1809 - 1861

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• Birth	23 Jun 1809	Mesopotamia, OH
  Gender	Male
  Buried	1861	Oak Grove Cemetary, Tomah, Monroe, WI
  Died	28 Sep 1861	Tomah, Monroe, Wi
  Person ID	I129772	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	27 Oct 2005 00:00:00
  Father	Griswold GILLETT, b. 12 Jun 1781, Southwick, Hampden, MA
  Mother	Clarissa TRACY, b. 7 Jul 1783, Mesopotamia, Trumbull, OH
  Family ID	F46829	Group Sheet
  Family 1	Marie Ann BURRELL
  Married	8 Sep 1833
  Children	> 1. Robert Arthur GILLETT, b. 8 Jul 1834, Elyra, Lorain, OH > 2. Mary Ann GILLETT, b. 21 Mar 1836, Oberlin, Lorain, OH
  Family ID	F48688	Group Sheet
  Family 2	Lucy KELLOGG, b. 2 May 1811, Galway, Saratoga, NY
  Married	2 May 1838	OH
  Children	1. Ruth Kellogg GILLETTE, b. 24 Feb 1839, Oberlin, Lorain, OH > 2. Theodore Weld GILLETTE, b. 23 Oct 1840, Oberlin, Lorain, OH > 3. Julia King GILLETTE, b. 20 Oct 1842, Oberlin, Lorain, OH   4. Fredrick Kellogg GILLETTE, b. 17 Sep 1844, Oberlin, Lorain, OH
  Family ID	F32586	Group Sheet
  Family 3	Lois Ann (Ingraham) WARNER, b. 12 Apr 1813, Wilbraham or Sheffield, MA
  Married	27 Oct 1849	Cuyahoga Co, Ohio
  Family ID	F14756	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Theodore Weld Gillette, his son, writes of his father: "Oberlin was at that time in the advance of most of the United States, in the advocation of the abolitionism of slavery and my father was one of the action workers in what was known as the Underground Railroad; which was used to help the runaway slaves to get into Canada. I heard him say in after years that he was instrumental in landing 143. He had narrow escapes from being shot by the infuriated owners." "He was secretary of the first (argenialian) of the Oberlin College, Post Master of the Village and Editor of the Oberlin Evangelist. At the time of his death he was Judge of Monroe County, WI. The war had been going on for some months before he died and I was near Baltimore, MD. There was one of his articles written some twenty years before, in which he says that he had just come up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. On the boat was a man that lived in Mississippi by the name of Jeff Davis. My father predicted a war with the South and that Jeff Davis would be the leader of the South." Robert E. Gillett came to Oberlin with President Finney and was for some time General Agent or Secretary of the College. He was also postmaster in Oberlin and was connected with the activities of the "Underground railroad" which helped in the escape of slaves to Canada. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OBERLIN COLLEGE1836 CATALOG -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRUSTEES Rev. ASA MAHAN, Rev. JOHN KEEP, Rev. JOHN J. SHIPHERD, Rev. JOEL TALCOTT, Rev. JOHN KEYS, ADDISON TRACY, PHILO P. STEWART, PETER P. PEASE, JABEZ L. BURRELL OWEN BROWN, Esq. LEVI BEEBEE, ALEX SEYMOUR, Esq. RIVERIUS BIDWELL, Esq. ROBERT E. GILLETT, General Agent. LEVI BURNELL, Corresponding Sec'ry and Treasurer -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- TOMAH, WISCONSIN The town and village of Tomah were named in honor of Chief Thomas Carron, or Tomah as the French pronounced his name, of the Menominee Indians. The first man to acquire title to any portion of the future city was Jesse Norman, who came on foot from Walworth County in 1854. The first permanent settler in the village was Robert E. Gillett, who came from Cleveland, Ohio in 1855. He made a claim, taking in all of the original plat of the village and four forties adjoining in Sec 9. In May 1855, he built a log cabin, containing four rooms, the first building of any kind in Tomah. The state government offered great inducements to parties in search of land with thirty years being allowed to pay with only seven percent interest. In 1856 Gillett built a steam sawmill in the northern part of the village. It was the only steam mill in the Monroe County. On June 1st, 1857 Mr. Gillett had the village platted and surveyed. Charles W. Kellogg, an elder in the Methodist Church built the first frame house in the village, on the "Knoll" in the western part of the village. On the first Sunday in July 1857 Elder Kellogg delivered the first sermon in the village in a new barn built by Gillett, who said he wished to have it dedicated. In 1856 the first school was held in a barn. In 1857 a log house was built across from Gillett's house to house the school. Also in 1857 the first grocery and drugstores were established, as well as a blacksmith shop Robert Gillett had a dream for a city of rare spirit that would endure. Visions of a railroad center faded, but the city became even greater than the dreams. There is still that peculiar kind of charm in the Valley of the Lemonweir that is now Tomah. