Kate’s notes: A full-page photographic portrait of Wilson Gilleland appears in the book from which this biography was transcribed.

GENEALOGICAL
AND
PERSONAL HISTORY
OF
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JOHN W. JORDAN, LL. D.
Librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Editor of “Penn-
sylvania Magazine of History and Biography”; author of various historical works.
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ILLUSTRATED.
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VOLUME III
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NEW YORK
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPNAY
1915

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GILLELAND.   The home of the family of which Wilson A. Gilleland, of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, is a member has long been in Butler county, Pennsylvania, where the name is a common one. Those bearing the name Gilleland have there held honorable and prominent station, several enlisting in the American army in the second war with Great Britain from that locality. John Gilleland was born in Butler county and was a student in the schools of that region. He became the owner of a large tract of land, upon which he conducted general farming operations, in which he was most successful, and achieved prominent position in the county. His political convictions were Republican, and he was active in behalf of the party's interests, working to such good effect that on one occasion it was the desire of his fellows that he strive for the nomination for congress, but he refused to consider the proposal, content in the work he was then doing for his party. In all church activity he played a leading role, his denomination the Presbyterian, his contributions of his means and time being liberal and unselfishly bestowed, and he was an elder in the Great Run Presbyterian Church at the time of his death.  He married Selina, daughter of William Thompson, and had children: 1. Thompson, deceased. 2. Mary Jane, married James Spraul. 3. John. 4. William. 5. Robert, deceased; he was a soldier of the Union army in the Civil War; he was one of the first to enlist in Company D, Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves, becoming a member of that body of troops in 1861; he was wounded in the seven days’ fight before Richmond, a ball entering his right leg, and was afterward taken prisoner, only to be subsequently released; returning to his home with the bullet in his leg, his surgeon having failed to remove it, he there remained until General Lee’s northern invasion, when he and his brother, Wilson A., enlisted in the emergency troops raised on that occasion for state defence, after which both became members of Company D, Eleventh Regiment, to which Robert Gilleland had previously belonged; in the fighting before Petersburg, Robert Gilleland was once more wounded in the right leg, being again taken prisoner and subsequently discharged; the leg that had twice received Confederate bullets had previously sustained accident in his youth through the falling of a heavy tree limb, which had caused a white swelling that never subsided. 6. Angelina, deceased. 7. Wilson A., of whom further.
    Wilson A. Gilleland, son of John and Selina (Thompson) Gilleland, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1845. He and a cousin were students in Witherspoon Institute, a preparatory school of excellent repute, and were both ready for college entrance when the Civil War began. The cousin chose to enter college, later becoming a prominent member of the Presbyterian clergy, while Mr. Gilleland offered his services to the Union, becoming a soldier in Company D, Eleventh Regiment Pennsylvania Reserves. He was taken seriously ill with typhoid fever and placed in the hospital, wakening in the morning to find his brother Robert occupying the next cot, having received a bullet wound in the leg, the brothers being sent home with the same observation of time of arrival, Wilson A. arriving on Saturday, his brother, Robert, on Sunday. At the Appomattox surrender he was within one hundred yards of the spot where the Confederate flag of truce was raised, his regiment having marched thirty-eight miles the previous day to arrive at the scene of action, five lines of battle being already arrayed when they appeared. During his war career Mr. Gilleland participated in some of the hardest fighting of the struggle, and although never wounded, experienced the sensation of having his comrades fall to his right and to his left, with no knowledge of what might be his last earthly moment.
    When peace followed war, Mr. Gilleland returned to his home and took a course in Duff’s Business College, whence he was graduated. He then went to Missouri, later returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as bookkeeper for the firm of Stephen Foster & Company, proprietors of a printing establishment. He later spent four years in Massachusetts, then formed a partnership with a Mr. Osborn as Gilleland & Osborn, their line being printers’ supplies. This association continued until 1896. Since 1903 Mr. Gilleland has been connected with the office of the county recorder. His home, which he owns, has since 1891 been in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania.
    He has ever been active and interested in local political affairs, although the only office that he has accepted has been that of borough auditor, which he held for six years.  He was a faithful public servant, and fills his position in the present county administration with much ability. Mr. Gilleland is a member of the Improved Order of  Heptasophs, the Royal Arcanum, the Tribe of Ben Hur, Fraternal Union of Americans, the Masonic Order, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
    Wilson A. Gilleland married, November 14, 1877, Marie L., born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, daughter of Jacob H. and Catherine E. Bowers. Mrs. Gilleland is a graduate of the School of Design, of Pittsburgh. Her mother was educated in France. One of her paternal uncles was at one time mayor of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Children of Wilson A. and Marie L. (Bowers) Gilleland: 1. Wilson, a salesman, a resident of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. 2. Catherine Louise, married Charles H. King; she is a woman of exceptional musical talent, early evidenced, for she could perform upon the piano when four years of age; she was educated in Pittsburgh, and now devotes a great deal of her time to voice culture, being the possessor of a voice unusually clear, sweet and strong.

-transcription by Kate Maynard, 2013