Gilson, Benjamin S.

GILSON, GROFF, HAMILTON, WALKER, MERTZ, DIXON, WARRINGTON, SMITH

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/29/2009 at 07:17:27

Gilson, Benjamin S.

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, and 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. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 638.