USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 7
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 7
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ENRY J. GERDEMAN, one of the well-known farmers and prosperous citizens of Washington township, Van Wert county, Ohio, was born in Hanover, Germany, December 18, 1820. He is a son of Henry and Mary Gerdeman, both natives of Hanover. His father was a farmer, and died in the old country when his son, Henry J., was but four and a half years old, while the mother of our subject died in the old country also, when the latter was but twenty- eight years of age. There were four sons and five daughters born to the parents, all of whom, with the exception of our subject, are now dead. Only five of the children came to America.
Henry J. Gerdeman was reared on the farm in the old country and received his education there by attending the neighboring schools. In 1840, when nearly twenty years of age, he and his brother, Jolin D., came to America; they landed at Baltimore, and from that city came to Putnam county, Ohio, where their sister, Mary Ann, was living, she having come over four years earlier. After arriving in Putnam county he was taken ill with fever and ague and for eight months was sick. After recov- ering his health he went to work on the dig-
ging of the Wabash & Erie canal, and worked on that until the contract was let for digging the Miami extension of the canal, when he went to work on that; this was in 1843. and what is now Delphos was then known as Sec- tion No. 10. Where the town stands was all in woods, and the only houses were canal shanties. He remained in Delphos for fifteen years, during which time he was working in a saw-mill.
In 1860 he began farming on land he had already purchased, which land embraced 160 acres lying about two and one-half miles west of Delphos, in section No. 27, Washington township, Van Wert county. Since that he has added at times to the first 160 acres; in section No. 22 he has twenty-eight acres; in section No. 26 he has eighty acres; in section No. 33 he has 160 acres, and in section No. 34 he has eighty acres. His first purchase of land was was from the government in :$47. In 1855, before he moved upon it, he built a small house of two rooms, and in that he lived from 1860 until 1867. when he made an addi- tion to it, two stories in height, containing four large rooms; he now has one of the best residences in his neighborhood. Mr. Gerde- man has always been one of the leading men of his township, and has always been quite prominent. He has served as trustec of his township for several terins, was a school di- rector and was a director in the German Mu- tual Fire Insurance company, of Delphos. In politics he is a democrat.
Mr. Gerdeman has been twice married. The first time was in 1851, when he married Bernardine Gerking, who was born in 1833. and was a native of Germany. Twenty months after their marriage her death occurred. leaving one son, Joseph A., who is a farmer of Washington township, section No. 3. The second marriage was in 1854, when he mar- ried Mary J. Moennig, who was born in Han-
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over, Germany, in 1836. To this union seven boys were born, as follows: Henry, Ferdi- nand, John, William, Frank, and Sylvester and Theodore, twins. Mr. Gerdeman and family are members of Saint John's Roman Catholic church, and he served as trustee of that church for some time. At the centennial celebration he was on one of the committees, and he also had a place on the old settlers' wagon.
AMES W. GILBERT, a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, and a prosperous farmer of Tully township, is a son of Eleazer and Minerva (Fisher) Gilbert, and was born January 1, 1845. Eleazer Gil- bert was of Welsh descent, but came from Pennsylvania to Van Wert county and settled in Harrison township. By his first wife were born four children, viz : James W., Charles, Anette and Sarah. His second marriage was to Leah Crothers, who bore him six children. Mrs. Gilbert died in 1859, but he is still a resident of Van Wert county.
