Newspaper Articles by George W. Gilliland (1847-1922)
Introduction:

George W. Gilliland, born April 14, 1847 to Samuel Gilliland Jr. and Elizabeth Ellen Buckley, in the last months of his life composed a series of articles on the history of the Gillilands of Jackson County, Ohio.

Copies of George's stories were kindly passed on to me by Karen Gilliland McCall. As only a couple of the installments are dated it was unclear to me or to Karen whether the entire series was eventually published in the Jackson Standard Journal or if there were additional installments which are missing from this set, though Karen suspected there may have been others written or in the planning stages when G.W. passed away in 1922.

In addition, it is also unclear whether the typewritten copies in Karen's possession were drafts of the original texts or old transcriptions of the articles as they may have appeared in the Standard Journal. 

Karen Canter Schwartz took on the task of retyping the entire set of articles so they could be formatted for inclusion in our library, so I thank both Karens for their generous contributions to this project. 

No changes have been made to the original texts though I have added some notes of my own, which are indicated by italics. I have also added a subject header to each installment. Because only two of the articles were dated they are not necessarily presented in the order in which they were published.

-- Kate Maynard, 2008

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

Jackson Standard Journal
May 10, 1922

Story of the Gillilands in Jackson County
By George W. Gilliland

As stated in former articles, the first Gillilands to settle in Jackson County were two brothers, Hugh and Samuel, descendents of one James Gilliland  of Greenbrier County, W.VA.  Hugh settled on a farm in southern part of Franklin township.  Samuel in Hamilton near where later stood Jackson Furnace of which I will have something to say later.

Samuel Gilliland was borned about 1787 and his wife Sarah Krouskop Gilliland about 1795 in Greenbrier Co. W.VA.  and came to Jackson County in 1815 and camped under a large elm tree while they erected a house in which to live.  I visited the spot a few months ago and find the tree is standing yet, though it is on the decline.  There is a large cavity in the tree near the ground in which it is said they did their cooking.

It is said that Samuel made a statement at “that time he had one wife, one baby, one horse, one dog, one cow, one gun and one hundred dollars in money.”  Here with this cabin in the woods was the foundation of one of the largest families of Jackson County.

I can just remember Samuel Gilliland, my grandfather, for he died in 1852.  I cannot remember my Grandmother for she died in 1848.  Yet from what I have been told they were of the common people and by their fruits we know then George being the baby at that time and then Elizabeth, Samuel, Hugh, Nathan, Jacob, Jackson and Harrison being 10 born to them.

George married Julina Canter and settled on a farm one mile north of them where son Warren now lives.  They had born to them ten children. Sarah the oldest married Samuel Riegel who lives in this town, and now a spry man about 90 years of age and can do as much work yet as may young men.

Wash married Elizabeth H. Brown, Harrison married Jane Daugherty, Samuel married Elizabeth Lyons and George married Elizabeth Beadle. John S. married Miss Plummer, Warren married Katy E. Reed and David and Franklin went west and both are married but I have not the names of their wives.  Mary A. married Joseph Spriggs and they now live near Antioch church in Franklin Township.

Their father George will be remembered by many of the older people, was a quiet peace loving man and served many years as treasurer and Justice of the Peace in his township.  He always impressed me as one who lived the principles taught by the man of Galilee.  Three of his sons Wash, Harrison and John S. served as soldiers in the Civil War.  Those now living of the family are Warren, David, Frank and Mary A.

One member of this family David W. became a teacher.  He is now and has been for years teaching government school in the Indian reservation in the state of Arizona and has now taught long enough there to be pensionable.  Franklin is a prosperous farmer in the state of Nebraska.  Warren remains on the old home farm in Hamilton Twp.  He had two sons, soldiers in World War both of whom came home alive.  Notice of the family of George Gilliland ten children grew to maturity, Sarah the eight boys and the last a girl, Mary A.

