Kate’s Notes: According to census records from La Harpe, Hancock County, Illinois, Charles A. Gilliland was born abt 1872 to B. F. Gilliland, a blacksmith, and Sarah J., his wife, both Ohio-born. This couple has been identified as Benjamin Franklin Gilliland and his wife, Sarah Johnson Marsh Gilliland, a line associated with the Red Oak congregation of Brown County, Ohio.
    In the 1870 census the household consisted of B. F.,  40; Sarah, 34; daughter Hattie F., 15; son George E., 10;  Sarah E., 8; Hannah J., 6;  and Frank, 2. By the time of the 1880 census we learn that Sarah is now widowed and her household consists of son George, 19; Libbie, 17 (Sarah E. in the 1870 census. “Libbie” would have been a nickname derived from her middle name, Elizabeth);  Josephine, 14 (Hannah J. in the 1870 census);  Frank, 12; Charles, 9; and Archy, 6 (Archy’s full name was Samuel Arch Gilliland). There is a slight discrepancy in one of the children’s ages and some of them were now going by middle names but that is quite common.
    Though there are no census records for 1890, in one obituary for Sarah Gilliland, the mother of this family, it is mentioned that she had resided in Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska from 1892. 
   The obituaries for Charles' mother Sarah and sister Josephine are also in the collection of obitaries in our library.
   One additional item of note is that as a youngster Charles "Charlie" Gilliland learned the watchmaker's trade from a Nebraska City jeweler named John Dahl, who had a local reputation as quite an eccentric fellow. Among the most remembered of Mr. Dahl's elaborate creations was his outhouse constructed in the style of a French chateau, complete with interior wallpaper and a flagpole set with a golden ball. One can only guess that working for the creative but non-conformist Mr. Dahl must have been an interesting apprenticeship!

The Beatrice Daily Sun
Beatrice, Nebraska
2 October, 1938

Funeral of Charles A. Gilliland

--- Rites for Charles A. Gilliland, retired Beatrice jeweler, and well known business man of this city, who died Thursday night at a local hospital after a lingering illness from heart trouble, were held yesterday afternoon at 2 o’clock from the Harman-Johnson funeral home with Rev. W. A. Mulligan in charge. Neighbors and old friends gathered there to pay their respects. There was a profusion of floral offerings as evidence of the esteem in which the deceased was held in the community where he had resided for so many years. During the service Mrs. J. Ed C. Fisher sang “Abide With Me” with Mrs. Harry Ahlquist at the organ. The body was laid to rest in Evergreen Home cemetery, the following acting as casket bearers: H. H. Waite, W. B. Walter, C. A. Spellman, V. R. Johnson, William L. Weigel, all of Beatrice, and Harold Shelley of Lincoln. Mr. Gilliland had resided in Beatrice for more than forty years. He is survived by his sister, Miss Josephine Gilliland of this city, and one brother, Samuel Arch Gilliland of Kansas City, Mo.

Also on the same page of the paper was this item:

    Samuel Arch Gilliland, who was called here by the illness and death of his brother, Charles A. Gilliland, returned to his home at Kansas City, Mo., last evening. He left Beatrice thirty-six years ago, but has visited here on a number of occasions since then. He has long been connected with the Rock Island railroad in an official capacity.

-- transcriptions by Kate Maynard, 2010