James W. Gilbert received the ordinary common-school education and was reared on the home farm. When about nineteen years of age, fired by a commendable patriotisin, he enlisted, October 11, 1854, at Van Wert, in company C, Seventy-eighth Ohio infantry, to serve for one year or during the war, but the young soldier was held for about nine months. only, being honorably discharged July 11, 1865, at Louisville, Ky., the object for which he volunteered having been accomplished and the Rebellion suppressed. He entered upon active service by joining Gen. Sherman's army after the fall of Atlanta (September 2, 1864), and was with that hero on the famous march to the sea, and took part in a number of severe skirmishes. He marched the entire distance
to Goldsboro, N. C., on foot, with the excep- tion of one day's ride, which he secured by picking up a worn-out horse. After the glori- ous victory over 40,000 rebels near Goldsboro, March 19, 1865, Sherman proceeded north- ward, and finally, peace having been restored, Mr. Gilbert had the proud satisfaction of tak- ing part in the grand review at Washington, D. C., May 23-4, 1865, whence with his regi- inent he. was sent to Louisville, Ky., to be mustered out of the service. During this period Mr. Gilbert was never sick, never wound- ed nor taken prisoner, nor ever missed a roll- call. On his return to Van Weit Mr. Gilbert was married, September 7, 1865, to Miss Kate Stevens, daughter of Moses and Levina (Howe) Stevens. Moses Stevens was born in West- inoreland county, Pa., of Scotch-Irish parents, and came to Ohio in 1852, settling in Adams county, where he bought and cleared up an eighty-acre farm, on which he died at the age of fifty-five years. He was a republican in politics and an honored and hard-working man. He and his wife were members of the Metho- dist church and were the parents of eight chil- dren, named as follows : Wesley, Thomas, Emma, Rachael, Julia, Kate, Jennie and Melissia.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert settled iu Harrison township, Van Wert county, and in the spring of 1875 came to Tully township, bought sixty acres of heavily timpered land, cleared it by hard work and made a good home, now well cultivated and improved with all necessary buildings. Ten children came to crown the union of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert, and were named, Lillie, Burt, Martin, Cora (died at the age of twenty years). Jennie, Elsie, Myrtle, Teressa, James and Grover. In poli- tics Mr. Gilbert is a democrat, but was one of those who served his country faithfully as a soldier. He is a self-made man and a sub- tantial citizen of the purest integrity.
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RANCIS H. GIPE, a practical and rising young farmer of Ridge town- ship, was born in Van Wert county, Ohio, July 23, 1864, a son of Elias and Louisa (Gilliland) Gipe, the latter being a son of one of the earliest of the pioneer fami- lies of the county. A brother of our subject, Waldo C. Gipe, is also a farmer of Ridge township; a sister of subject, Minnie, is the wife of E. B. Waldron, a grocer of the city of Van Wert, and another sister, Rosa A., died in early womanhood. The father of this family died a few years after the death of his wife, who was summoned to the grave October 5, 1874.
Francis H. Gipe having in his adolesence lost his parents, made his home, as did also his brother and sister, with his maternal grand- father, Hugh Gilliland, under whom our sub- ject was inured and trained to the arduous duties of a farmer's lite-a circumstance he has never had cause to regret. He had the usual advantages of a common-school educa- tion, and added to the knowledge acquired under the instruction of the common-school teachers much more, under self-tuition. In
I889 he was united in wedlock with Miss Lu- cinda E. Sanders, daughter of Sylvester and Mary E. (Smith) Sanders, the union being blessed by the birth of three daughters -- Rosa, Helen (deceased), and Mabel. The amiable mother of this little family lived but a few years in the enjoyment of her domestic felicity, being called away, in 1893, to join the caravan that proceeds without ceasing to the last and permanent home on earth of mortals.
In politics Mr Gipe is an uncompromising democrat, and in 1893 was elected to the office of township treasurer, and, as an instance of his popularity with all parties and the people at large, it is but fair to state that he was the only democrat that was ever elected to the office in Ridge township. He performed his
duties well and faithfully, and no word has ever been uttered that would or could impugn his integrity. Socially Mr. Gipe stands very high, and as a member of the grange he is en- ergetic in promoting its welfare. His farm of seventy-four acres, three miles southeast of Van Wert, is a model in itself, and gives. evidence of the fact that a master hand holds control of it.
ON. E. B. GILLILAND is a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, born April 10, 1846, a son of Thomas and Catherine (McCann) Gilliland, na- tives of Maryland, and among the earlier set - tlers of Van Wert county, Ohio. The family is quite a famous one in this county, as well as in the city, as will be found in the various sketches published in this volume, to which the reader can readily refer by means of the index preceding these sketches.