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Robert afterwards moved to Tomah, WI (giving that town its name) and again met his old friend Simeon Durand Powers, whom he had known in Ohio. Here his son Theodore Weld first met Laetitia, daughter of Simeon and later they married. Laetitia's brother Alonzo married Mary Burrell Gillett, Theodore's half sister. Laetitia often visited the grave of Edward Durand in Desoto, WI. It was the first grave in that town and its location is now unknown to the relatives. It was under a magnificent oak near the Mississippi. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Newspaper clipping found at Oberlin College Archives (name of publication not found on clipping): June 28, 1898 DOWN SOUTH IN 1844 Captain R. A. Gillett of Milwaukee is a son of Robert E. Gillett, who was one of the six men who founded Oberlin College. Robert E. Gillett held high rank among the men connected with the Underground Railroad in Ohio during the last years of slavery, and many a colored man in Kentucky and Virginia owed his freedom to his skill as an Underground Railroad manager. 1835-1837 Mr. Gillett was designated as financial agent or secretary of Oberlin College and consequently it often happened that he was made guardian for colored pupils sent from the south and elsewhere. A wealthy citizen of Louisiana, the father of two distinct families, one white and the other dark, saw much merit in his half colored children and their mother. When he wrote his will he provided that each one of the mulatto children - four boys and two girls - should receive $10,000 and their mother a like sum. He also sent the seven to Oberlin, where the children were to be educated. Upon the death of the wealthy man, who was also prominent in various directions, the father of at least one son who has served in the United States senate and held another very high office, besides winning the rank of colonial in the confederate army, the guardian of the Oberlin children and their mother took steps to get the $70,000 that had been provided for them in the will. He met with bitter opposition at every step and it required six years of hard work and close application. Mr. Gillett visited New Orleans on several occasions, the last time in 1844. That time Captain Gillett, the Wisconsin man who then was 10 years of age, accompanied him. They were stopped at the St. Charles. There were unmistakable signs that Mr. Gillett would win in his fight for the children. This enraged his opponents. One afternoon, while Mr. Gillett and his boy were in the reading room, a delegation of a dozen or so stalwart, determined-looking men approached and asked: "Are you Robert E. Gillett of Oberlin?" "That is my name, sir, and there is where I hail from. How can I serve you?" "Well, sir, we are authorized to come here and tell you that you have until tomorrow morning to take the boat on your way homeward." Mr. Gillett, whose fixedness of purpose had made him all his life a stanch friend of the colored people, who many times had risked his life in defending their interests, and had also run the risk of imprisonment by aiding them in their efforts to escape from servitude, rose from his chair, and walking up close to the leader of the delegation said to him so that all in the room could hear: "Well, sir, I am authorized to say to you and the balance of your delegation and all men of your stripe, that I am in New Orleans looking after a case in the United States court and that I shall remain here until that business is concluded; and if you, or any of your delegation, or any of your kind lay a hand on me you will do so at your peril." The delegation apparently had seen and heard enough of Mr. Gillett of Oberlin, because they "about-faced" and left the room and he remained in New Orleans until his work was done, until he had secured judgment for the full amount, with interest, making a sum of nearly $100,000. There was no further trouble. It is evident that he was not regarded as a man it was wholesome to trifle with. They were right; he was not. During that visit south, Mr. Gillett and his son had occasion to go to Vicksburg. They put up at a hotel. People there soon discovered who Mr. Gillett was, that he was connected with a "nigger" college and looking after a large sum of southern money that was going north to help educate "niggers" at Oberlin. In those days Vicksburg was the abode of not a few reckless characters. Among the men who visited the hotel and looked the northerner over; one of the few who did not scowl at him was a Judge Springer. When no one else was about the judge stepped up to Mr. Gillett and said: "I don't believe you ought to remain here over night." Gillett wanted to know why. The judge explained that his name, home and mission were known to some rather hard customers, who did not have a very kindly feeling for him. "I will gladly entertain you where I am stopping, at a private residence." said the judge; and he