Compare this family with the average family of today.  Just a few families and the old log school house was full.  Most of the county schools had from 50 to 60 pupils.  Now we have to centralize our schools in order to be able to hire a teacher.  Uncle George and Aunt Julina rest in the Hamilton cemetery near the church they loved so well.

Hamilton Township, the smallest in the county at that time, was the first in some things; they erected the first Furnace for smelting the great deposits of iron ore that lay on top of the hills around there.  The engine they used for blowing the furnace was the first steam engine ever operated in Jackson County.   About the year 1836, Roger Hurd and Company who had been engaged in the manufacture of Iron in Lawrence and Scioto Counties purchased land and erected ackson Furnace in Hamilton Township in the county.

Mr. J. M. Smith afterward connected with other Furnaces in the county was manager, Jacob Hurd was clerk and J. H. Ricker was storekeeper.  The furnace continued operations until 1874.  It met with reverses and changed hands several times.  Just before the civil war, William Canter, Nathan Gilliland and Jackson Gilliland leased the furnace for a period of three years and during that time Canter was killed.  Nathan Gilliland died.  Just the opportune time, when fortunes were being made in the iron ore business.

When Hamilton Township was formed there were only about one dozen votes in the townships.  The first officers were trustees Samuel Gilliland, John Canter and John Cantwell, Treasurer John Walls, Clerk Solomon Dever.  The Devers, Canters and Gillilands have always been prominent factors in Hamilton Township.

I forgot to make mention of the Grist Mill that stood off the creek just above the home of my grandfather.  It was run by water power and its operation was not as costly as the mills of our day, yet what a convenience to the people of the township.

And when we think of the market that the Jackson furnace made for the folks of the township, no one realizes the benefits of an institution like this unless he has been there.  If a man had a horse for sale, a yoke of oxen or some hay or corn left over in the spring, or any marketing of any kind he could usually sell it at the furnace.  They were always in the market for good quality or Iron Ore.

I can remember of the furnace offering us as much as 75 cents per ton for royalty in the ground, which would yield an enormous price per acre for land.  Many men made it their business to mine and haul ore to the furnace.

Kate’s notes....

Samuel and Hugh are descendants of Samuel Gilliland, born abt 1755 at Augusta Co., VA, not his older brother James, though descendants of all three brothers may be found in Jackson County. James, who dropped the “d” from the family surname, is the ancestor of several noted Jackson Countians, including the writer and humorist Strickland Gillilan. James married Margaret Boggs in Greenbrier County and later moved to Gallia County, OH where he died between 1840-1850. 

Several of the Gillilands first migrated from Greenbrier County , WV to Pickaway County, Ohio before settling in Jackson County, including Samuel and his parents, Samuel and Elizabeth. It was there that the Samuel of this sketch met Sarah Krouskop, born to Johann George and Mary Krouskop, who came to Ohio from Hancock, New York about 1810. Johann George Krouskop, of German extraction and originally from Pennsylvania, was a veteran of the Revolution.

After the death of Sarah Krouskop in 1848, Samuel Gilliland married Sarah Johns(t)on, the widow of Irish-born John Berrisford Gilleland, who was apparently unrelated to the the other Gillilands of Jackson County. J.B. Gilleland had been a Justice of the Peace in early Jackson County and had performed many marriages. After his death several of his children moved west, though widow Sarah and some remaining children lived in Samuel’s household until his death in 1852.

****** End Part 1 ******
  
Story of the Gillilands in Jackson County
By George W. Gilliland

Hugh, the third son of Samuel and Sarah Krouscop, was born at the homestead in Hamilton Township, Jackson County, on February 5, 1824.  The county was then one great forest in which the wild game, peculiar to this region abounded.  Deer, wolves, wildcats and even bears and panthers of ten times visited the small clearing of the settlers.  The home was a log cabin - school and churches, there were none.  The nearest markets were at Portsmouth and Chillicothe.

Reared as he had been, with the latest educational advantages, he sought to make up for his deficiency by reading and he continued a great reader all his life and was well informed on any questions of the day.

