George L. Gilman, a landowner in Yankton County, South Dakota, has been instrumental in the region’s development since 1902. Born in West Hartland, Connecticut, in 1850, he is the son of Samuel B. and Harriet T. Gilman. After his father’s death, George managed the family farm, taught school, and eventually moved to South Dakota, securing government land in McCook County in 1882. He later expanded his holdings and relocated to Yankton County. In 1884, he married Emma O. Gaines, and they had five children. An active Republican and Congregational church member, George’s life reflects perseverance and community dedication.
George L. Gilman.—Among the landowners of Yankton county is George L. Gilman, a gentleman of ability and discernment. From 1902 down to the present he has been identified with the county and has aided materially in claiming the wild land for the purposes of civilization. There are in his life record many elements worthy of emulation and which should inspire and encourage others, for he started out in McCook county with limited means and throughout his career has been dependent upon his own efforts, his prosperity being attributable to his diligence and perseverance.
A native of Connecticut, Mr. Gilman was born in West Hartland, his parents being Samuel B. and Harriet T. (Newton) Gilman, who were also natives of that state and representatives of old colonial families, prominent in the Revolutionary war. The father was a farmer, a wagon maker, and carpenter. Both he and his wife always lived in Connecticut and there he died at the age of forty-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Gilman held membership in the Congregational church and he served as deacon for many years, being deeply interested in everything pertaining to the growth of his church and the extension of its influence. In his political views he was a Republican and was honored with various township offices. In the family were four children, of whom George L. is the eldest. Sarah E. is the wife of W. H. Williams, a prominent banker and business man of Winsted, Connecticut. Addie T. is the wife of Henry Ward Beecher, an undertaker of New Haven, Connecticut. Ida died in infancy. The living children were provided with good educational privileges, and the daughters successfully taught city schools. They were also proficient in music.
Upon his father’s death, George L. Gilman, who was then fifteen years of age, took charge of his father’s farm and when seventeen years of age he began teaching a country school in the winter months, while in the summer seasons he continued in agricultural work. He taught altogether for six winters in the district schools and afterward for two years in an intermediate grade in Winsted, Connecticut. His farm labors were continued through the summer months and in 1881 he sold the old homestead and for one summer he worked for his uncle on a farm. In the fall of that year he went to Illinois, where he visited for a short time and through the succeeding winter was employed as a teacher in Illinois. In the spring of 1882, he removed to McCook county, South Dakota, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of government land and on the 25th of April of that year, which was his birthday, he built his first house, a little shanty eight by ten feet. Mr. Gilman dug a well with a spade, and broke seventy-five acres of land; the first crop of sod corn was planted with a hatchet. He remained in South Dakota for one year and then returned to Illinois, teaching this former school through the succeeding winter at Western. In the spring of 1883, he brought horses and machinery to his new home, employed a hired man and began in earnest the work of cultivating and developing his farm. He had, in addition to his first tract, taken up three hundred and twenty acres, making in all four hundred and eighty acres, and subsequently he added one hundred and sixty acres, so that he had an entire section. He has erected a good residence and barns and he placed two hundred and sixty acres of his land under cultivation. Upon that farm he resided until December 1892, when he sold one-half of his land and rented the remainder. He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Yankton county, where he has since lived. In 1898 he erected a fine residence upon his home farm and has placed his land under a very high state of cultivation.
On the 10th of June, 1884, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Gilman and Miss Emma O. Gaines, a daughter of Nelson and Clarisa (Hinman) Gaines, the former of Granville, Massachusetts, and the latter of Bristol, Connecticut. They were married in Cambridge, Illinois, and her father was the first postmaster there and also a pioneer merchant. In public affairs he was ever prominent and influential, supporting the Republican party; he was a member of the Congregational church. By his first wife he had three children: George, who died at the age of four years; Clarissa, the wife of E. G. Comstock, of Missouri; and Julia, who became the wife of J. W. Stewart, but both are now deceased. By his second wife Mr. Gaines had the following children: Hattie, the wife of Charles Genung, of Menlo, Iowa; Emma, now Mrs. Gilman; Lucy, the wife of Dr. Miller, a resident of Los Angeles, California; Frank N., who is in business in Chicago; and Harvey S., who is a business man of California. For his third wife, Mr. Gaines chose Amy H. Wilson, but they had no children. Mr. Gaines died in 1892 at Geneseo, Illinois, aged seventy-five years. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman has been blessed with five children: George Gaines, who was graduated in Yankton Academy in June 1903; Arthur, who died at the age of fourteen months; Howard E. and Raymond N., who are attending school; and Alice T., who is now a little maiden of nine years.
Politically, Mr. Gilman is a Republican with strong Prohibition tendencies, for he is an ardent advocate of the cause of temperance. He and his wife are active and devoted members of the Congregational church, in which he serves as a deacon and trustee. He has a very wide acquaintance and an honorable career well entitles him to representation in this volume among the pioneers of the state. His life history shows that success is not a matter of genius, but the outcome of judgment, experience, and diligence. Integrity has been one of the crowning features in his life work, and capability with unflagging diligence gives Mr. Gilman a place among the prosperous residents of Yankton county.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.