did so, and after the Vicksburg business was concluded he returned to his home. Keep this judge in mind. While Mr. Gillett was on that southern tour he went to hear a popular southern orator. I should have added before that Mr. Gillett was editor of the Oberlin Evangelist. In a letter to the Evangelist he spoke of the meeting at which he heard the young orator in 1844. Among the other things this sturdy Ohioan and abolitionist said: "I have this night heard a remarkable speech, delivered by a member of the Mississippi legislature, Jefferson Davis, and I want to predict, here and now, that within thirty years the south will attempt to establish a southern confederacy and that this Mr. Davis will be at the head of it." A brother of Captain Gillett (Theodore Weld Gillette) enlisted in 1861 as a private in the Fourth Wisconsin. Later he was commissioned and was assigned to the commissary department. While his command was at Baton Rouge in 1864, many of the southern loyal people applied for rations. One day a very old man called upon Lieutenant Gillett to say that he had lost his home and that all of his relatives among the boys and men had entered the confederate service, and that he was destitute. "I see you bear the name of Gillett, " said the old man. "Yes, sir, Gillett of Wisconsin." "Did you ever live at Oberlin, Ohio?" "I did; was born there." "What was your father's name?" "Robert E." "Did he ever visit the south-was he connected with Oberlin College?" "Yes, sir." "Do you remember whether he once visited Vicksburg?" "I cannot tell, sir, but I can find out by writing my brother, who, I remember, went south with my father on one or two occasions." Without the old gentleman's being obliged to make a request for food the lieutenant gave him a generous supply and told him to come around in the course of ten days or two weeks and he would give him the information he sought. He then wrote his brother, the captain, of whom I have spoken, and asked if he remembered Judge Springer of Vicksburg. The reply went back at once that he did and that the judge had done his father and himself a great kindness by shielding them from what he thought was imminent danger. He closed by requesting his brother to do anything or everything in his power to make it comfortable for the old judge, and the request was complied with. J.A. Watrous. More About ROBERT EDWIN GILLETT: Burial: 1861, Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI Notes for LUCY KELLOGG: LUCY, dau. Of Ezra, b. 2 May, 1811; m. (1) 2 May 1838, Robert Edwin Gillette, b. 1809. He d. Sept., 1861; was editor and publisher of the Oberlin (O.), Evangelist; later engaged in the real estate business and founded and named the village of Tomah, WI; she m. (2) William Austin Lathrop; res. in Cleveland, OH. Children by first husband Ruth Kellogg Gillette, b. 24 Feb., 1839; is a teacher in Green Bay, Wis. Theodore Weld Gillette, b. 23 Oct., 1840; m. 2 May, 1864, Laetitia Sophronia Powers, of Sparta, Wis., dau. of S. D. Powers, b. in Ferrisburg, VT.; was a sheep raiser in San Diego, Tex. Julia King Gillette, b. 22 Nov. 1842; m. 24 Feb., 1875, Dr. Anson James Adams, of Flint, Mich., b. Nov. 1842, son of Oliver R. Adams, b. in Homer, N. Y., 12 July 1815, and Harriet James, b. 29 July 1818; he was graduated from Williams College, and from the Homeopathic College of Cleveland, OH. Frederick Kellogg Gillette, b. 17 Sept., 1844; was a telegraph operator; res. in Garrettsville, OH. More About LOIS ANN (INGRAHAM) WARNER: Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI Children of ROBERT GILLETT and MARIE (BURRELL) are: i. ROBERT ARTHUR GILLETT, b. July 08, 1834, Elyria, Loraine, OH; d. December 28, 1907, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI; m. (1) SARAH CAROLINE TURNER, 1862; d. 1872; m. (2) SEREPTA A. ATKINSON, Abt. 1873; d. December 1905, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI. More About SARAH CAROLINE TURNER: Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI ii. MARY ANN GILLETT, b. March 21, 1836, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. March 1916; m. ALONZO JOSEPH POWERS; b. September 13, 1840; d. October 1915. Notes for ALONZO JOSEPH POWERS: Alonzo had a large dry goods store in St. Paul MN of which he was President, his brother Eugene was VP. His son Fred also was with him in the store. Children of ROBERT GILLETT and LUCY KELLOGG are: iii. RUTH K. GILLETTE, b. February 24, 1839, Oberlin, OH; d. Aft. 1921; m. E. H. ELLIS. iv. THEODORE WELD GILLETTE, b. October 23, 1840, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. April 10, 1921, Bellingham, WA; m. LAETITIA SOFRONIA POWERS, May 02, 1864, Sparta, WI; b. May 04, 1843, Henrietta, OH; d. October 11, 1920, Bellingham, WA. v. JULIA KING GILLETTE, b. October 20, 1842, Oberlin, OH; d. Aft. 1921; m. K. ADAMS. vi. FREDRICK KELLOGG GILLETTE, b. September 17, 1844; d. Aft. 1921.