Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Gillett, Abner C ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com November 10, 2007, 1:47 pm Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County ABNER C. GILLETT, proprietor of the Hickory Creek dairy farm in New Lenox Township, was born in Wayne County, N. Y., in 1842. His father, Isaac M. Gillett, a native of Otsego County, N. Y., born November 28, 1814, settled in Seneca County, but about 1842 moved to Wayne County, and from there came to Illinois in 1855. The spring of that year found him in Dupage County, but in the fall he settled in Homer Township, Will County, where he bought a farm of one hundred and thirty acres. By subsequent purchase he increased his holdings to five hundred acres. While holding the office of road commissioner he assisted in laying out the roads in the town of Homer. Politically he was a Republican. He died on his homestead February 25, 1898, when eighty-four years of age. His father, Abner C. Gillett, was a lifelong resident and farmer of New York and was identified with the early history of Seneca County. A man of deep religious convictions, he assisted in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he belonged. He died in spring of 1861, at seventy-six years of age. The mother of our subject was a daughter of Adam Carman, member of a Quaker family of New York. In her family were four children, namely: Abner C; Egbert A.; D. A., who occupies the homestead in Homer Township; and Isaac M., of Spencer. The mother is still living on the old home farm and is now eighty- five years of age. When the family settled in this county our subject was fourteen years of age. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Thirty- ninth Illinois Infantry, under Gen. T. O. Osburn, and served for three years, mostly in the army of the James River, although he spent eighteen months with Gilmore in South Carolina. He witnessed the bombardment of Fort Sumter April 7, 1863. After being mustered out he returned to his home. In the spring of 1865 he married Mary E. Gorham, who was born in New York. After his marriage he lived on the old homestead for three years. In 1868 he moved to Miami County, Kans., where he bought a small farm of forty acres and remained some years. Returning to Will County in 1873 he spent five years on his father's farm. In the spring of 1878 Mr. Gillett bought the old Smith Reynolds farm. He now owns two hundred and seventy acres, on which he engages in dairy farming, keeping about one hundred milch cows and shipping twenty cans of milk to Chicago every day. Fraternally he is identified with Mount Joliet Lodge No. 42, A. F. & A. M., in which he is past master; and also belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. He and his wife have one daughter, Jennie, who is the wife of Harry W. Storm. Additional Comments: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/gillett1172gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb