John Gilson, Jr. and Fidelia Ball
Husband John Gilson, Jr. 1 2 3
Born: 20 May 1797 - Genesee Co, NY 4 Christened: Died: 17 Jun 1884 4 Buried:
Father: John Gilson, Sr. (1750-1811) 3 5 6 7 Mother: Patience Graves (1749-1823) 6 8 9
Marriage:
Wife Fidelia Ball 2 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Isaac Ball ( - ) 11 12 Mother: Sally Manross ( - ) 11
Children
1 F Electa Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
2 M Rufus P. Gilson 10 13
Born: 15 Jan 1833 14 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Martha L. Blanchard ( - ) 15
3 M John [1] Gilson 4 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
4 M Curtis Gilson 4 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
5 F Sarah Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
6 M George S. Gilson 10 16
Born: Christened: Died: 27 Jun 1862 - Gaines' Mill, Hanover Co, VA 16 Buried:
7 F Jane Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
8 M Carver Gilson 4 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
9 M James E. Gilson 3 4
Born: 20 Oct 1845 - Barnes, Sheffield Twp, Warren Co, PA 3 Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Nancy Maria Whitcomb ( - ) 10
10 M Gilbert Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
11 F Patience Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
12 F Martha Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
13 M John [2] Gilson 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
General Notes: Husband - John Gilson, Jr.
"John Gilson, sr., brought his family on a raft from Olean to Warren the day John, jr., was six years old. (This must have been on May 20, 1803.) They lived in an old storehouse that stood where the Carver House now stands, until they put up a log house-one of the first families to settle in Warren. John was about fourteen years old when his father died, leaving him and his sisters to support their mother, who died four or five years later, and was the first person buried in Warren. The father was buried about three miles up the Conewango Creek. John, jr., was the youngest of a family of ten children. While he was supporting his mother he worked for a man by the name of Reese (who lived three miles below Warren) twenty-one days for a barrel of flour, cutting cord wood at the rate of four cords a day. The place now called Sheffield was then called 'Forks of Tionesta,' and he helped to run the lands through the region for miles around. He was then about sixteen years old. He was with Colonel Dale, surveying, who advised and helped him to buy the lot 358, which was covered with fine pine timber. He made his home in Warren most of the time. He followed the river, rafting, canoeing, and boating, until he was thirty years old. There is not a mile of the river bank between Warren and Pittsburgh that he has not slept on in his trips. He began work at the Forks' in January, 1820. He chopped about an acre, and put up a plank house twelve feet by sixteen in dimensions. On the 10th of February he married and came to live in this house the same week, making the journey with horses and sleighs on the ice, there being no roads. In April he went to Franklin to buy a yoke of oxen, and brought back seed potatoes and oats on a sled. From lack of roads his progress was slow, and he was overtaken by night in the forest. Wolves and owls were his company. He was gone just a week, while his young wife was left lone all that time. The only family living within ten miles of his home was that of Mr. Barnes, who had moved here just a week before. Asa Barnes, aged about sixteen years, stayed in the house with her nights, while she passed much of her time during the long days listening to the twittering of winter birds, and fishing. She caught many a trout weighing a pound and a pound and a half. The wolves kept up their howling about every night. When Mr. Gilson reached home he set about clearing his land, after doing which he was at a loss for a drag. He finally succeeded in constructing one, teeth and all of wood. When the oxen first began to draw the drag, it caught for a second on some roots, and then bounded against the oxen's heels, which ran as if for life. John came in the house laughing, and said he thought his oxen were possessed of the evil spirit. The first year he raised turnips, potatoes, and oats, enough to keep a yoke of cattle and a cow. Winters he passed in cutting square timber and running it down the Tionesta, while he passed his summers in clearing and cultivating land. There was about here a great amount of land sold for taxes, several lots of which he bid off for the sake of the timber. In 1844 he built a saw-mill and ran his lumber to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville, supporting his family in this manner until 1865, when he sold out all but the improved lands. These he divided between three sons who were married, and took the rest of the family to Fredonia, Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he bought a farm. He stayed there fourteen years, and was then compelled, on account of poor health, to return to his old home in Sheffield, where he bought half an acre of land and built himself a house. He buried five children in the Sheffield cemetery. Electa died at the age of six years, Sarah at the age of two, John H. at ten, Gilbert at two, while George S. enlisted in the War of the Rebellion and was killed at the battle of Gaines's Mills, when twenty years of age."
