February 27, 1825, and the mother was also born in that state. There
they grew to maturity, were educated and married. They came to Dubuque, Iowa, in
1852, where they made their home until the spring of 1870, when they removed to
Marshall County. Mr. Gilson devoted
his life to farming, remaining on his place in Marshall County until 1885, when
he removed to Marshalltown, where he died in 1802. He was a man of energy, upright character and well liked
wherever he lived. He was an
enthusiastic worker in the Methodist Church, and at the time of his death was
trustee of the Church at Marshalltown, and he had held other positions in the
Church. His wife was also a member of this Church from her early youth. They
were the parents of three children, Thomas R., of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and
Benjamin S., of this review, the other child being deceased.
The mother passed to her rest in 1907, having attained the advanced age
of eighty-five years. Benjamin
S. Gilson came west with his parents and was reared on the home farm, where he
worked in the summer, and attended the public schools in the wintertime.
He has always been a farmer and delights in rural surroundings.
He began life for himself on a farm in Dubuque County, and after he was
married moved to Marshall County, and in 1891 located at Newton and retired from
active farm work. For some time he
has been speculating in lands on his own account, and his efforts have met with
success. Mr.
Gilson was married March 2, 1869, to Frances E. Hamilton, who was born in
Dubuque County, Iowa, the daughter of James S. and Mary (Walker) Hamilton,
natives of Pennsylvania. To this
union three children have been born: Jeanetta Mabel, who keeps house for her
father, is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
She is rarely accomplished in china, watercolor, pastel and oil painting.
She is a graduate of the high school and is a young lady of marked
intellectual attainments; Charles W. who married Mrs. Grayce (Mertz) Dixon,
August 30, 1911, lives at Scott, Saskatchewan, Canada; James Harold. Both boys are homesteading in Canada. James H. is a graduate of Northwestern University at Chicago,
receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts; he is also a graduate of the Comnock
School of Oratory of Evanston, Illinois, having spent six years in college. He
was offered a professorship, but he preferred outdoor life on the farm.
He has financial interest in the Kittleman Leather Goods Company, of
Chicago He was married November 9, 1911, to Ruth Ormiston Warrington, daughter
of Rev. Thomas C. Warrington, pastor of McKinley Park church of Chicago, and
lives in Canada. Mrs.
Gilson passed to her rest in December 1906, when fifty-eight years of age.
She was a member of the Methodist Church, as is also Mr. Gilson and the
entire family. The father is a
Prohibitionist and so votes. He has
a beautiful and neatly kept home on East South Street.
While Mr. Gilson is a retired farmer, he is still engaged in business,
having large land holdings in Canada, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota.
Walter, the eldest son, is an expert machinist, and is doing expert work
for the International Harvester Company in Canada, making his headquarters at
Scott, Saskatchewan. Mr.
Gilson is a class leader in the Methodist Church at Newton and has held nearly
all the offices in the church. He
has been a teacher in the Bible class for fifteen years.
He was twice a delegate to the world's Sunday School Congress, and he is
a member of the Red Cross Society. The
reputation of the Gilson ancestors is most exemplary, there having been no
criminals and several preachers among them, and one of them fought in the
Revolutionary War. William Gilson
was the founder of the family in America. He
married Elizabeth Craighead. Their son, Thomas Gilson, married Nancy Boyd, and
their son Richard married Mary Smith, and Thomas, the son of the latter couple,
was the father of the subject. David
Boyd was captured by the Indians and lived three years with them. Upon his
return to his friends he joined the patriot army in the Revolutionary War,
throughout which he served. Mr.
Gilson is a pleasant man to meet, hospitable, kind-hearted and possessing every
characteristic of a Christian gentleman and he makes friends easily and has no
trouble in retaining them. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. |
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