Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/311

 GILDER

GILDERSLEEVE

ing his self-support, he found employment as paymaster on the Camden & Amboy railroad. In 1865 he became a reporter on the Newark A(li:ertiaer in connection with which he was rapidly advanced through the grades of legislat- ive correspondent and local editor to the posi- tion of managing editor. In 1868, in company with New- ton Crane, he started the Newark Morning Beyister, and in 1869 also assumed the edi- torial duties of Hours at Home, a New York monthly, published liy Scribner, Arm- strong & Co. When that magazine was merged into Scrih- ncr's Monthly in 1870, he became managing «ditor, under Dr. Josiah G. Holland, who was editor-in-chief. In 1881 Scribner's Monthly became The Century Magazine, and in October, upon the death of Dr. Holland, Mr. Gilder became editor- in-chief. He was one of the founders of the Society of American artists, the American copy- right league, the Authors" club, and the Free art league. He was elected president of the New York kindergarten association and the Public art league of the United States, and chairman of the New York tenement house commission of 1894. On June 3, 1874, he was married to Helena, daughter of Commodore deKay and grand- daughter of Joseph Rodman Drake. He received the degrees of LL.D. from Dickinson college in 1883, A.M. from Harvard in 1890, and L.H.D. from Princeton in 1896. His first book of poems, Tfie New Day, was published in 1875. His other poetical works are included in the following vol- umes: The Celestial Passion, Lyrics, Two Worlds, •and Other Poems, and The Great Pemembrance. All of these appeared in 1897 in a volume entitled Five Bool:s of Son;/. He ]mblished also a patri- otic collection. For the Country (1897); and In Palestine and Other Poems (1898).

GILDER, William Henry, clergyman, was born in Pliiladelphia, Pa., Sept. 17, 1812: son of John and Sarah (Leonard) Gilder. He attended Wesleyan university which he left in 1832 during his sophomore year, and in 1833 joined, on trial, the Philadelphia conference of the M.E. church. He was stationed at Crosswicks. N.J., in 1833; Elizabeth. N.J., in 1834, and Germantown, Pa., in 1835. In 1835 he was married to Jane, daughter of Lydia Nutt of Bordentown. N.J. The following year he travelled on horseback through the south from Charleston, S.C, for his

health; in 1837 was stationed at a church in Philadelphia, and in 1840 established in that city the Pearl and Pepository which he edited till 1843. He established BeUevue female institute at Bordentown, N.J., in 1842; edited The Lite- rary Beyister in Philadelphia in 1847-48 ; and in the latter year removed his school to Flushing, N.Y., where it became known as the Flushing female college. He was principal of the same till 1859, when he accepted a charge at Redding, Conn. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Dickinson college in 1845. He preached at Fair Haven, Conn., in 1860 and was chaplain of the 40th New York volunteers, 1861-64. His death, which was occasioned by voluntary ser- vices in an army small-pox hospital, occurred at Brandy Station, Va., April 13, 1864.

GILDER, William Henry, explorer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 16, 1838; son of the Rev. William Henry and Jane (Nutt) Gilder. He was graduated from Middletown (Conn.) in- stitute in 1855, enlisted in the 5th regiment, New York volunteers, in 1861, and was subsequently transferred to the 40th regiment. He was as- sistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Thomas W. Egan, was brevetted major for gal- lant conduct, and mustered out of service in 1865. On June 19, 1878, he sailed for the north polar regions from New York city, as second in com- mand of the American Franklin search expedi- tion under Lieut. F. Schwatka, and was with the expedition during the long sledge journey which lasted from April 1, 1879, to March 4, 1880, during which time a distance of about 3250 miles was covered. Subsequently returning to New York city he again sailed for the Arctic regions on June 16, 1881, as paymaster of the Badgers expedition sent out by the U.S. government under the command of Lieutenant Berry, to search for the Jeannette. Major Gilder was with the party that explored Wrangel Land, and when the Bodgers was burned in November he journeyed alone from near Bering strait through Eastern Siberia to Irkutsk, whence he tele- graphed the news of the disaster to the U.S. government, after having assisted in the search for Lieutenant De Long"s company in the delta of the Lena river. In the summer and autumn of 1883 he visited the scene of the French inva- sion in Tonquin and in 1885 the scene of the earthquakes m Spain. On all of his journeys he acted as correspondent for the New York Herald. He is the author of Schwatl-a's Search (1881) ; Ice- Pack and Tundra (1883), and magazine articles. He died in Morri.stown, N.J,, Feb. 5, 1900.

GILDERSLEEVE, Basil Lanneau, .scholar, was born in Charleston, S.C, Oct. 23. 1831; son of Benjamin and Emma Louisa (Lanneau) Gil- dersleeve. He was graduated from the College