A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD
OF
ALLEN AND VAN WERT
COUNTIES, OHIO.

CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY

PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS,

TOGETHER WITH BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS OF ALL THE

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES,

AND BIOGRAPHIES OF THE

GOVERNORS OF OHIO.
_______________

CHICAGO
A. W. BOWEN & CO.
1896.

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    HON. E. B. GILLILAND is a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, born April 10, 1846, a son of Thomas and Catherine (McCann) Gilliland, natives of Maryland, and among the earlier settlers of Van Wert county, Ohio. The family is quite a famous one in this county, as well as in the city, as will be found in the various sketches published in this volume, to which the reader can readily refer by means of the index preceding these sketches.
    Thomas Gilliland was born October 22, 1806, and Mrs. Catherine Gilliland December 11, 1809. In 1835, Thomas came to Van Wert county with his wife, his son William and a daughter Martha, and entered 160 acres of land in Ridge township, the tract being part of the farm now owned by our subject, Hon. E. B. Gilliland – the father increasing his possessions at one time to 480 acres, and becoming one of the most prominent farmers and popular citizens of the township. He was a thoroughly upright man, was a member of the F. & A. M., and held the full confidence of his fellow-citizens, whom he served fifteen years as justice of the peace, holding that office at the time of his decease, which occurred July 28, 1857, when his remains were interred in the old cemetery at Van Wert, with Masonic honors. The respected widow of Mr. Gilliland survived until November 13, 1888, when her venerated remains were also deposited in the same receptacle. The twelve children of this pioneer couple were born in the following order: Martha, wife of Ira Cavett; William, deceased; Mary Jane, deceased wife of G. C. Weible; Sarah Ann, married to D. M. Conroy; John Francis, deceased; Robert A. Webster, deceased; James Maxwell, of the city of Van Wert; Edward B., subject of this sketch; Ellen and Elizabeth, deceased; Henrietta, wife of Allen Lown, of Van Wert city, and Thomas Hiram, deceased.
    Hon. E. B. Gilliland, whose name opens this biographical memoir, passed his early youth on the home farm, enjoying, at the same time, excellent opportunities for an education, becoming, himself, a school-teacher, a vocation he followed six years. In the year 1875, he was united in matrimony with Miss Mary Jane Collins, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Featherolf) Collins, which happy union was blessed by the birth of six children, named as follows: Florence, Daisy, Thomas, Grace (deceased), Myrtle and Edna May (deceased). Mr. Gilliland, like various other members of his family, continued to rise in popularity and became a favorite with the democratic party, his abilities as a politician being also recognized by the public at large, the result being that he was elected to serve his constituency in the Sixty-ninth and Seventieth Ohio general assembly, and his popularity was further emphasized by the fact that he was elected from a district that usually polled from 100 to 200 republican majority. While in the legislature he served in a most satisfactory manner on the important committee on agriculture, and on the committee on the insane asylum. In religion Mr. Gilliland and his entire family are members of the church of Rome, of which they are not only conscientious adherents in principle, but liberal supporters in a financial sense. In his worldly possessions Mr. Gilliland may well be considered quite well to do, possessing, as he does, a fine farm of 206 acres and property of considerable value in the city of Van Wert. The social standing of the family, it is needless to say, is with the highest and most honored of the county.

-transcription by Kate Maynard, 2013