Biographical & Genealogical History of Appanoose & Monroe Counties, Iowa

New York, Lewis Publishing Co. 1903

J. W. Gilbert page 162

A life devoted to agricultural pursuits is naturally peaceful and free from many of the striking features which characterize men in more hazardous callings, but to be a successful farmer, nevertheless, requires all the resolute purpose, the energy and the careful management which are necessary to any business; and in J.W. Gilbert we see a man who is a farmer, representative of these qualities, and one of the leading men in his line in the county of Monroe.

His father, William Gilbert, was a native of the old Green Mountain state, born there in the early years of the past century; he joined the great tides of emigration which were constantly streaming westward from the less favored sections of the east to the fertile areas of the west, and on reaching Iowa in 1854 settled on a large farm of seven hundred acres in Jackson township, Monroe county, where he was an extensive farmer for the rest of his life. He was one of the earliest supporters of the Republican party and was a member of the Christian church. Before coming west he had married Elizabeth Hickocks, who was a native of the state of Connecticut. She became the mother of fifteen children, and of them six are living at the present time. The elder Gilbert died in Jackson township in 1878, aged sixty-six, and his wife died in Lucas county in 1902.

J.W. Gilbert was the fourth child and his birth occurred in Jackson county, Indiana, June 7, 1851. He came to Iowa when three years of age and received his education in the schools of Melrose. In 1879 he was married to Miss Sarah A. Thompson, a native of Kansas and the daughter of B.F. Thompson, of the same state. Six children blessed this marriage, one son and five daughters: Amasa, Cora, the wife of Elmer Adcock; Effie, Pearl, Milly, and Macey. Mr. Gilbert has always followed farming and is recognized as one of the representative citizens of the county. In politics he has adopted the choice of his father and votes for the Republican party, and his church membership is with the United Brethren.

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