www.greenreunion2008 >Family History >Documents of Interest > Early Marietta

The Tallow Light Vol. 30 #1 p 44, 45
EARLY MARIEITA Businessmen
Benjamin Ives Gilman
[the Marietta Register, Thursday, 28 August 1873.1
Few of the business men of Marietta were more extensively known, at the beginning of the present century, than Benjamin Ives Gilman. He was the only son of Hon. Joseph Gilman, of Exeter, New Hampshire, where his parents resided at the time of his birth. Judge G., during the Revolutionary War, was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, in Exeter, and used his private means so liberally, in providing for the outfit and comfort of the troops, that he greatly impaired his own fortune.
Benjamin Ives was educated in Exeter, and received the best culture that could be had in that vicinity. To this was added the training of his excellent mother. She was the daughter of Benjamin Ives and Elizabeth Hale; and it is said of her that her education was far superior to that of most women of her time, having been acquired chiefly under the direction of her grandfather, lion. Robert Hale.
.Judge Gilman, with his wife and son, came to Ohio in 1789 and fixed their residence at Point Harmar, near the Fort; and during the Indian War, they resided within the Fort. In February, 1790, Benjamin Ives Gilman returned to New England, and married Miss Hannah Robbins, daughter of Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D. of Plymouth, Massachusetts, a lady of high culture and rare talents. The young couple, returning to Ohio, crossed the mountains, in winter, on horseback and made their home in Harmar, probably within the Fort. The Indian War commenced in January 1791.

In 1792, Mr. Gilman opened a store, at Fort Harmar, and continued to do business there until 1812. He built, for his business, a stone building, at the upper end of the Public Square, in Harmar, on ground which now belongs to Captain Levi Barber. This building has been taken down within a few years. H was very extensively engaged in dealing in peltries, having agencies in different parts of the country. Mr. Gilman built, for his own dwelling, the house now occupied by Col. David Barber, corner of Gilman and South Streets, Harmar. The house of his father was on the next lot above, and was, for many years occupied by Douglas Putnam, Esq.
In 1801, Mr. Gilman engaged in ship building. His yard was on the Muskingum River directly in front of the ground for some time occupied by Nye & Son for a foundry. This business he, like many others, abandoned, in1808, on account of the embargo. His master builder was our late fellow citizen, James Whitney, Esq. of Harmar.
The following is a list of vessels built by Mr. Gilman from 1801-’ 12:
1801, ship Muskingum 230 tons
1806, brig Perseverance 100 tons
1806, ship Rufus King 800 tons
1807, ship Francis 850 tons
1807, ship Robert Hale 300 tons
1808, schooner Belle 100 tons
1812, schooner Maria 72 tons
In building the “Muskingum” and “Rufus King” Mr. Gilman had partners, and Mr. Woodbridge was with him in building the “Belle.”•
It is not practicable, in so brief an article, to do justice to the life and character of Mr. Gilman. He was a gentleman with polished manners and fine intellect. Mr. Gilman was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Ohio. His associates, in that Convention, from Washington County were Rufus Putnam, Ephraim Cutler and John Mclntire. In this Convention, the stand taken, against slavery, by these gentlemen—Judge Cutler, leading—and by the delegates from Northern and Eastern Ohio, prevented its introduction into our State—members from the Scioto Valley strongly favoring it.
In 1818, Mr. Gilman removed from Marietta to Philadelphia, where he entered into business with Mr. Otis Ammidon, wholesale dealers in domestic goods. This firm continued for several years. Mr. Gilman died, of lever, at Alton, Illinois in 1833 during a visit to his sons there. Mrs. Gilman died in NewYork in 1836.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman were: Jane, Joseph, Arthur, Chandler, Robert Hale, Benjamin Ives, Winthrop Sargent, Rebecca and Eliza.
Jane was married to our late fellow townsman, Dudley Woodbridge, Esq. 28 November 1807 and died the following year, at the age of seventeen.
Joseph went to Mississippi and died there. Chandler is a physician in New York City. Winthrop is a banker in New York. Rebecca married a Mr. Miller of Mississippi. Of the other children, I have no knowledge. Some died before Mr. Gilman moved to Philadelphia.
-- Anseim Tupper Nye