Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/308

 GILBERT

GILBERT

ment at the Arch Street theatre, Philadelphia, he was connected with the Wallack-Daveiiiiort company from Sept. 33, 1863, till May 5, 1888. The following autumn he acted Sir Anthony Absolute at the Fifth Avenue theatre, where he made his farewell appearance in New York city, Nov. 10, 1888. His final appearance upon the stage was in Boston. Besides those parts already mentioned some of his best characters were Dr. Sutcliflfe, Lord Ogleby, Job Thornberry, Mr. Ingot, and Sir Harcourt Courtley. His widow, Sarah Hay Gilbert, daughter of Jonathan and Esther (Leonard) Davitt of Salem, died in Brookline, Ma.ss., in April, 1898. Mr. Gilbert died in Boston, Ma.ss., June 17, 1889.

GILBERT, John S., inventor, was born in East Haddam, Conn., in 1801. He served an apprenticeship to a ship-joiner in New York and became a successful naval architect. His work brought to his attention the obstacles to the proper docking of ships and after many experi- ments he invented the balance dry dock, which came into general use. He incorporated the original New York dry dock compan)- of which he was still a director at the time of his death. About 1800 he constructed the Erie Basin dry dock, at that time the largest in the world, and also built docks for the U.S. government at Kit- tery, Maine, Charleston, S.C., and Mare Island, San Francisco, Cal. He was a naval con- structor in Washington, D.C., for several years, and for seven years was engaged in work for the Austrian government at the port of Pola. In 1861 he declined to undertake a similar work in Russia, deeming himself too old to work. He was married to Diantha Slanson of New Canaan. Conn, and their son, Henry W. Gilbert, was at one time U.S. consul at Trieste. John S. Gilbert died at Fort Montgomery, N.Y., Aug. 13, 1891.

GILBERT, Linda, philanthroi^ist, was born in Rochester, N.Y., May 18, 1817; daughter of Horace Gilbert. Her great^ grandfather came to America in the Maijfiomer. At an early age she was taken by her parents to Chicago. 111., where •she was educated at St. Francis Xavier's con- vent and the academy of Our Lady of Mercy. In 18.58 a visit to a Chicago jail aroused her sj'm- pathy with the prisoners and she received per- mission to take to them books and other luxuries. After reaching womanhood she devoted herself and her fortune to the work of ameliorating their condition. She established in Chicago the first county jail library, consisting of 4000 miscella- neous volumes, and later formed libraries in the county jails at St. Loviis, Mo., and Sangamon, 111., containing 3000 volumes each. Thousands of books were sent to her from all parts of the United States and she became known as the " Prisoners' Friend." Many other libraries were

established and in 1876 she incorporated the Gilbert Library and Prisoners" Aid society in New York, and was elected president of its board of managers. The purpose of the organization was to improve prison discipline, to place libra- ries in prisons, to look after the families of the prisoners, and to help ex-convicts to obtain situa- tions and to lead an ui^right life. From 1868 until her death she formed thirteen libraries, improved twelve prisons, assisted over 3000 ex- convicts, and found homes and employment for half that number. She also established Linda Gilbert's Tax and Trade Record and The Old Oaken Bucket for the purpose of raising revenue to cany on her work. She invented and had pat- ented numerous devices including a noiseless rail for railroads and a wire clothespin. She published in 1876 an account of her work. She died in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., Oct. 34, 1895.

GILBERT, Mahlon Norris, bishop coadjutor of Minnesota and 141st in succession in the Amer- ican episcopate, was born in Laurens, N.Y., March 33, 1848; son of Norris and Lucy (Todd) Gilbert; grandson of Elijah and Lois (Ward) Gilbert, and of Chauncey and Hannah (Ilotch- kiss) Todd; and great-grandson of Ambrose Ward, a soldier in the American Revolution. The family removed from Connecticut to Western New York in 1817 and settled in Otsego county. Mahlon entered Hobart with the class of 1870, but left in his junior year by reason of ill health. He taught school in Florida, 1868-70, and in Ogden, Utah, 1870-73. He was graduated at Seabury divinity school, Faribault, Minn., in 1875 ; was ordained deacon by Bishop Whipj)le in 1875 and priest by Bishop Tuttle in October of the same year, and ministered at Deer Lodge and as rector of St. Peter's church at Helena, Mont., for six years. He declined a call to St. Mark's church, Minneapolis, and in January, 1881, accepted the rectorship of Christ church, St. Paul, Minn. In 1886 he was elected bishop- coadjutor of Minnesota and was consecrated, Oct. 17, 1886, by Bishops Lee, Bedell, Whipple, Coxe, Doane, Brewer and Rulison. On account of the extent of the territory in the jurisdiction and the advanced age of Bishop Whiiijile, the Inirden of the work fell to the bishop coadjutor, and the flourishing schools and prosperous mis- sions of the diocese attested to the efficiency of his labor. He received the honorary degrees of M.A. from Hobart college in 1880, "s.T.D. from Racine, from Seabury and from Hobart in 1886, and LL.D. from Hobart in 1895. He died in St. Paul, Minn., Jiarch 3. 1900.

GILBERT, Rufus Henry, inventor, was born in Guilford, N.Y.. Jan. 36, 1833. He was gradu- ated at the College of physicians and surgeons. New York city, and practised in New York. He