Thomas Gilliland was born October 22. 1806, and Mrs. Catherine Gilliland December II, ISO9. In 1835, Thomas came to Van Wert county with his wife, his son William and a daughter Martha, and entered 160 acres of land in Ridge township, the tract being a part of the farm now owned by our subject. Hon. E. B. Gilliland-the father increasing his possessions at one time to 4So acres, and be- coming one of the most prominent farmers and popular citizens of the township. He was a thoroughly upright man, was a member of the F. & A. M., and held the full confidence of his fellow-citizens, whom he served fifteen years as justice of the peace, holding that office at the time of his decease, which oc- curred July 28, 1857, when his remains were interred in the old cemetery at Van Wert, with Masonic honors. The respected widow of Mr. Gilliland survived until November 13. 1888, when her venerated remains were also-
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deposited in the same receptacle. The twelve children of this pioneer couple were born in the following order: Martha, wife of Ira Cavett; William, deceased; Mary Jane, deceased wife of G. C. Weible; Sarah Ann, married to D. M. Conroy; John Francis, deceased; Robert A. Webster, deceased; James Maxwell, of the city of Van Wert; Edward B., subject of this sketch; Ellen and Elizabeth, deceased; Hen- rietta, wife of Allen Lown, of Van Wert city, and Thomas Hiram, deceased.
Hon. E. B. Gilliland, whose name opens this biographical memoir, passed his early youth on the home farmi, enjoying, at the same time, excellent opportunities for an education, becoming, himself, a school-teacher, a voca- tion he followed six years. In the year 1875, he was united in matrimony with Miss Mary Jane Collins, daughter of Samuel and Eliza- beth (Featherolf) Collins, which happy union was blessed by the birth of six children, named as follows: Florence, Daisy, Thomas, Grace (deceased), Myrtle, and Edna May (deceased). Mr. Gilliland, like various other members of his family, continued to rise in popularity and became a favorite with the democratic party, his abilities as a politician being also recognized by the public at large, the result being that he was elected to serve his constituency in the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth Ohio general as- sembly, and his popularity was further empha- sized by the fact that he was elected from a district that usually polled from 100 to 200 re- publican majority. While in the legislature he served in a most satisfactory manner on the important committee of ways and means. on committee on agriculture, and on the cominit- tee on the insane asylum. In religion Mr. Gilliland and his entire family are members of the church of Rome, of which they are not only conscientious adherents in principle, but liberal supporters in a financial sense. In his worldly possessions Mr. Gilliland may well be
considered quite well to do, possessing, as he does, a fine farm of 206 acres and property of considerable value in the city of Van Wert. The social standing of the family, it is needless to say, is with the highest and most honored of the county.
M. GILLILAND, son of Adam and Sarah (Shaffner) Gilliland. was born in Ridge township, Van Wert county, Ohio, June 15, 1842, was reared on the home farm, and has made farming his life vocation. At the age of twenty-two years he enlisted in company B, One Hundred and Ninety-second Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until the close of the Rebellion, when he was honorably discharged at Winchester, Va .. He then returned to the home of his childhood and resumed farming on the old home place until 1868, when he bought sixty acres of land, which he has since supplemented with sixty additional acres, on which he has made all the improvements. On the 3d day of February, IS70, he was united in marriage with Miss Amanda E. Balyeat, daughter of Jacob and Frances (Thomas) Balyeat, resi- dents of Ridge township, and this union has been blessed by the birth of five children, viz: Homer, who married Flora Johantgen, of Ridge township. the remaining four being Ira, Laura, Frances and Jesse. Mr. Gilliland and his family worship at the Methodist church and manifest in their daily walk the sincerity of their belief in that faith. In politics Mr. Gilliland is a democrat, and in 1884 was elected a justice of the peace; during the six years that he performed the functions of this office it may be said that not more than three cases were appealed from his docket, and in no instance was a decision of his reversed. A more exten- sive notice of the Gilliland family will be found in adjacent parts of this volume, also the
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genealogy of the Balyeat family will be given upon other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Gilliland are well known citizens throughout Ridge town- ship, and none hold the confidence of the en- tire community to a greater extent than they, and none take a deeper interest in the matters of education and the moral training of the community. Mr. Gilliland is one of the enter- prising and progressive men of his township, and well deserves the high respect in which he is held.
J AMES M. GILLILAND, son of Thomas and Catherine Gilliland (see geneaology of Gilliland family) is a native of Van Wert county, born in the year IS43. Reared on a farm in the vicinity of the city of Van Wert, he enjoyed the usual advantages of acquiring an education and began his life as a farmer, purchasing, in connection with his brother, Hon. E. B. Gilliland, the old home- stead, when but nineteen years of age. Later he disposed of his interest in the farm, and. subsequently purchased a farm consisting of 155 acres two and a half iniles southeast of Van Wert, which he has highly improved, its present condition and close proximity to the city making it one of the most valuable pieces of land of its area in the county. In July, 1892, Mr. Gilliland purchased two acres on South Walnut street, Van Wert, and in Jan- uary of the following year moved to his city home, which is one of the most desirable resi- dence properties on the street on which it is situated.
