William J. Gilchrist is the
lineal descendant of two Scotchmen, on his father's and
mother's side, who came to the colonies previous to the
Revolutionary war, and settled in the then County Tyron
(now towns of Charlton and Galway, county of Saratoga and
State of New York), named Wm. Gilchrist and William
McCartney. A raid of Indians and Tories during the
Revolutionary war, under Sir John Johnson, compelled them
to leave their farms; they removed to near Albany, and
particpated in the perils and hardships of the war. The
only son of the former married the daughter of the latter
on Nov. 22, 1799; both died in 1811, leaving four
children, who were reared by the respective grandfathers,
the subject of this sketch being the only survivor of
these children, and was born Sept. 16, 1802. He was
educated in the common schools of the town and
subsequently aided by a celebrated Scotch teacher, and
acquired a partial knowledge of the Spanish language,
intending to go to South America, but these plans were
frustrated by his marriage to a lady of his own name, in
May, 1824. They had five children, two of whom only
survive. He remained a farmer until 1854 when he sold his
farm and possessions and removed to Elgin, and afterward
to Rockford, Ill. While in New York he possessed the
confidence of many of the prominent statemen of the
Empire State, Silas Wright, John Cramer, Samuel Young,
Eli M. Todd, John Van Buren, and others, and was
nominated as a Delegate to the Constitutional Convention
to amend the Constitution of the State, in 1844, in
opposition to John K. Porter, but was defeated on account
of his temperance and free-soil proclivities. He was also
a delegate to the Free-Soil Convention that nominated
Martin Van Buren for the Presidency, in opposition to
General Cass; and during the administration of Governor
Wright, and subsequently, he was a commissioner to loan
out the United States Deposit fund on improved farms, the
interest of which went to the support of common schools.
This fund he managed with fidelity and to the full
satisfaction of State. After coming to Illinois, he
invested his funds in farm mortgages and entered lands in
Iowa, and finally came to McGregor, in 1857, and
organized the old reliable produce firm of Gilchrist
& Co. In 1863 he assisted Ex-Governor Samuel Merrill
in the organization of the First National Bank of
McGregor, of which he was a Director and Vice-President,
and subsequently; with others organized the Clayton
County Savings Bank, of McGregor, and was President for
several years. When Congress authorized the issue of four
per cent, bonds, in small amounts, to be sold by
Postmasters, the managers concluded to close up the
institution, which they did, to the profit of the
stockholders and the satisfaction of all concerned. The
tear and wear of nearly four-fifths of a century has
compelled him to relinquish all care, except his private
business, with a liberal competency and home, and all the
appliances of comfort and luxury desired, and a wife yet
surviving, having passed the fifty-eighth anniversary of
their marriage, with kind children and grandchildren, he
is a looker-on, rather than a participant, of the great
events transpiring. He was nominated as a candidate for
Representative to the General Assembly of Iowa, in 1861,
but on account of the multiplicity of his engagements,
was compelled to decline, but in 1863 was nominated and
elected, and actively particpated in the legislation of
that session as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
means in the House. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa, 1882, p. 980-82 |