GEORGE M. GILCHRIST. — It has been given Judge
Gilchrist to confer honor and dignity on the bench and bar of Iowa, and
he is now one of the venerable representatives of his profession in the
city of Vinton, where he has long maintained his home. He is a member
of one of the honored pioneer families of Benton county and in all the
relations of life he has shown the same loyalty that prompted him to go
forth in defense of the Union when its integrity was menaced by armed
rebellion. His sterling integrity, uniformly recognized, is not a
matter of conventionality but is a part of the very fiber of his
character, so that he has never been denied the fullest measure of
popular confidence and esteem both as a man and as an able member of
the legal profession.
Judge George M. Gilchrist claims the fine old Hoosier state as the
place of his nativity, as he was born in the village of Franklin,
Johnson county, Indiana, on the 15th of April, 1839. He is a son of
Robert and Elizabeth (King)) Gilchrist, both of whom were natives of
Kentucky, whence the respective families removed to Johnson county,
Indiana, in the pioneer epoch in the history of that commonwealth. In
that county the marriage of the parents was solemnized. The King family
was early founded in Virginia and was of English lineage. The name was
prominent in the early annals of the Old Dominion state, whence
representatives eventually removed into Kentucky as pioneers. Thus in
various generations have members of this family, as well as of the
Gilchrist family, been identified with development and constructive
work in various parts of the United States. Robert Gilchrist was reared
to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, and he continued to be
identified with agricultural pursuits during the earlier period of his
independent career. Later he became a prosperous merchant in Franklin,
Indiana, and there also he was finally made cashier of the first bank
organized in Franklin. In 1856 he removed with his family to Benton
county, Iowa, and here he continued to follow the vocation of a
merchant during the residue of his active career. He was a man of
impregnable integrity and honor, and his character was of such high
order, that he was well fitted for leadership and action. He passed the
closing years of his life in Vinton, where he lived virtually retired
for a considerable period prior to his death, which occurred in
January, 1874. His devoted wife survived him by many years and attained
the venerable age of eighty-one years. Her death occurred on the 6th of
January, 1890, and her memory is revered by all who came within the
sphere of her gracious influence. Both she and her husband were devout
members of the Presbyterian church. They became the parents of four
children, of whom the subject of this review was the third in order of
birth. The only other survivor is Mary E., who is the wife of Rev. John
S. Dunning, of Portland, Oregon. Eleanor J., became the wife of M. P.
Adams and was a resident of Vinton, Iowa, at the time of her death;
Nancy died in infancy.
Judge Gilchrist gained his early educational training in the common
schools of Johnson county, Indiana, and then entered Hanover College,
at Hanover, that state. In this institution he had just completed the
work of the junior year when there came the call for volunteers to go
forth in defense of the Union. His youthful loyalty and patriotism were
roused to responsive protest, and in June, 1861, he enlisted as a
private in Company E, Third Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, with which
gallant command and on detached duty he served three years and nine
months, at the expiration of which, in February, 1865, he was mustered
out, at Winchester, Virginia. He took part in many of the important
engagements marking the progress of the great fratricidal conflict,
having participated in both of the Fredericksburg campaigns and the
Rappahannock campaigns. He was in action in the memorable engagements
at Gettysburg, Petersburg, South Mountain, Antietam, and the
Wilderness, besides which he took part in many skirmishes and other
minor engagements. He was, at once upon enlistment, made a duty
sergeant, the sergeant major of his regiment, then commissioned first
lieutenant of his company. Almost as soon as his commission was
received he was detailed as aide to Major General John Buford, and
thereafter until mustered out served on his staff and that of Major
Generals T. A. Torbet, Wesley Merritt and General George H. Chapman.
While so serving he was made a captain.
After receiving his honorable discharge Judge Gilchrist returned to the
parental home in Vinton, Iowa, and here he soon afterward began reading
law in the office of the firm of Shane & McCartny. He made rapid
progress in his absorption and assimilation of the science of
jurisprudence and in December, 1867, he was admitted to the bar, to
which he came with most excellent technical equipment and natural
ability. He forthwith engaged in the active practice of his profession
in Vinton, and save for the period of service in official capacity he
continued here the successful work of his profession until 1903, since
which time he has lived virtually retired, in the enjoyment of that
gracious repose that properly crowns a life of well directed toil and
endeavor. He early gained prestige as a specially versatile and able
trial lawyer, and the records of the local courts bear full assurance
of many fine forensic contests won by him. Well fortified in the
minutiae of the law and in wisdom born of wide experience, Judge
Gilchrist has not only been known as a safe and conservative counsellor
but he was specially well equipped also for the duties of the judicial
office to which he was called in 1888. In 1867 he was elected county
judge for a term of two years. At the expiration of one year the office
was abolished. He was then ex-officio county auditor and of this office
he continued to be incumbent until January, 1870. Thereafter he served
several terms as city attorney, and for twelve years he was a valued
and zealous member of the board of education of Vinton. About the
beginning of the year 1888 he was appointed district judge of the
Seventeenth judicial district of Iowa to succeed Judge L. C. Kinne who
resigned but afterwards stood for re-election and succeeded. Judge
Gilchrist afterward resumed the practice of his profession, in which he
continued with success until his final retirement. He has ever shown a
deep appreciation of the dignity of his profession, has been a
scrupulous observer of its unwritten code of ethics and has added
distinction to the history of the bench and bar of the state in which
he has so long maintained his home and in which his name has ever been
a synonym of insuperable integrity and honor. In politics Judge
Gilchrist has ever given an unqualified allegiance to the Republican
party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Presbyterian
congregation in their home city, where they are held in affectionate
regard by all who know them.
On the 20th of October, 1864, was solemnized the marriage of Judge
Gilchrist to Miss Mary S. Gilpin, who was born at Padys Run, Ohio, and
who is a daughter of Samuel N. and Mary (Thomas) Gilpin, who removed
from the old Buckeye state to Indiana, where her marriage was
celebrated. Concerning the four children of Judge and Mrs. Gilchrist
the following brief data are entered: Ethelwyn is the wife of Judge B.
Elwin F. Brown of Vinton; Robert M., is a railroad conductor and
resides in Cedar Rapids, this state; Mary, is the wife of Augustus A.
Barnum, editor of the Mount Vernon Hawkeye, at Mount Vernon, Iowa; and
Emma is the wife of Dr. John E. Luckey, of Vinton.
Picture of George M. Gilchrist
