Kate's Notes: Much has been written about the family of John Wesley Gilliland, whose entrepreneurial Gillilands of Texas and Oklahoma were so prominent in the banking and oil business. John Wesley was the son of Mathias W. and Martha A. Gilliland, the former born in Lincoln County, Missouri. In the 1900 census for Grayson County, Texas, the family is listed as Mathias, 57, Martha "Mattie", 50, son John Wesley, 19 and son Ray C., age 10. Next door to Mathias and Mattie are living John B. Gilliland, 27, wife Lillie, 22, and their infant daughter Mary.
   The short biography below provides only a taste of the rich history of this Gilliland family line, whose pedigree can be traced back to the South Carolina roots of John Gilliland and Charity Richardson. For more information on the tree of John and Charity Richardson Gilliland, see Michael L. Gilliland's web site at: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/g/i/l/Michael-L-Gililland/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0008.html  In addition, the Grayson County TXGenWeb is a site certinaly worth visiting, at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txgrayso/
   Ruth Gilliland Hardman, the daughter of J.W. and Mattie, became an extremely accomplished personage in her own right, with a remarkable legacy of philanthropy. A profile of Ruth, along with her recent obituary, may be found in the Gilliland Trails library.

Oklahomans and Their State

A NEWSPAPER REFERENCE
WORK

EDITORS
GENERAL ROY HOFFMAN
EDSON K. BIXBY     F. L. STEENROD
W. M. HARRISON

PUBLISHED BY
The Oklahoma Biographical Association
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA
1919

**************

JOHN W. GILLILAND, Tulsa

   Prominently concerned with the development of the state, Mr. Gilliland was born in Tioga, Texas, May 6, 1881, son of M. W. and Mattie A. Gilliland. He completed Grammar school in Greyson County, Texas, and graduated from Fogg high school, Nashville, Tennessee, June 1899. Was employed in the American Exchange National Bank, Dallas, Texas, 1905-6; in the banking business in Holdenville, Oklahoma, until 1912. Was connected with the Oklahoma State and First National Banks, and in 1912 entered the oil business, in which he continues his interest.
   Mr. Gilliland is a Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. He was delegate to the National Republican convention at Chicago in 1912. President and owner of the Gilliland Oil Company, operating in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas; also president of the Southwest Oil Company, vice-president First National Bank, Tulsa; Muskogee National Bank, Muskogee and First National Bank, Holdenville, Oklahoma. Married Vera Chapman, from which union there are two children, Chapman and Ruth.