Winthrop Sargent Gilman

Winthrop Sargent Gilman (1808-1884) was head of the banking house of Gilman, Son & Co. in New York City. He was born in Marietta, Ohio to merchant Benjamin Ives Gilman and Hannah (Robbins) Gilman. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=NPaBPe6wPfcC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=%22benjamin+ives+gilman%22+marietta&source=web&ots=m8hWVs56gu&sig=Vvp6GVLNDty7Dp8yRcjmPJcVFG0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result Ohio's Founding Fathers, Fred J. Milligan, IUniverse, 2003] ] Benjamin Ives Gilman, born in 1766, was a native of Exeter, New Hampshire, where he graduated in the first class of the Phillips Exeter Academy. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=6UZAAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=%22dudley+leavitt%22+%22phillips+exeter+academy%22&source=web&ots=B0PjXvYLJb&sig=TMapsfPqeCKGPtYSx1KASJ6Or8g&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPA1,M1 General Catalogue of Officers and Students, 1783-1903, Phillips Exeter Academy, News-Letter Press, Exeter, 1903] ]

In 1837 Winthrop Sargent Gilman let the abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy hide his printing press in one of Gilman's warehouses in Alton, Illinois. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=EDFMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR22&lpg=PR22&dq=%22winthrop+sargent+gilman%22&source=web&ots=fdXNh_ZTbZ&sig=y9BL1I9AVGVNrGKCP6Ca36b9Tnc&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PRA5-PA254,M1 Searches into the History of the Gillman or Gilman Family, Alexander William Gillman, Elliot Stock, London, 1895] ] In the ensuing riot the angry mob burned Gilman's warehouse to the ground and killed Lovejoy. [cite news| last=|first=|title = Winthrop S. Gilman Dead: An Original Abolitionist and Successful Business Man and Banker | publisher= The New York Times | date =1884-10-05 | url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B0CE5DF1038E033A25756C0A9669D94659FD7CF |accessdate = |quote=Winthrop Sargent Gilman, head of the banking house of Gilman, Son Co., of No. 62 Cedar-street, this city, died at his Summer home in Palisades, Rockland County, N.Y., on Friday, age 76. Mr. Gilman was known as a business ...] Following the Alton riots, Gilman moved to New York City and entered the family banking business. He was married to Abia Swift LippincottGilman, who in 1900 narrowly escaped burning to death from a gasoline torch in front of the Charles Scribner mansion at 12 East Thirty-eighth Street. [cite news| last=|first=|title = Mrs. Abia S. Gilman and Maid Victims of Queer Accident. Workman's Gasolene Utensil, Thrown from Window, Fell on Them -- Three Men Scorched. | publisher= The New York Times | date =September 30, 1900, Wednesday | url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906EFD91039E733A25753C3A96F9C946197D6CF |accessdate = |quote=Mrs. Abia Swift Gilman, born Lippincott in 1817, widow of the famous abolitionist and New York banker, Winthrop Sargent Gilman, narrowly escaped burning to death from a gasolene torch yesterday morning in front of the Charles Scribner mansion, 12 East Thirty-eighth Street. The venerable lady's hair was singed and some of her garments were destroyed.]

Winthrop Gilman had an abiding interest in science and built a private observatory at his home 'Fern Lodge' at the Palisades, New York, where he frequently observed meteors. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=_qoEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA410&lpg=PA410&dq=%22fern+lodge%22+palisades+gilman&source=web&ots=o2sAkeIKhO&sig=bTD8Zd1M05vRUe8grxSzQlBnF2k&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result The American Journal of Science and Arts, The Meteors of November, 1868, Benjamin Silliman, Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor, New Haven, Ct., 1869] ]

Gilman, Son & Co. in New York often acted in conjunction with the interests of the Brown family of Providence, Rhode Island, founders of Brown University. Subsequently, John Nicholas Brown and the Gilman Land Company, an offshoot of the Gilman family banking business, were involved in the development of the Gilman Block in Sioux City, Iowa,as well as other real estate properties.

Winthrop Sargent Gilman's sons were Benjamin Ives Gilman, Theodore P. Gilman, and Athur Gilman. Arthur Gilman became a banker with the family firm, then when his health faltered, he retired to his estate 'Glynllyn' in the Berkshires near Lee, Massachusetts, where he became a writer on historical subjects and family history [ [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=GDBMAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22arthur+gilman%22+exeter&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=cOImz0MeQv&sig=qDVZHaDysqyXW_TCIgvITQPuPAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP5,M1 Genealogy of the Gilman Family in England and America, Arthur Gilman, J. Munsell, Albany, N.Y. 1864] ] , a philanthropist and the founder of Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9906E1DE1730E733A2575AC2A9649D946897D6CF&oref=slogin&oref=slogin Obituary of Arthur Gilman, founder of Radcliffe College, The New York Times, Dec. 29, 1909] ]

References

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=jDFMAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22winthrop+sargent+gilman%22&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=UsxAsHFZt2&sig=IlCO-_XyrWyiP0adSXlN9o5lm6A&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result A Family History in Letters and Documents, 1667-1837 Concerning the Forefathers of Winthrop Sargent Gilman and his wife Abia Swift Lippincott, Vol. I, Emily Hoffman Gilman Noyes, Privately Printed, St. Paul, Minn., 1919]