Biography of John Gilchrist, Clay Co, AR

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From: 
The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of N. E. Ark.
Biographical Information.

John T. Gilchrist, merchant at Knobel, Ark., was born in 1861 in St. Charles
County, Mo., being the eldest of nine children born to Richard and Fannie
(Coleman) Gilchrist, who were born in Ohio and Illinois, respectively. The
former was a hotel keeper, and in 1860 removed to East St. Louis, Ill., there
following that occupation until 1876, when be moved to Knobel and engaged in the
stock raising and saw mill business for a few years; then he retired from the
saw mill business and settled on his farm, where he died in 1888. He had about
160 acres of farming land, with some eighty acres under cultivation, and had 420
acres in a stock ranch. His wife died in 1882. John T. Gilchrist attended the
schools of St. Louis until seventeen years of age, then began clerking for the
Consolidated Steamboat Company, continuing one year, and in 1879 came to Knobel,
Ark., and secured the agency at this place of the Iron Mountain Railroad
Company, and had charge of the office for five years. In 1884 he erected a fine
building and started a saloon and billiard hall, and in 1887 built a large
store-house and engaged in general merchandising, his stock of goods being
valued at $6,000, and he has a large and rapidly increasing trade. He is a
member of the K. of P., the K. of H., and the K. and L. of H. He is particularly
active in  politics, and votes with the Democratic party. His brother, Richard
F., is associated with him in business. The latter came to Knobel with his
father in 1876, and worked on the farm until 1886, when he formed his present
partnership.