He married on March 1st, 1849 to Miss Nancy Slavens of Pike County Ohio.  They went to housekeeping with his father as his mother was dead and after the death of his father, January 25, 1852, they moved on their farm in Franklin Township Jackson County near Antioch Church where they lived and where their children were born and reared.  The last few years of their life was spent in Jackson.  His wife was a daughter of Charles and Margaret McClure Slavens.  She had been a school teacher and shared his ambition that his children should have advantages which even then were limited.

He served for years as school director, which duties often times interfered with his business, but he felt it a duty he owed his children – that they had the best teachers to be obtained.

Seven Children were born to them, all of whom arrived at the age of man and womanhood, one son and six daughters.   Charles was the son born July 19, 1851.  It was the parents’ desire that he have a finished education.  He taught school a few terms and then entered Ohio University at Athens, Ohio.  In his second college year his health began to fail.  He returned home and traveled in the Northwest, but continued to decline and died on March 7, 1874.   His death was a crushing blow to his parents from which they never recovered.

Sarah Gilliland was married to George W. Schellenger, January 2, 1868.  She died in March 1880, leaving three children, Florence, Nellie and Hugh.  Florence married Wm. Dickman of Rock Island, Illinois, where they reside.  They have two children, George and Wm H. Dickman Jr.

Nellie married Ralph Dungan of Jackson, Ohio.  She died in Anderson, Indiana and left two sons, Hugh and Donovan.  These sons reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Hugh the eldest married Ida Wade of Minneapolis and they have three children, Audrey, Hugh, Jr. and Harold.

Hugh the son married Miss Emma Dungan of Jackson and is a practicing dentist in Jackson Ohio.  They have one Daughter, Anna Florence, a member of the Jackson High School.

Krouise Gilliland died in 1881, age 18 years.  She was a student of the Jackson High School at the time of her death.

Marga Gilliland was married to Hiram Stephenson April 20, 1875.  They reside in Jackson; four were born to them.  Two died in infancy.  The remaining are Bertram Shearer Stephenson and Herber Hiram Stephenson.  Bertram Stephenson was born to Jesse Bane on September 5, 1905.  They reside in Detroit, Michigan.  Herber Hiram Stephenson was married to Mary McCulley of Cambridge, Ohio on August 29, 1910.  She died on August 7, 1911 leaving one daughter Margaret Norris Stephenson.

On November 17, 1915, he was married to Bethel W. Borges of Lima, Ohio.  They reside in Jackson and have two children, a son Herber Hiram, Jr. and a daughter Bertha Borges.

Florence Belle Gilliland was married to Charles A. Atkinson in December, 1876.  They reside in Chicago, Illinois.  They had one son, Louis Hugh who died in Lincoln Nebraska, while a student at the Nebraska Weslyan.

Julia Gilliland married Harry A. Bedel June, 1885.  They have one daughter Inez G. who married Wheldon f Jackson.  They have two daughters Inez Bedel and Julia Frances.  Mr. Bedel died in June 1910.

Eva Gilliland, the youngest, was married to Thomas C. Gerken of Marietta, Ohio in 1890.  Two sons were born to them, Thomas Jr. and Theodore.  Thomas is a student of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.  Theodore is a student at the University of Ohio at Athens.  Mr. Gerken died in October 1917.

Hugh Gilliland, in many ways was a unique character.  While he showed the same spirit of humor that runs through the entire family, labor with him seemed to be a pleasure.  I often think that of all men that I knew when I was a boy, I never knew one that enjoyed himself like Hugh did in his usual days work.  I have heard him tell of the first years of married life when he was driving a team, hauling charcoal and ore that there would be from three to six months at a time that he would not see his home before daylight and not return until at dark.  During those few years, he saved his first thousand dollars which he invested in land.  He purchased a half section of good timber, and mineral land in Jefferson Township near Jefferson Furnace which proved to be the foundation of his fortune.

