Gilbert, Leonidas

GILBERT

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 00:19:04

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.703

LEONIDAS GILBERT
One of the most prosperous and substantial agriculturists of Warren County is Leonidas Gilbert, who is successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising on section 32, Union Township. He was born in Logan County, Ohio, on the 8th of March 1860, and is a son of James and Ellen Gilbert, both natives of England, where their marriage was celebrated and where they continued to make their home until after the birth of four of their children. The father was born in 1825 and the mother in 1822. Be­lieving that he could better his condition in the new world, he at length crossed the Atlantic and took up his residence in Logan County, Ohio, where he engaged in farming for several years. In 1860 he removed to Missouri, where he spent one year, and then came to Iowa, locating in Warren County, where he secured a farm of eighty acres. As time passed and he prospered in his new home he kept adding to his original purchase until he owned four hundred and eighty acres of valuable farming land, on which he erected good buildings. Later in life he put aside all business cares and removed to Milo, where he lived retired until called to his final rest September 25, 1907. His first wife, who was the mother of our subject, had died some seventeen years previous and he had married again. By the first union there are four sons and one daughter still living.
Leonidas Gilbert was only one year old when the family became residents of Warren County and here he passed his early life in much the usual manner of farm boys, his literary education being obtained in the common schools. He remained under the parental roof, assisting in the labors of the farm until reaching man's estate, and then went to Gentry County, Missouri, where he purchased two hundred acres of land and engaged in farming for two years.
At the end of a year Mr. Gilbert returned to this County and here on the 13th of March 1894, was celebrated his marriage to Miss Mary J. Johns, a native of this County and a daughter of Ephraim Johns, who was born in Warren County, Iowa, and is now a farmer of Union Township. Two sons bless this union, namely: Aubrey Forest and Coy Ronald.
After his marriage Mr. Gilbert returned to Missouri, where he remained another year and then traded his farm there for two hundred and forty acres in Union Township, this county, whereon he resided for five years. At the end of that time he purchased the old home place, where his boyhood was passed, and to the improvement and cultivation of that farm he has since devoted his energies with most gratifying results. Upright and reliable in business, he has steadily prospered in all his undertakings and is now the owner of seven hundred and forty-six acres of valuable farming land, which he keeps under a high state of cultivation. Stock-raising also claims considerable of his attention and he now feeds and ships three or four carloads of cattle and hogs annually, finding this branch of his business quite profitable.
By his ballot Mr. Gilbert usually supports the Republican Party but being a strong temperance man he favors prohibition principles and he gives his support to all measures which he believes will advance the moral and social welfare of his township and county. Both he and his wife are active mem­bers of the Church of Christ at Sandyville and he also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Yeomen, while Mrs. Gilbert is also a member of the Yeomen. He is one of the most progressive and up-to-date farmers of Union Township and his fellow citizens hold him in the highest esteem.