April 10, 1878, Mr. Gilliland and Miss Mary Ellen Gorham, daughter of Eleazar and Mary M. (Harlam) Gorham, were united in marriage. The parents of Mrs. Gilliland were both na- tives of Clinton county, Ohio, and the names of their children are as follows: Elvira B., died in infancy; Mary Ellen; Melvina F., wife of
Lafayette Hudgel; Elmira E., wife of Calvin C. Gamble, and Agnes Ann, deceased The mother of these children died on the 5th day of March, 1862.
Mrs. Gilliland's father served in the late war, enlisting in 1861, in the Seventy-ninth regiment, but was afterward transferred to the Seventy-third, Ohio volunteer infantry. He served throughout the war without receiving an injury, except the partial loss of the sense of hearing, caused by the heavy cannonading during one the battles in which he was engaged.
Mr. Gilliland has been quite successful in his business ventures, accumulating thereby an ample competence. Politically he is a demo- crat and religiously subscribes to the creed of the Methodist church, his wife also being an active member of the saine church, and both belonging to the congregation worshiping in Van Wert.
John Gilliland was born in Ridge township, Van Wert county, Ohio, July 5, 1836, the first white male child born there, and is a son of Adam and Sarah (Shaffer) Gilliland, full particulars regarding whom will be found in the history of their family on another page. John Gilliland, our subject, was reared to manhood on the home farm, was educated in the common schools, and in the spring of 1857 made a trip to Woodford county. Ill., where he passed the following summer in farm labor. returning, the next winter, to his native town- ship of Ridge, where he re-engaged in farm work, and was so employed until his marriage in 1866, further mention of which important event in his life will be made a little further on. In the year named he settled on eighty acres of land owned by his wife in section No. 31. Ridge township, to which he has since added twenty-one acres, the combined tracts consti- tuting his present home. To this farm he devoted his undivided attention, and improved and assiduously cultivated until 1873, when he
ANDREW J. GLEASON
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
began dealing in live stock, shipping to the eastern markets, and this trade, in conjunction with agriculture, claimed his attention until within the past few years, when he made live stock dealing his sole occupation, in which he has met with abundant success.
The marriage of Mr. Gilliland took place in Ridge township, June 9, 1866, with Miss Lucy Cavett, who was born in Williams county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Elizabeth Cavett, and to this happy union ten children have been born, viz: Ella, wife of H. V. Cooper; William C., Adam and Emma J., all of Ridge township; Bertha, wife of J. Huffine; Pearl, wife of Delbert A. North; an infant, deceased; Hugh, Sarah and Ira. Mr. and Mrs. Gilliland are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are very liberal in its support. In politics Mr. Gilliland is a democrat, and in 1890 was elected land appraiser of his township, serving one year; in 1891 he was elected trustee of his township, and served until 1893, and in 1895 was re- elected to the same office. He is a highly honored citizen, and the attention of the reader is called to another page, on which is opened the history of the Gilliland family, prepared by T. S. Gilliland of Van Wert. Of the chil- dren of our subject, William C. married De- laura Crothers, March 24, 1897, and Adam married Rosetta Tumbleson, December 28, in the year 1893.
to America were three brothers, who settled in New England, during the colonial period. and were the original stock from which the Amer- ican family sprung, which gradually spread to adjacent states, until now its descendants are to be found in every northern state, and doubtless many southern states also.
Bezaleel Gleason, the great-grandfather of Andrew J. Gleason, to whom we are indebted for the data of this memoir, is the most re- mote ancestor known of, in a direct line. He lived near Brattleboro, Vt., and is said to have taken part with Gen. Stark's Green Mountain boys, at the battle of Bennington. He was probably a descendant of the Thomas Gleason above mentioned. His wife was Phoebe Newberry, their family consisting of six sons and three daughters, named as fol- lows: Adonijah, Amos, Nathan and Nahum (twins), Ira, Bezaleel, Sarah, Phoebe and Clarissa. Adonijah was a Baptist preacher, lived at Sempronius, N. Y., for a time, then removed to Switzerland county, Ind., and at last accounts was in Minnesota, where he prob- ably died. To him and his wife Cynthia were born three sons, Justus, Parsons and Elias, the last named living in Cincinnati during the 'fifties. Amos, second son, lived at Caledonia Springs, N. Y .; Sarah (Fisher) lived also in New York state on the St. Lawrence river. while the rest of the family, except Bezaleel (second) continued to reside in Vermont when last heard of.
