The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-09-03

Immigration Road near Cooperstown,
N. Y, September 8. 1910. His faith
er sent him to school at Williamsville
where he had for a classmate, Oliver
Webster. Daniel Webster's oldest son.
~ Dung Webster and I were chums
at school," Mr.. Gilliland said. land 1t
was here that first met his father,
Daniel Webster. was just a boy then.
Oliver Webster and I were taught to
speak the same piece at school; it was
the first attempt for both of us. The
piece was about a boy caught stealing
apples" The old man still can repeat
several verses of the poem.
When young man he went to New
ark, O., where he learned to be sad
die and harness maker. This trade he
followed until old age made him unfit
for the work. Next he moved to
Jackstown, o. Here, without his knowl-
edge, he was commissioned postmaster
by President Andrew Jackson. His
trade, however, forced him to refuse
the appointment and recommend an
other man who was commissioned in
his stead. His successor held the Of
flee until the time of his death, forty
years later.
He Was Married in 1886.
A few years later he removed to
Clark county, Ohio. Here he was mar
ried to Amanda Mu1vina Campbell in
| 1886. About this time trouble arose
| between Ohio and Michigan over the
| boundary line between the two states
| The governors of each state appointed
the same number of arbiters to run a
new boundary line together and SO set
| tie the dispute. Mr. Gilliland was one
of those appointed by the governor OF
Ohio to assist in amicably settling this
matter, which at one time nearly
caused clash in arms between the
| two states.
| In 1856 he and his family went to
| Illinois where thew inn
years; then, in 1860, they started over
land for Kansas. They made the trit
in an old linch-pin wagon with wooden
axles and tar bucket hanging on the
coupling pole. They came direct tc
Willow Springs, where Mr.. GillilanG
has lived ever since.
Father Gilliland, as they call him
always has taken a great interest ir
politics When he lived at Jackstown
q, he was elected delegate to the
| state convention at Columbus. II
speaking of this event, he said:
| I was sent there to help nominate
jackson for his second term. 1 wasn't
| married then, I had never shaved an6
was the youngest man in that conven-
ton
A Son i'm the Soldiers Home.
He was a soldier and served as q
home guard twenty years. Four of his
five sons served in the Union army in
the civil war. During the war he
hauled supplies from Fort Leavenworth
! to points in southern Kansas. His wife
died in 1888. three years after the cele-
bration of their golden wedding.
Although a believer in Democratic
| principles, he was a supporter of the
Union and voted for Fremont in 1856
| and for Lincoln in 1860 He also sup
| ported Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. He
is a Methodist and quotes freely from
| the Bible.
Mr.. Gilliland is the father of fourteen
| children, five of them living. These
are: Reuben, now in the Old Soldiers
home at Fort Leavenworth; Albert
| whose home is in Usage county: Am
brose, who lives in Oklahoma; Mrs
Alice Williams of Kansas City, Mo.
and Thomas Gilliland of Willow
Springs, with whom the old man is
| spending his last days.