Bio of Gillett, Harrison (b.1824) Wabasha Co., MN
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Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Barbara Timm and Carol Judge
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This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1884.
Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab1.htm
There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some 
of the bios on her pages.

Gillett, Harrison, the great engine-boiler builder and machinist, of Lake
City, was born in Coopertown, New York, in 1824, and at the early age of
twelve years had developed considerable taste for machinery, especially
such as was propelled by steam power. At that age he began running an
engine at Syracuse, New York, and two years later went into a machine-shop
to learn the art of building. This he completed, and to this day has kept
pace with the development of steam machinery and in many ways taken
decidedly advanced steps in the science. In 1856 he came to Minnesota and
located in Lake City, and at once, in company with Starr, Gaylord &
Thompson, built a mill-his connection with this firm, however, was soon
severed, he drifting into his old business and also starting a foundry. He
run the first heat in this city on July 10, 1869, and erected his large
machine-shop at the corner of Main and Dwelle streets in 1870. This
building is a massive stone structure in size, 38x120, walls eighteen
inches thick, on a substantial foundation, two feet in thickness, fifty
feet of the front, two stories high, the entire building covered with an
iron roof. The interior is arranged into apartments to suit the
convenience of the different branches of work carried on, each room being
supplied with new and improved machinery for the molding and making of any
article, from a wheelbarrow to a complete steam threshing-machine, capable
of being conveyed to the field by its own motive power. In this immense
establishment is a thirty-horsepower engine, which not only propels the
vast machinery within its own walls, but also furnishes the power for two
grain elevators. During the threshing season of 1882 Mr. Gillette had in
the field thirteen full-equipped steam threshers, through which was run
about five hundred thousand bushels of grain, earning the sum of fourteen
thousand three hundred dollars. Suffice it to say that Mr. Gillett is a
natural machinist in every sense, and his sons are men of the same stamp.
He was married December 31, 1846, to Miss Mary L. Bayard, of the State of
New York, who has borne to him eight children, six of whom are still
living, whose names in the order of their birth are Frank H., Frances L.,
James H., Fred H., Addie L., and Asa D.
War of Rebellion (Civil War)