Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/684

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
650
GILFILLAN
GILLESPIE

cities, and became so great a favorite as to 'com- mand $200 per night for her performances. In 1815 she was married to Mr. Gilfert. Thereafter her public career was merged in that of her hus- band. Sharing his many vicissitudes, at the time of his death she retired from the theatre. Her friends then persuaded her to open a young ladies' seminary in New York city. Mrs. Gilfert con- tinued teaching for about seven years, with in- different success, and reluctantly returned to the stage, with the hope of recovering some of her former popularity. Her new opening was at the Chatham theatre. But time had wrought its changes with her personal appearance ; she had lost her spirits and gayety, and fresher attrac- tions had captivated the public. After a contin- ued struggle with disappointment and poverty, she was last seen on the stage of the Park theatre in New York city, on 20 July, 1831, in Shakespeare's " King John." Broken in health and professional reputation, she I'etired to Philadelphia, where she soon died in obscurity and neglect. As Miss Hol- man, in the flush of youth, beauty, and success, she had been a welcome guest in the best society. In high comedy parts, in her early days, she was rarely equalled, and probably never excelled.


GILFILLAN, James, jurist, b. at Bannockburn, Scotland, i) March, 1829; d. in St. Paul. Minn., 16 Dec, 1894. He was brought to the United States in infancy, and spent his youth at Utica, N. Y. He attended only the country district schools, but studied the classics and higher mathematics privately. Alter a law course at the state and na- tional law-school at Balston Spa, N. Y., he was admitted to the bar at Albany in December, 1850, and went immediately to Buffalo, N. Y., and prac- tised till the spring of 1857. He then went to St. Paid, Minn., where he afterward resided. He entered the military service in August, 1862, as 2d lieutenant of the 7th Minnesota regiment, was commissioned captain in September, and served in 1862-'3 against the Sioux Indians. He then served in the south till the end of the civil war, and in October, 1864, was commissioned colonel of the 11th Minnesota. After the war he continued in the practice of law at St. Paul till July, 1869, when he was appointed chief justice of the state supreme court, to fill a vacancy, and served till January, 1870. He was again appointed to fill a vacancy in the same office in 1875, elected in the autumn of that year, and re-elected in 1882.


GlLL, Theodore Nicholas, naturalist, b. in New York city, 21 March, 1837. He was educated in his native city in private schools, and under special tutors. His attention was early turned to natural history, and for some time he was asso- ciated with J. Carson Brevoort in the arrangement of the latter's entomological and ichthyological col- lections. In 1863 he went to Washington and be- came an assistant in the Smithsonian institution. His work there consisted in the study and classi- fication of the material that had been collected un- der the auspices of the institution, and his atten- tion was first given to mammals, and later to fishes, in which departments he is recognized as one of the foremost authorities. More recently he has devoted considerable thought to moUusks. He also held the office of librarian in the Smith- sonian, and for some years was senior assistant librarian of congress. From 1884 till 1887 he was professor of zoology in the Columbian university, Washington, D. C, from which institution he has received the honorary degrees of A. M., M. D., and Ph. D. Dr. Gill is a member of scientific societies, and in 1873 was elected to the National academy of sciences. His publications include, besides some 400 separate papers on scientific subjects contrib- uted to the publications of various learned socie- ties of which he is a member, "Arrangements of the Families of Mollusks" (Washington, 1871); "Arrangement of the Families of Mammals" (1872) ; "Arrangement of the Families of Fishes" (1872) ; " Catalogue of the Fishes of the East Coast of North America" (1875); " Bibliography of the Fishes of the Pacific of the United States to the End of 1879" (1882): and since 1879 has prepared the " Reports on Zoology '" for the annual volumes of the Smithsonian institution.


GILLEM, Alyan Cullem, soldier, b. in Jack- son county, Tenn., 29 July, 1830 ; d. near Nash- ville, Tenn., 2 Dec, 1875. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1851, and served against the Seminoles in 1851-'2. He became a captain on 14 May, 1861, served as brigade quarter- master, was bre vetted major for gallantry at Mill Springs, and was in command of the siege artillery, and chief quartermaster of the Army of the Ohio in the Tennessee campaign, being engaged at Shi- loh and in the siege of Corinth. On 13 May, 1862, he was appointed colonel of the 10th Tennes- see volunteers, was provost-marshal of Nashville, commanded a brigade in the Tennessee operations during the first half of 1863, and afterward served as adjutant-general of Tennessee till the end of the war, being promoted brigadier-general of volun- teers on 17 Aug., 1863. He commanded the troops guarding the Nashville and Northwestern railroad from June, 1863, till August. 1864, and then took command of the expedition to eastern Tennessee, being engaged in many combats, and gaining the brevet of colonel, U. S. army, for bravery at Marion. Va. He was vice-president of the convention of 9 Jan., 1865, to revise the constitution and reorganize the state government of Terniessee, was a member of the first legislature that was elected, and after- ward commanded the cavalry in east Tennessee, and participated in the expedition to North Caro- lina and the capture of Salisbury, for which he was brevetted major-general in the i-egular army, hav- ing already received two brevets for services during the war. He was promoted colonel in the U. S. army on 28 July, 1866, commanded the district of Mississippi in 1867-8, served on the Texas frontier and in California, and led the troops in the Modoc campaign, being engaged in the attack at the Lava Beds on 15 April, 1873.


GILLESPIE, Eliza Maria, mother superior (in religion. Mother Mary of St. Angela), b. near West Brownsville, Washington co.. Pa., 21 Feb., 1824 ; d. in St. Mary's convent, Notre Dame, Ind., 4 March, 1887. When she was quite young her family removed to Lancaster, Ohio. She was soon afterward placed at school with the Dominican sisters, Somerset, Perry co., and was next sent to the convent of the Visitation, Georgetown, D. C., where she finished her studies. At the time of her graduation, Thomas Ewing. her godfather, was secretary of the treasury under President Harrison, and Miss Gillespie's beauty and accomplishments at once made her a leader of society in Washington. During the Irish famine, by the aid of tapestry work and of a magazine story, written in conjunction with her cousin, afterward the wife of Gen. William T. Sherman, she collected a large sum of money to send to the sufferers. Afterward, during the epidemic of 1849, she nursed the sick and dying who had been deserted from fear of the disease. In 1853 she entered the congregation of the Holy Cross, under the name of Mother Mary of St. Angela. After taking the habit, she sailed for Europe,