Gilbert family

William Hinman Gilbert (1817-1905): ordained in 1845; minister at Haddam, Conn., 1845-1846; minister in Westminster, Vermont, 1846-1851; minister in Ashfield, Mass., 1851-1855; minister in Granby, Conn., 1855-1864; from 1864-1865, Superintendent of Scripture Distribution in the U.S. Army under the auspices of the American Bible Society; administrator for the American Bible Society, 1870-1900.

Gilbert-Cheever Family Papers relate to members of the Goodridge, Gilbert and Cheever families of New England and California from about 1836 to 1900. The papers primarily concern the Reverend William Hinman Gilbert (1817-1905); his second wife Mary (Goodridge) Gilbert (1823-1895) their four children George Edwards Gilbert (1855-1879), Charles Minor Gilbert (1855-1981), Annie Ward Gilbert (1857-?); and Mary Alice Gilbert(1860-?); and Mary (Goodridge) Gilbert Is sister Fanny (Goodridge) Cheever (1825-?) and her husband Henry. A. Cheever (?-1873).

William Hinman Gilbert was born in 1817 in Weston, Connecticut, the son of Ezra and Rebecca (Minor) Gilbert. He graduated from Yale College in 1841, continued his studies at the Andover Theological Seminary from 1842 to 1843, and graduated from the Yale Divinity School in 1845. From 1845 to 1846 he was the minister at Haddam, Connecticut, where he married Elizabeth Mosely of Westfield, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1845. In March 1846 they moved to Westminster, Vermont, where he was pastor of the Congregational Church until 1851. Elizabeth (Mosely) Gilbert died in December 1846 in Westminster, leaving a son, William ("Willie") P.M. Gilbert, who married Jessie A. Little in 1870; they settled in Oberlin, Ohio where Willie worked as an assistant postmaster. They had five children: May Elizabeth (born March 1871, died September 1871); Edward Ellis (born June 1873); Winnie Emeline (born October 1875); William Henry (born October 1877); and a third son (born January 1880).

On April 10, 1849, Reverend Gilbert married Mary Goodridge, daughter of Joseph and Roxanna (Edwards) Goodridge of Westminster, Vermont, who was a graduate of and teacher at Bradford Academy in Massachusetts. She is an important figure in the papers, connecting the Goodridge, Gilbert and Cheever families; much of the correspondence in the papers is addressed to her.

Mary's sister, Fanny Goodridge, married Henry A. Cheever, a sea captain in the shipping trade during the 1840's and early 1850's. During a voyage to California he decided to stay in San Francisco and persuaded his wife Fanny and their children to move there from Massachusetts. He was employed in shipping, mining and real estate in California, and became active in San Francisco politics. Two of Mary's brothers, William E. Goodridge and Joseph Goodridge, also moved to California. William stayed with the Cheevers for a time, then moved on to other places in the West, eventually working his way to the Nevada territory where he died in October 1864.

Reverend Gilbert and his wife Mary remained in New England in spite of Henry A. Cheever's attempts to lure them to California. Reverend Gilbert was pastor of the Congregational Church in Ashfield, Massachusetts, from 1851 to 1855, where his twin sons Charles Minor and George Edwards were born on April 22, 1855. From 1855 to 1864, he was pastor of the Congregational Church in Granby, Connecticut, where his daughters Annie Ward and Mary Alice were born June 30,1857, and April 23, 1860, respectively. In 1864, Reverend Gilbert was appointed Superintendent of Scripture Distribution in the U.S. Army by the American Bible Society and the U.S. Christian Commission, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. During 1864 and 1865 he travelled to army encampments and towns, primarily in Virginia and Maryland, overseeing the distribution of Bibles among the soldiers and visiting hospitals and prisons.

From the fall of 1865 until 1869, Reverend Gilbert was an agent for the Vermont Bible Society, and in 1868 both he and his wife served as principals of the Classical and English Boarding School in Norwich, Vermont. From 1870 to 1871 he was Superintendent of the American Bible Society for Connecticut and Western Massachusetts; from 1871 to 1878 he was Superintendent of the American Bible Society in New England; and from 1878 to 1900 he was Secretary of the Connecticut Bible Society. In the fall of 1900 he moved to California, where he died in 1905.

Charles Miner Gilbert and George Edwards Gilbert both entered Yale College in 1874 and graduated in 1878. After graduating from Yale, George Edwards taught school in Englewood, New Jersey, until his death from diabetes in September 1879. Charles Minor also taught school, in Peekskill, N.Y., and in New York City; he died in April 1881, also from diabetes. Annie Gilbert later became Mrs. Hobson, and Mary Alice married Edwin Horrax in 1886. Mary Alice and Edwin Horrax had three children, Gilbert, William and Alice. Gilbert Horrax, who married Geraldine Martin, became a doctor and was associated with the surgeon Harvey Williams Cushing. Alice Horrax married Frederic B. Schell, Jr., in 1922.

From the guide to the Gilbert-Cheever family papers, 1836-1891, (Manuscripts and Archives)