Thomas C. Gilpin

GILPIN, MCBRIDE

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 10/3/2004 at 22:33:34

“The History of Madison County, Iowa”
Union Historical Company, Des Moines, 1879
pages 535, 536

T. C. Gilpin, a Winterset attorney, was born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1832. He removed to Indiana where he was admitted to the bar February 9, 1855 and later, came to this State in 1860.

On August 4, 1861, he enlisted as a Private in Company E, 3rd Iowa Cavalry. On April 3, 1862, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and was afterward promoted to First Lieutenant, and then to Captain, and was brevetted Major for gallant service at Ebenezer Church, Alabama. On April 1, 1865, their division captured about $700,000 belonging to the school fund of the State, but held by the State Bank of Tennessee in trust. These funds were entrusted to the care of Major Gilpin, who took them by wagon train to Dalton, and thence by railroad to Nashville, and turned them over to W. G. Brownlow, who was then governor of the State, and he holds the receipt of the governor and secretary of the State for the same.

After he was mustered out of the service at the close of the war, he settled in Winterset, in 1865, and practiced his profession. He was elected county judge in 1868, and held that office one year, when it was abolished. He also held the office of auditor. He married Miss S. F. McBride in 1856, who was born in Rush county, Indiana. They have six children: Ellerslie F., Curits N., Grace W., Victor C., Finley W. and Eva M.
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“A Memorial and Biographical Record of Iowa”
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1896

Major Thomas C. Gilpin, of Winterset, is one of the prominent residents of that city, where he is living retired after many years of active connection with the practice of law and public affairs generally. His birth occurred in New London, now Shandon, Butler county, Ohio, on the 27th of September, 1832, and he is a son of Samuel N. and Mary (Thomas) Gilpin, the former born in Connecticut on the 16th of March, 1806, and the latter near London, England, December 28, 1809. She was but a child of nine years when she came to the United States. Therefore practically her entire life was passed in this country, her death occurring November 26, 1888, when she was almost seventy-nine years of age.

Samuel N. Gilpin was reared upon a farm in Connecticut. The family moved to Cayuga Lake, New York, where his father became a landowner. Samuel N. Gilpin worked at the carpenter's trade, which he had learned in his youth. He subsequently removed to the Miami river, in Butler county, Ohio, arriving there when conditions were primitive and when there was still more that told of Indian occupancy than of white settlement. He found a big camp of Indians near the fort at Bowling Green, just across the river from the farm owned by his father.

He resided in Ohio until 1844 and then removed to Franklin county, Indiana, where he became a landowner and farmer. Upon retiring from active life he removed to Jefferson county, so that his children might attend Hanover College, which is situated there. He passed away on the 18th of July, 1886, and his demise was the occasion of sincere regret to his many friends. He was a Democrat in early life, but at the outbreak of the Civil war became a Republican, as he was strongly Union in his sympathies. He was with the army and helped to build the forts at Cumberland Gap and the hospital at Jefferson City, Indiana, and although not an enlisted soldier was in the pay of the United States as a carpenter for two years.

Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church and he assisted in building most of the early churches of that denomination in Butler county, Ohio. His indignation was stirred by the wrongs of the slaves and he was prominent in the abolition movement in his locality. His home in Ohio, an old-fashioned story and a half log house, was a station on the underground passage to Canada, and many fugitive slaves owed their safe journey to Canada in part to him and his great interest in freedom. He was the father of eleven children, four of whom came to Iowa, and of whom the subject of this review is the second in order of birth.

Thomas C. Gilpin attended high school at Mount Carmel, Indiana, and supplemented the education there acquired by a course in Hanover College, Jefferson county, Indiana. When but eighteen years of age he began teaching in the rural schools of Butler county, Ohio, and was so employed for five years. He was then for two years teacher in the high school at Rushville, Indiana, after which he read law in the office maintained by P. A. Hackleman and George Clark, and in 1856 was admitted to the bar at Rushville. In that year he became prosecuting attorney for Rush and Decatur counties, proving an able and conscientious official.