The timber was made into charcoal and sold to Jefferson and there was his market for iron ore, and his land being new and rich, he raised large amounts of grain and hay, for which he always received top price being close to the furnace.  At the time of his death he owned more than one thousand acres of good land and was a wealthy man for the day.  Yet, while he was accumulating his fortune, he was not neglectful of his family and always looked after their schooling and gave them all a good education.  He and Aunt Nancy were both proud of their children.  And they had a right to be.  Hugh Gilliland loved his family for this reason if no other.  I have loved Uncle Hughey.  Hugh Gilliland and the deceased of his family now rest in the beautiful Fairmount cemetery in Jackson.

****** End Part 2 ******

Wednesday June 7, 1922

Story of the Gillilands in Jackson County
By George W. Gilliland

Nathan Gilliland, the fourth son of Samuel and Sarah Krouscop, was born June 22, 1821 and grew to manhood on the farm in the woods where he was married to Katy Adams and settled on land in what is now known as the Dever Valley not far from his homestead.  To them were born three children, Margaret, Sarah and George A.  Margaret became the wife of Jacob Slavens, who did not live many years.  She later married Frances M. Dever and now lives with her son Stewart Slavens on the old Solomon Dever farm in Hamilton Township.  She is probably now the oldest Gilliland of this family living.  

Sarah became the wife of John Slavens, brother of Jacob Slavens.  She and her husband reared quite a family on a farm in Pike County.  Both have been dead now for many years.  George A., the son married Charity Butcher, both of whom have died within the last few months.  George A. in my judgment was one of the brightest of the Gillilands.  He began teaching school at the age of fifteen years, I am told.  He managed to get a fair education mainly by his own persistent efforts.  He had been in the city of Washington D.C. where he held a position in the Pension Department for many years, at least long enough to be pensionable.  He reared a family and left them as citizens of the Capital City of the Nation.

Notice the affinity of the Gilliland and Slavens families, both of Uncle Nathan’s girls married Slavens brothers and Uncle Hugh had gone to the same family for his wife.  It will be remembered by some of the older people of Jackson county that the Slavens boys, Reuben,  Samuel and John were members of the famous fighting regiment in the Civil War – the 33rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and that Samuel was one that volunteered to go on to the Andrew Raid.  A number of Union soldiers entered the Southern Country to near Atlanta, Georgia and captured a locomotive in a Rebel camp.

Their object was to burn some bridges on the railroad that would cut off the supplies of the food ect. of the rebel army from the south.  But they were so closely pursued that their object failed and fuel for their engine gave out and a number of them were captured.  A scaffold was erected and Samuel Slavens and seven others were hung.  This occurrence so impressed me at the time that I have never forgotten it.

Nathan Gilliland as I remember him was a genial, whole souled man and could not possibly have had many enemies.  He left three orphan children all of whom are honorable and respected citizens.  At the time of his death he was manager of the Jackson Furnace. 

While it was not long since our charcoal furnaces disappeared there are probably not many of the rising generations that have any conception of the duties of a manager at a charcoal furnace.  The most arduous of which, I think was looking after the wood chopping and ore mines which took them out in all kinds of weather, as they usually would try to have their wood chopped during a winter season.  A cord of wood should be 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high; so many cords of wood should be so much charcoal and it was necessary for them to see that each rank had the full amount of wood.  All the wood choppers were not as honest as they might have been and I do not know but I think the sickness that caused the death of Uncle Nathan was brought on by exposure in his duties as manager of the first furnace in Jackson County.  He died November 28, 1863, comparatively a young man at age 42 years, and he was buried in the old Stephenson Cemetery near his father and mother (Samuel and Sarah).

This cemetery is on the land of Samuel Stephenson another of the old settlers whose land joined that of the Gillilands.

Jacob Gilliland the fifth son of Samuel and Sarah was born at the old home April 28, 1827 where he grew to manhood.  He first married Lusetta White who lived but a short time and in 1856 married Mary Welch who bore him two children, Jackson H. and Nathan B. Gilliland.  He bought a farm in Scioto County near Gephart Station on the B&O Railroad where he spent the remainder of his life clearing land and farming, stock raising and doing such work as it is usually done on a first class farm.