The above paragraphs were taken from an interesting letter from Mrs. Gilson, the widow of the subject of this notice, who also writes: "When we first moved here to the 'Forks' of the Tionesta Creek, our house stood near the bank of the creek. There was a plenty of wild game at that time. We could very often see deer swimming in the creek. John could kill one almost any time. We frequently saw them feeding with the cattle. There were also wolves and bears in abundance. He killed several bears, and caught several wolves in steel traps, for the scalps of each one of which he received a bounty of twelve dollars.
"We had visitors every fall. The Indians, who came every fall to hunt, camped around us. I often went to see them in their camps, and buy baskets. The first fall after we came here I saw wild turkey tracks in the first snow that fell; they were quite near the house; I told John I thought I could catch one with a trap, and accordingly set one baited with oats. The next morning I heard the chains rattling, and on going to the trap found a fine fat turkey struggling for liberty; I broke his neck with a stick. After the Warren and Ridgeway turnpike was opened we built a new house, back on the road, large enough for a hotel. One day, while the men were at work on the house, a deer came swimming up the creek. I seized a gun, and resting it on a pile of boards, shot and killed it. The men dressed it. That night we heard a mournful howling down the creek. John set a steel trap next morning, baited with the deer's head, and we soon caught a wolf. We supposed that the wolves had driven the deer down the river. At that time there was no store nor grocery nearer than Warren. As soon as the road was finished the farmers from the State of New York began teaming through here, and carried everything from a spool of thread to a barrel of flour. We could buy everything we wanted of them. They carried provisions to the iron country and came back loaded with iron. After a time we commenced keeping hotel and post-office, remaining in the hotel twelve or fourteen years." [HWC 1887, 516]
He was born in Genesee County, New York, and accompanied his father on his memorable trip down the river with his house to Warren, Pennsylvania. About 1830 he helped to survey Sheffield township. He purchased a large tract of land at four and one-half cents an acre and built a grist mill, the first one ever built in that section. Subsequently he also built a saw mill, and kept a small country store besides. Later he devoted all his time to lumbering and milling, operating both saw and grist mills, and thus occupying the closing years of his life. He was the owner of several hundred acres of land, from which he rafted timber down the Tionesta Creek to Pittsburg markets.
He assisted in building the old turnpike. He very liberally donated the ground not only for the cemetery and school building but also for the church. Being a literary man, he took an unusual interest in educational affairs. His first home, a log house, was built near the place later occupied by the [railroad?] depot, but later he built a hotel. Though well advanced in years, he never grew helpless, but was very active up to the time of his last illness, which resulted in his death, at the age of eighty-nine years. He served many years as school director and in other minor offices, being a Democratic incumbent. He was a devout Christian, being a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was also a trustee for the Warren Academy. [BOB37, 16]
1 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 328, 515.
2 —, History of the Counties of McKean, Elk, and Forest, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 943.
3 —, Book of Biographies, 37th Judicial District, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 15.
4 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 515.
5 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 328, 330.
6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 555.
7 Emma Siggins White, Genealogical Gleanings of Siggins and Other Pennsylvania Families (Kansas City, MO: Tiernan-Dart Printing Co., 1918), Pg 402.
8 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 368.
9 Emma Siggins White, Genealogical Gleanings of Siggins and Other Pennsylvania Families (Kansas City, MO: Tiernan-Dart Printing Co., 1918), Pg 400.
10 —, Book of Biographies, 37th Judicial District, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899), Pg 16.
11 —, History of the Counties of McKean, Elk, and Forest, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., Publishers, 1890), Pg 942.
12 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (NW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 218.
13 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 515, Bios xxxv.
14 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg xxxv.
15 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Bios xxxv.
16
J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 177.
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This Web Site was Created 15 Apr 2023 with Legacy 9.0 from Millennia