After practicing law in Rushville for some time he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued his professional labors until 1861. In April of that year Major Gilpin removed to Bloomfield, Davis county, Iowa, and in the following August enlisted in Company E, Third Iowa Cavalry, for service in the Union army. Although enlisting as a private, he was immediately made first sergeant, and after two months was promoted to second lieutenant, later first lieutenant and then captain of his company. For gallantry on the field of battle at Ebenezer Church, Alabama, he was brevetted major, and he served as aide-de-camp on Major General Upton's staff. On one occasion when his horse was shot from under him he, with only a few followers, routed a picket post from a carriage house, charged the enemy's artillery and observed every detail of their position. He and his comrades were subjected to a galling fire, and he narrowly escaped death, as the cape of his uniform was shot through and several bullet holes were made in his clothing. A larger Union force came at once to his rescue and completely routed the enemy. He had his horse shot from under him a second time and he also injured his left knee, but he was never wounded.

In 1865 Major Gilpin came to Winterset and here began the practice of law as a partner of Colonel Cummings. Three years later he was elected county judge and was the last to hold that position, as a law was passed abolishing the office and creating instead that of county auditor. By the provisions of that law he became the first auditor of his county. Although he gave his allegiance to the Republican party in the time of the war, he subsequently supported the Democratic party, which he assisted in organizing in Madison county. He was a candidate for congress, opposing John A. Kasson, Republican, and E. H. Gillette, Greenbacker, both Iowa men of note. He continued in the practice of his profession until 1904, when he retired from active practice. He believes in the value of farming land as an investment and has owned considerable land in this county.

In 1856 Major Gilpin married Miss Susan F. MacBride, who was born in Rushville, Rush county, Indiana. Her parents, Robert Y. and Lydia A. (Freed) MacBride, were born respectively in 1773 and 1793. The mother's birth occurred in Pennsylvania, and she is a relative of the Freeds of Philadelphia, who are quite prominent in the iron industry.

Mrs. MacBride passed away in 1868, having survived her husband for twenty years, as his death occurred in 1848. He was a harnessmaker and followed his trade in Philadelphia for some time, after which he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and thence to Rushville, Indiana, where he continued to work at his trade and where he was living at the time of his death. Conditions in the Hoosier state were largely those of a frontier district when he arrived there, and he did his full share in the early development of Rush county. He was noted throughout that section as a student of the Bible having an exhaustive and exact knowledge thereof, although not a member of any church. His wife, however, was an active worker in the Presbyterian church. To them were born nine children, of whom Mrs. Gilpin is the youngest. One of her brothers served in the Civil war for a time.

To Major and Mrs. Gilpin were born the following children: Ellerslie Freed was born May 15, 1857, and died May 23, 1908. He was married and was engaged m the hotel business in the city of New York. Curtis Nelson born May 25 1862, passed away on the 19th of February, 1902. He was operating a farm belonging to his father and was married. He left a son Walter C., who is residing at Sacramento, California; Frederick L., born March 4, 1864 and died in April of that year. Grace Upton, named for Mrs. Grace Upton, the wife of General Upton, gave her hand in marriage to E. E. Bean, a Wyoming rancher, and they reside in Fremont county, that state. She is a music teacher and is the mother of a daughter, Mary M., who was born July 6, 1897, and is now attending Forest Grove College, at Portland, Oregon. Victor C., born October 29, 1869, is an electrician and resides at Brooklyn, New York. He is married and has two children: Thomas C., who was born in October, 1897; and Victoria whose birth occurred in January, 1907. Finley Warner, named for President Finley of Hanover College, Indiana, was born July 19, 1874, and has followed agricultural pursuits to some extent, but is now a light opera singer and resides in New York. Eva May, born December 18, 1875, is the wife of Dr. R. S. Cooper, who is a prominent dentist of Winterset.

Major Gilpin has always taken a keen interest in everything relating to the welfare of the public schools and has served acceptably as president of the school board. He is an influential member of the Presbyterian church and for many years was elder and Sunday-school superintendent.

He has kept up his association with his comrades in arms through his membership in Pitzer Post No. 55, G. A. R., and is now quartermaster thereof.

On the 11th of May 1866, he became a member of the Evening Star Lodge, No. 43, A. F. & A. M., of Winterset and has held all of its offices. He was master from 1869 to 1872 and again in 1880 and 1881. In 1868 he became a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and has held all of the offices in that body. He is likewise identified with the council of the Royal & Select Masters and with Temple Commandery K. T. of Des Moines. Many and varied interests have benefited by his cooperation, and there is no better known or more popular man in Winterset than Major Gilpin.

Madison Biographies maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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