Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Gifford, W W 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 29, 2008, 12:56 am

Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

W. W. Gifford, filling the position of deputy county treasurer in Will county, 
serving for the third term in that capacity, was born in Chautauqua county, 
New York, in 1844, and in 1848 was brought to Illinois by his parents, Edson 
and Lydia (Whipple) Gifford, both of whom are now deceased. The father engaged 
for years in business in Kendall and Grundy counties, and in 1872 removed to 
Elwood, Will county, where he carried on merchandising until his life's labors 
were ended in death in 1894. W. W. Gifford was reared and educated in Kendall 
and Grundy counties, supplementing his public school training by an academic 
course. He was afterward associated with his father in merchandising and 
succeeded him in business at Elwood. At the time of the Civil war, however, he 
put aside all personal considerations and business interests and, although 
only seventeen years of age, enlisted in 1861 from Kendall county as a member 
of Company D, Thirty-sixth Illinois infantry, with which he served until 
wounded at Chickamauga, losing a leg in that engagement. He was then 
discharged by reason of physical disability, but has been remembered, and 
properly so, by Uncle Sam with a comfortable pension. He served in the office 
of deputy county treasurer from 1894 until 1898, was treasurer from 1898 until 
1902, was again deputy from 1902 until 1906, and reappointed in the latter 
year, being the present incumbent. Mr. Gifford was married in Henry county, 
Illinois, to Miss Lydia Bryan, and they have four children: E. B., who is a 
merchant at Elwood, this county; M. Stella, the wife of R. J. Hemphill, of 
Aurora, Illinois; Kate V., the wife of W. C. Miller, of Morris, Illinois; and 
Grace, at home. In politics Mr. Gifford has always been a stalwart republican, 
stanchly advocating the principles of his party, and for over twelve years has 
been a trustworthy and competent office holder. He belongs to the Grand Army 
post at Joliet, and thus maintains pleasant relations with the comrades who 
wore the blue uniform and fought in defense of the old flag upon southern 
battlefields. 

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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