Lake County IN Archives Biographies.....Gilbert, Edwin S. 1862 - 
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Author: T. H. Ball (1904)

EDWIN S. GILBERT.

    Edwin S. Gilbert, postmaster, editor and business man of Indiana Harbor, is
one of the enterprising citizens of this most enterprising town. When Indiana
Harbor began to come into prominence as a commercial center he recognized its
opportunities and advantages, and has been identified with its progress ever
since. He has been in charge of the postoffice since its establishment, and he
issued the first paper in the place. He is eminently public-spirited and truly
representative of the energy and business push which are going to make this
young trade center of northern Lake county one of the foremost harbor cities
about Lake Michigan.

    Mr. Gilbert was born in Ash Grove, Iroquois county, Illinois, February 5,
1862, a son of Theodore Monroe and Hannah (McDonough) Gilbert, the former a
native of Connecticut and the latter of Delaware. His paternal grandfather was
Asa Gilbert, a native of Connecticut and of English descent. He came west to
Michigan and owned and operated lumber mills, and in Ohio had some flouring
mills and in 1830 built a canal in that state. He rafted the first cargo of
lumber from Michigan to Chicago. He later moved to Illinois, and died, while on
a visit to one of his children in Indiana, when upward of sixty years of age.
His wife was named Abigail, and they had five sons and one daughter. Mr.
Gilbert's maternal grandfather was John Stidham, a native of Maryland. He was an
early settler in Iroquois county, Illinois, where he owned six hundred acres of
land, and he died there well advanced in years. He was one of the prominent men
of the county. His first wife was named Pennington and his second Bonebrake.

    Theodore M. Gilbert, the father of Edwin S., was a farmer by occupation. He
emigrated to Illinois some time in the fifties, and settled at Ash Grove, where
he improved and lived on a farm for a time, but later sold and moved into
Onarga, where he was engaged in the grocery business for a number of years. He
died at Onarga in 1896, aged seventy-two years. He held the office of assessor
of his county for a number of terms. His wife still survives him, at the age of
eighty-one years. She, as was her husband, is a member of the Methodist church.
They were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, eight of
whom are now living: John S., of Onarga, Illinois; Erastus P., of the state of
Washington; Evaline, wife of Charles H. Pusey, of Oberlin, Kansas; Miss Jennie,
of Onarga; Abigail, wife of John K. Judy, of Goodwin, Illinois; Alice, wife of
Wesley Harris, of Oberlin, Kansas; Dwight M., of Washington state; and Edwin S.

    Mr. Edwin S. Gilbert lived on his father's farm until he was fourteen years
old, getting his schooling in the district schools. He then went to school in
Onarga for a time, after which he learned the printer's trade, which with its
allied profession has been his principal occupation throughout his active
career. For one year he published the Onarga Review, and for the following three
years conducted a paper in North Dakota. On his return to Onarga he established
the Leader and published it for three years. After his marriage, in 1888, he
lived in the Dakotas for several years, and on January 17, 1891, established the
Globe at East Chicago, Indiana. He conducted this paper until August, 1899, when
he sold the plant to the present owner, A. P. Brown. For a short time following
he was employed at his printing trade, and then bought the Whiting News, which
he still publishes in addition to the Saturday issue of the Indiana Harbor News,
the first journal to make its appearance in this town.

    When the postoffice was established at Indiana Harbor on February 17, 1902,
Mr. Gilbert became the first postmaster, and on its becoming a presidential
office, January 1, 1904, he was reappointed postmaster. He was city clerk of
East Chicago for two terms. He owns a residence in East Chicago, and is now
building a double store building with five flats in Indiana Harbor. He is a
Republican in politics. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, and has been
keeper of records and seals since the lodge was instituted in East Chicago four
years ago. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

    June 21, 1888, Mr. Gilbert married Miss Kate A. Lowe, a daughter of Samuel
and Eliza (Beattie) Lowe.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF
Genealogy and Biography
OF
LAKE COUNTY, INDIANA,
WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY 
1834—1904

A Record of the Achievements of Its People in the Making of a Commonwealth and
the Founding of a Nation.

REV. T. H. BALL
OF CROWN POINT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ILLUSTRATED
CHICAGO   NEW YORK
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1904


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