Like the most of the Gillilands, he was a Republican in Politics and when the Civil war came on he became a soldier.  I believe in the 140th O.V.L.  The last time I remember seeing him was in the summer of 1864.  He was then going down the Ohio River on his way home from the war.  I believe of all the Gillilands he showed more of the Scotch Irish blood than any other.  You could see the spirit of humor in his eyes.  He died and his grave is in Scioto County.

Of the two sons I know very little about Jackson H. but learned that he was living on a farm and enjoying life perhaps as well as many more noted men.  So, I think he may be classed with the retired farmers.

Nathan B. Gilliland the other son of Jacob and Mary Gilliland was born in Harrison Township, Scioto County November 7, 1859.  He received a good common school education and has taken a prominent position as a teacher, in which profession he first engaged in Madison Township in 1880 and for two years taught in Harrison Township.

He was elected clerk of Harrison Township in 1882 and was reelected in 1883.  He owns a fine farm stocked with blooded cattle.  In politics he affiliates with the Republican Party and religiously he is a United Brethren.  He studied law and later became a practicing attorney in the city of Portsmouth.  He is now Probate Judge of Scioto County and people who are in a position to know say he is one of the best judges Scioto has ever had.  To attain this position by a boy with the meager opportunity for an education when there are so many men who have had much greater chances for education shows that he has by his own effort achieved much and we hope and expect to see… (The sentence cuts off here).

****** End Part 3 ******

Story of the Gillilands in Jackson County
By George W. Gilliland

Jackson Gilliland the sixth son of Samuel and Sarah Krouscop Gilliland was borned December 22, 1829.  He attended the common schools until he was fourteen years old.  At the age of 22 years he took charge of his fathers farm which he later bought which consisted of 444 acres much which is underlaid with coal and iron ore.

In 1861 he became a partner in Jackson Furnace, which he operated very successfully for three years.  Later he took up farming and stock raising and was one of the largest stock dealers in the township.

He was married November 14, 1865 to Jennie, daughter of Samuel and Jennie Baker.  Mr. Baker father of Mrs. Gilliland was an officer in the War of 1812, and during Jackson’s administration was a Clerk in the Auditor Department.  He lived for many years in the town of Jackson and served as County Auditor at one time.

To Jackson and Jennie Baker Gilliland were born three sons, Samuel B., Cranston E., and Oscar C.  Here in this beautiful valley he had everything to make him happy and contented.

He had his little school house for his children and grandchildren.  He had his little church of which he was a zealous member, in which his neighbors and friends of the entire valley could meet for worship.  Samuel B. the eldest son has a farm adjoining the old homestead and lives in sight of the old tree under which his grandfather lived while he built his cabin in the woods more than one hundred years ago.

Samuel married a daughter of Warren Dever and has reared quite a family who have already become scattered.  Sam B. is a man that any community should honor and be proud of.

Cranston E. Gilliland the second son married a daughter of Robert Parks and like Samuel B. lives in sight of that famous elm tree I named in the beginning.

Here on this farm he seemed contented and happy with his interesting family.  He has in the true sense made a success in life as has always been demonstrated that this success of every individual is chiefly his own work.

The naming of Robert Parks father Mrs. Cranston Gilliland takes me back to my boyhood days.  Fifty years ago last winter Robert went to school to [with] me as teacher in the McCoy district in Hamilton Township and his wife Sarah Parks and I were school mates ere this at the Horton School in Jefferson Township.  She was the daughter of Joseph Horton – G.W. Gilliland

Oscar, the third and youngest son of Jackson and Jennie Baker Gilliland, lives on the old home place where his grandfather settled one hundred and seven years ago.  Oscar is one of the most prosperous and energetic young farmers in Jackson County.

He married Miss Mame Meldick and they have one son, Edwin, who is a student in Jackson High School.   Like his brother, Oscar is a man and citizen of which any community may be proud.  

Harrison the seventh and youngest son of Samuel and Sarah Krouscop Gilliland is the least known of the sons as he left this community early in his career.   He was the first man from Jackson County to graduate from the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio.  He married Miss Julia Webster of Athens and they had several children but we don’t know how many.

Later after leaving college he became a Methodist Minister.  He was President of several colleges, among them one at Battle ground Indiana and one at Galesville, Wisconsin.  He afterwards went to Burbank California where he spent the remainder of his life.

****** End Part 4 ******
  
Story of the Gillilands in Jackson County
By George W. Gilliland

Sketch by Dr. A. B. Gilliland furnished by G. W. Gilliland of Jackson – Ed.

In the early tradition of one family that are now located in Van Wert County, for we are descended from the John Gilliland mentioned in the list of children he was borned 1763 and died 1826 – the name of Haggerstown Emmetsburg and Fredericktown are of ten mentioned.  There are Gilliland living in Emmetsburg Maryland who tract their family history back to a coming from Ireland to Chester County Pa and that one of the sons settled near Tanneytown Carrol County Md and they state that the first house that the Gillilands lived in there is still standing on the banks of Monocacy five miles from Emmetsburg and four from Tanneytown.  Of this family a William born 1809 died 1880 visited Chester County in 1871 and found that he was related to the Gilliland above mentioned as descended from John Gilliland of Brandywine Manor.  And the fact that our family probably moved from Pennsylvania to Maryland lends a strong presumption that all three families are related and being descended from the family that located near Brandywind Manor and Faggs Manor.

Shortly after locating in this county the father and mother died of yellow fever so tradition in our family and family living in Chester County PA says two of the sons, John, from who we descend and a brother traveled to North of what is now Pitts burg, where they obtains a tomshawk claim which was then obtained by chopping or blazing on trees about a piece of land.  This gave them a title to it.  On their return from the claim they were chased by the Indians to within sight of F. Duesquene now Pittsburg.  John lost a fine horse on which he was riding while being chased and this so disgusted him that he never returned to hold the claim after the return of the two to their families.

John gave his claim to one of his brothers who with the one who had visited the claim moved to that part of Pennsylvania.  Two brothers went to August County Virginia which was then a very large county consisting of practically the entire Northwest Territory which was separated from Virginia in 1784.  They located on the Greenbrier river, in what is now Greenbrier County West Virginia.  There are Gillilands in Overton County, Tennessee, Mangum, Oklahoma and elsewhere who have furnished me a history of their branch in which J. K. L. Gilliland of Mangum Oklahoma states tradition in their family say the Gilliland emigrated from Scotland to North of Ireland in the sixteenth century and that some of them crossed to America about 1760 – their names being James, Robert and Hugh and that they first located in Pennsylvania.  After the Revolutionary War his great grandfather James Gilliland moved to South Carolina.

There is a probability that this James Gilliland is from the Chester County Gillilands mentioned above and related to the Gillilands of Emmetsburg Maryland and was one of the members of the family of James Gilliland that located in Greenbrier County, West Virginia and that he is one of the brothers that we mentioned as going to Greenbrier County from the family of seven brothers and three sisters that came to this county between 1760 and 1770.

Transcribed from hardcopy by Karen Canter Schwartz – June 6, 2008 for Kate Maynard.

Kate’s notes...

Unfortunately this is one backstory of the Jackson County Gillilands that has no basis in fact but has been perpetuated over the years. Whether this was due to a lack of information at the time or the claim of some that all Gillilands are descendants of the Pennsylvania group I cannot say. But Dr. A.B. Gilliland has merged several early and distinct Gilliland lines into one pedigree, which would take an essay of its own to untangle and explain. 

There are other Gilliland lines to be found in Virginia, some even in close proximity to our own at the time, but they are descendants of other lines including the Pennsylvanians. 

****** End Part 5 ******