Gilbert, Henry Clarke, 1818-1864

Like many Michigan emigrants of the 1830s, Henry C. Gilbert and his father, Daniel, had roots in the farming regions of central New York State. Henry attended school at the Pompey Academy in his home town a few miles south of Syracuse, but before turning twenty-one, he and his father emigrated to southwestern Michigan. The Gilberts settled in the new village of Coldwater, on land that had been purchased from the Potawotami Indians just over a decade previously.

In Coldwater, Gilbert found fertile land in every sense of the word. In 1841, he received a certificate to enable him to hold school, but before long he and his father began to pursue more lucrative lines, establishing a dry-goods store while Henry pursued a legal career. His fortunes bloomed. After becoming Circuit Court Commissioner in 1845, Gilbert was appointed by Gov. Alpheus Felch as prosecuting attorney for Branch County in the following year and again by Epaphroditus Ransom in 1848. Gilbert's home life in Coldwater was equally productive. He married Harriet Ousley Champion (1827-1876) in a Presbyterian ceremony held on November 26, 1843, and the couple eventually had eight children, including sons, Frederick (1846-1850), James (1855-1871), Philip (1860-1938), and Henry (1862-after 1943), and daughters, Lucy (1844-1865), Grace (1849-1914), Rosamond (1851-1881), and Norah (1853-1905).

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