Matthew Gilmerr
Enumerated among the progressive farmers of Wayne township, Fayette county, Ohio, is Matthew Gilmerr. who has a farm of two hundred acres on the New Holland and Good Hope pike, about nine miles southeast of Washington C. H. He has been a resident of this county practically all of his life, having come here with his parents in his boyhood days. He comes from a splendid family, one that always stood for right living and industrious habits, for education and morality, and for all that contributes to the welfare of the commonwealth. His whole life has been characterized by industry, perseverance, temperance and integrity, and he has worked himself from an humble station to a successful place in life, attaining an honorable position among the well-known and highly esteemed men of the locality in which he resides.
Matthew Gilmerr, the son of Martin and Sarah (Bybee) Gilmerr, was born July 27, 1858, in Ross county, Ohio. Martin Gilmerr was a native of Hardy county, Virginia, and located in Ross county when he first came to Ohio, and later settled in Fayette county. Martin Gilmerr was the son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Shobe) Gilmerr, and had a family of ten children, Emily J., Elizabeth, Levi, Matthew, Nettie, Clara, Anna, Henry E. and two who died in infancy.
Matthew Gilmerr received his education in the public schools of Ross and Fayette counties, working on the farm during the time he was not attending school. Upon his marriage, in 1888, he bought out the other heirs to the paternal estate, and has lived there for the past thirty-five years. He is a practical and systematic farmer, giving his personal attention to every detail of the farm work, and in the raising of crops and live stock he has been highly remunerated for his efforts. His life has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance and the notably systematic and honorable methods he has followed have won for him the confidence and regard of all who have formed his accjuaintance.
Mr. Gilmerr has been twice married, his first marriage being to Elizabeth Ater, daughter of Abraham Ater, and to this first marriage were born two children, Bessie, who married Jesse White, and has one daughter, Edith Annabel, and Mathew. Jr.. deceased. After the death of his first wife, in 1897, he married, in 1901. Mrs. Mary Bryan, the widow of Darius Bryan, and to the second union no children were born.
Fraternally Mr. Gilmerr is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and also holds his membership in the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Gilmerr is enjoying life on his farm, realizing, as the public at large are realizing more than ever before, that the farmer today is to be envied above all other men. He has worked his way from the foot of the ladder, a fact which renders him the more worthy of the praise that is duly accorded him by his fellow men.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)