Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/647

 VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

481

known one in Richmond in connection with the building industry, and it is one that dates in Virginia from ante-revolutionary days. The ancestor. John (iilman. came from England to Virginia with the Queen's Rangers, and as the}- were a body of men selected for their physical i)erfection and ex- cellence of character, he must have been possessed of these qualities. His son, John Gilman, was born in Hanover county, Vir- ginia. He served six years in the revolu- tionary army, enlisting at the age of twen- ty-one years, was with Washington at York- town, and witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis ; later he again served his toun- try in. the war of 1812.

John Gilman, a descendant of the emi- grant, was a large landowner of Hanover county. Virginia, a Whig in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married and left issue : William A., James W., of whom further ; Edward and Elizabeth. These three sons all served in the Confederate army.

James Washington Gilman was born in Hanover county, Virginia, in 1825. and died in Richmond, \^irginia, in May, 1912. He was a soldier of the Confederacy, and after the war became a building contractor in Richmond. He was an influential Democrat, and served as a member of the Richmoiul common council. W^ith his family he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Martha Ellen Wing- field, born in 1827, died in May, 1913, sur- viving her husband one year. Children : John Edgar, married Jennie Tiller ; Alice Hastings, married George W. Tiller, a cousin of her brother's wife ; Patty Tinsley, married Edmund Howard ; Elvira Spotts- wood, married Forest Chesterman ; Lucy Thomas, married H. W^ Tyler; William James, of further mention ; Julian Davi-:, married Minnie Hicks; Edward Lee, mar- ried Jessie Boyden.

William James Gilman was born in Rich- mond, Virginia. April 26. 1864. He was educricd in the public schools of Richmond, finishing at high school. He learned his father's trade, and from youthful manhood was engaged with the latter in his contract- ing operations In 1888 he began business in his own name, and as William J. Gilman conducted a large and prosperous business as a contractor of building. On Januar\- i.

VIA-31

1913, the third generation was admitted to the business, the firm now being Gilman & Son. In 1894 Mr. Gilman sustained severe financial losses, but with well directed en- ergy and wise business ability he retrieved his losses, and has attained a strong posi- tion ill Pichniond's business world. He is a director of the Richmond l>ank and Trust Company, president of the Otterburn Sprn-.gs, pr^rsident of the German JMuLual Building and Loan Association, and presi- dent of the Builders Exchange. He has represented liis ward in the city council; served five years in the W'alker Light Guards ; has attained the thirty-second de- gree in Freemasonry, belonging to Amity Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights Ttmplar and the Mystic Shrine, is also a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, Junior Order United .American Mechanics, Fraternity Mystic Circle. He is a deacon of the Second Pres- byterian Church, having been a member of that congregation for twenty-five years. In politics he is a Democrat.

Mr. Gilman married in St. Mark's Episco- pal Church, Richmond, June 30, 1886, Rev. Dr. T. G. Dashiell officiating. Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge assisting, Dorothy Made- line Denzler. She was born in Richmond, February i, 1861, eldest of the twelve chil- dren of John Denzler. For twelve years she was soprano in the quartette choir of her church, and for twenty-three years has been a member. John Denzler, born in Bavaria. Germany, came to the United States when eighteen years of age. He be- came a merchant of Richmond, served in the Confederate army, and died in 1899. aged sixty-eight years. He married Mary Emily Melton. born in Henrico county, Virginia, of English parents, in 1838. and is still liv- ing. Children : Dorothy AL, of previous mention ; Clara Elizabeth, married E. G. Glenn; John A\\. married Rosa B. Harris; Rosa Emily, married H. L. Granger ; May Dearborn, married Thomas P. Trevvett; Lillian (jarnett. married Dr. B. R. Hudnall ; and Grace Dashiell : other children died in infancy.

Children of William James and Dorothy yi. (Denzler) Gilman: Arthur Sherwood, born September 2. 1887, died in 1907. while a cadet pursuing a course in electrical en- gineering at the Virginia Polvtechnic In-