It was while journeying across the mount- ains on his return from visiting some of his children that the aged patriarch was overtaken by a tragic fate, becoming bewildered in a mountain storm, causing him to lose his way and to perish in the cold. Bezaleel, the writer's grandfather, settled in Ontario count- ty, N. Y., near where the town of Shortsville now stands. He was a fariner, and a man
HE GLEASON FAMILY .- Probably the earliest mention of the Gleason family of America, traceable, is found in the records Cambridge, Mass., where, in 1657, lived Thomas Gleason, who emigrated to America from New Castle, Eng- land, the family having originated in the north of Ireland. There is a family legend relating that the first emigrants of the name to come I noted for great muscular strength. He mar-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
ried Abigail Howland, by whom he had three sons and five daughters, viz: Stephen, Joseph, Sarah, Phoebe, Clarissa, Mary, Eliza and Ben- jamin. His death occurred June 21, 1832, after which his widow resided on the family homestead for some years, then, gathering to- gether her family (except Sarah and Phoebe, who had previously married), her two eldest sons piloting the way, she removed, in the summer of 1837, to the unbroken wilds of Van Wert county, Ohio, taking up lands in the southwestern part of Pleasant township, where she resided until her death, which took place August 29, 1851, having seen the most of her children settled around her, and enjoyed the affectionate care of both children and grand- children.
Stephen Gleason, the eldest son, was born in Ontario county, N. Y., July 24, 1801. He married Amanda Fletcher, by whom he had eight children, viz: Emily (Evers), Sarah J. (Royce), Mary A. (Evers), Lucy O. (Albright), Charles F., George H., Louisa (Kiser), and Oliver B., four of whom are living, viz: Sarah J. Royce, of Columbia City, Ind .; Charles F. Gleason and Mrs. J. W. Kiser, of Dull, Ohio, and Oliver B. Gleason, of Van Wert city. For several years after his marriage he fol- lowed the occupation of a farmer, residing, a part of the time, at a place called Oak Orchard, N. Y., but being enticed by the flattering re- ports from the new country in western Ohio. after first, with his brother Joseph. having prospected and selected a location, he sold his property in New York state, and at the head of the family colony, with wife and five children, he turned his back on a compara- tively comfortable home to face hardships and privations he little dreamed of. At one time he was left in charge of the whole colony, while his brothers, with all the available teams, proceeded to a point on the Maumee river. where a portion of the household goods had
been shipped via water, a trip requiring some weeks, in the bad condition of the roads. During all this time Stephen was constantly employed carrying grists of corn to and from a hand-mill, some four or five miles distant, to keep up a supply of breadstuff. Yet indom- itable pluck carried him through these and sin- ilar hardships until he had made for himself and family a comfortable home again.
Mr. Gleason lived on his farm, which he and his sons brought into a high state of culti- vation, until about 1867, having been several times elected county commissioner, and after- ward county treasurer, which offices he held with much credit to himself and to the satis- faction of the public. Upon retiring from the office of treasurer he resumed his farm life, but, receiving a fair offer for his farm, sold it to Robert Wade and removed to Van Wert. Here, however, he remained only long enough to enable him to purchase another farm near South Whitley, Ind., to which he soon after removed. Losing his faithful wife in 1871, he soon gave up farming, spending his time with his children up to the time of his death, June 21, 1883, the fifty-first anniversary of his father's death. Both his and his wife's re- mains were brought to Van Wert and interred in the family lot in the old Van Wert cemetery.
In politics Mr. Gleason was a democrat. and, being of an argumentative disposition, was always ready for a tilt with a political oppo- nent. His religious belief was Universalism. although never having any affiliation with that church; as a citizen few were looked up to for counsel and advice more than he, and while in or out of public office his best efforts for the promotion of the county's welfare were given without stint, and many substantial improve- ments through the county will perpetuate the memory of Stephen Gleason.
Joseph Gleason, father of the writer, was born in Manchester township, Ontario county.
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