William Gilson
William Gilson, one of the prominent pioneers of Holmes County, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, in 1816, a son of William and Margaret (McClanan) Gilson, former a native of Pennsylvania, and by occupation in early life a farmer; later he engaged in teaming, hauling freight over the mountains, and then for a number of years worked at the weaver's trade. In an early day he came to Ohio, and bought eighty acres of woodland in Wayne County, where he lived a number of years, then sold, and bought eighty acres of woodland in Holmes County, in 1826, which he cleared, and on which he lived until his death, which occurred when he was aged sixty years. He had a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters: Hugh, Richard, Nancy, Rachel, Ann, William, James and David.
William Gilson, Jr., was reared in Holmes County on the farm bought by his father in 1826, and has always followed agricultural pursuits. He was married in 1839 to Rachel Craighead, and to them were born eleven children, only one of whom is living, Margaret Ann, now Mrs. Martin. Mrs. Gilson dying, Mr. Gilson married Miss Maggie Etella, daughter of Jeremiah Speck, and they have had five children, four of whom are living: William, Lambert, Quimby, and Etta Belle. Mr. Gilson is a Republican in politics and he and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church.
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio, J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1889