Kate’s Notes: John Gilliland was born at Cooperstown, Oswego County, New York, the son of  David and Anna “Kirk” Bailey Gilliland. He married Anna Melvina Campbell and the couple had a large family of eight children. John died at Baldwin, Douglas County, Kansas. This Gilliland family possibly descends from a very early line, that of John Gilliland the Covenantor, who arrived at the East Jersey plantations as an exile in 1685.

From The San Francisco Call
San Francisco, California
6 March 1912

OLDEST KNOWN KANSAN DIES AT
AGE OF 101 YEARS

   WORDEN, KAN., MARCH 5. -- At the age of 101 years John Gilliland died here today. He was believed to have been the oldest man in Kansas.
   Gilliland was born in Oswego County, New York, in 1810, and came to Kansas in the fifties. Actively engaged in farming until a few months ago, he attributed his long life to plenty of exercise and fresh air.

-- transcription by Kate Maynard, 2010