Kate's Notes: Lewis W. Gillilan, son of Lewis McClellan Gillilan and grandson of Lewis and Alice (Clare) Gillilan of Jackson County, Ohio, was another accomplished descendent from the line of James Gillilan, Jr and Margaret Boggs. The sister of Lewis W., (Bertha) Elizabeth Gillilan -- who later married Edwin Mitchell -- was also an accomplished academic and author. A biographical sketch of Elizabeth is planned for future inclusion in our archives.
   One small note about the article: in this piece it is stated that Lewis' son Robert was a resident of Fanwood, N.Y. I believe that should have read, "Fanwood, N.J.".

Published in The New York Times 
April 20, 1942

LEWIS W. GILLILAN, TELEPHONE AIDE, 51
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Traffic Service Superintendent Directed Private 
Exchanges -- Is Dead in Summit, N. J.
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HE BEGAN CAREER IN UTAH
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Joined Bell System in 1917 and Held Posts in West
Before Coming Here in 1928
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Special to the New York Times

   Summit, N.J., April 20 -- Lewis W. Gillilan, traffic service superintendent of the New York Telephone Company, who was in charge of the company's private branch exchange activities in Manhattan, died here last night at his home, 160 Maple Street, at the age of 51.
   Mr. Gilliland was born at Athens, Ohio but later lived in Springville, Utah. He was graduated from the Salt Lake City High school in 1910 and then engaged in farming at Springville until 1917 when he began his career with the Bell System as a traffic student in the Salt Lake District of the Mountain States Telephone Company.
   He then joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, where he was a traffic engineer, and in 1928 was transferred to the New York Telephone Company. He had supervised all of the company's private branch work since that date, the job including 23,500 private switchboards.
   Mr. Gillilan leaves a widow, Mrs. Ellen Benson Gillilan; a son, Robert, of Fanwood, N. Y.; four daughters, Miss Parnel Gillilan of this place, Mrs. Marjorie Bachman of Barnegat, N.J.; Miss Lois Gillilan of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Mrs. Elizabeth Britton of Newark, N.J.; his mother, Mrs. Lizzy McVay Gillilan of Athens, Ohio; three sisters, Mrs. Anna Welsh of Springville, Utah; Mrs. Charles T. Eakin of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Miss Elizabeth Gillilan of New York, and a brother, Paul Gillilan, of Erie, Pa.
   Strickland Gillilan, journalist, lecturer and humorist of Washington, D.C., is his uncle.

 -- Contributed and transcribed by Kate Maynard, 2009.