Husband John Gilpin 1
Born: 8 Oct 1839 - Kittanning, Armstrong Co, PA 2
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Died: 2 Nov 1883 2
Buried:
Father: Dr. John Gilpin ( -1868) 3
Mother: Nancy Monteith ( - ) 2
Marriage: 1873 4
Wife Olive McConnell 5
Born:
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Died:
Buried:
Father: Thomas McConnell (1813-1888) 6 7
Mother: Olive Robinson (1822-Bef 1883) 6 8
Children
1 M Oliver W. Gilpin 4
Born: 4 Sep 1874 - Kittanning, Armstrong Co, PA 4
Christened:
Died:
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Spouse: Emily Campbell Reynolds ( - ) 4
Marr: 16 Feb 1909 - Palm Beach, FL 4
2 F Mary Elizabeth Adele Gilpin 9
Born:
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Spouse: Samuel Howard McCain (1875- ) 10
Marr: 18 Jan 1908 5
General Notes: Husband - John Gilpin
Born at what was later the "Alexander Hotel," Kittanning, Pennsylvania, he attended public school until he was fourteen years old, after which he was sent to Eldersridge Academy, which in those days had the reputation of being one of the best college preparatory institutions in Pennsylvania. He was under the special care of Rev. Dr. Donaldson. He was a notably good scholar and careful student. Entering Union College, at Schenectady, New York, he was graduated therefrom when about twenty years old, with high honors, and returning home at once commenced the study of law, in pursuance of an ambition he had had from boyhood. He began his studies with Hon. Chapman Biddle, prominent lawyer of Philadelphia, and entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating about 1859-60. In 1861 he was admitted to the bar at Philadelphia, and then returned to his native town, obtaining admission to the Armstrong County bar in December of the same year. From that time on he was devoted to the practice of his profession. As a law student he had manifested the same industry and methodical habits which marked his devotion to preparatory studies, and during his active legal career he was often spoken of as a technical lawyer. But those who knew him best regarded this rather as a tribute to his accuracy, resulting in his extreme thoroughness in the preparation of his work, rather than from any tendency to observe the letter of the law more than its spirit. No detail was too insignificant to receive his attention, and his remarkable success was laid upon a foundation of completeness which could not be shaken. His reputation was such that he retained all the clients who came to him, and his patronage was so wide that he soon took his place among the leaders of the local bar. He had the honor of being elected a member of the Constitutional convention which met in November, 1874, and formulated the constitution of that year, and his learning, together with his ability as a debater, brought him great renown in connection with his work in that body, which was composed of leading lawyers, lawmakers and financiers. His fellow members showed the greatest esteem for his able and efficient efforts, and upon his return home he was given a vote of thanks by his fellow citizens for the creditable manner in which he had represented them.
When Judge Boggs went on the bench, in January, 1875, Mr. Gilpin received a share of his practice. His work kept increasing, in fact, until he found it was greater than he could handle, and in 1880 he formed a partnership with J. H. McCain, an able, active and industrious lawyer, with whom he was associated until his death. Their personal as well as business relations were established on a most congenial basis. In fact, Mr. Gilpin was on friendly terms with all whom he knew. He had a naturally companionable disposition. was genial, whole-souled and easily approached, and was a most entertaining talker. He had none of the aloofness which sometimes characterizes men who have attained success. Unless actually engaged with a client, he was always ready to stop what he was doing to enter into a conversation, and he often dropped into the offices of his friends for a friendly chat. However, he was conservative until well acquainted with people, and those who knew him best prized the privilege of associating with him. With a mind enriched by wide reading, an intelligence developed and strengthened by years of hard work in an exacting profession and unusual opportunities for the observation of his fellow men and their proclivities, and yet with a wholesome outlook upon life maintained by the good nature within him, he was never tiresome or heavy, but thought and said things agreeable to listen to and worth remembering.
As to his standing among the members of the bar, none enjoyed more prestige. To quote from an article published in the Union Free Press at the time of his death: "He was universally esteemed by his companions of the bar. Having reached the sun-crowned heights of his profession, he generously dispersed with a lavish hand any information on abstruse law questions sought by younger members of the bar. The cheerfulness and hearty good will with which he gave any information endeared him to the profession with whole-souled and genuine friendship. So generous was he, that often, it is said, when he was in the midst of a difficult case and surrounded by his books and briefs, he would lay them aside and give a willing ear to a brother lawyer who had some difficult questions in hand. He would even get down his books on that particular subject and look for authorities. Thus his generosity and good nature gained for him a warm place in the hearts of the members of his profession."
The following character sketch of Mr. Gilpin is from the same article: "It is not an easy matter in a sketch so short as this to give a comprehensive conception of a man of Mr. Gilpin's attainments. He was an original character. His habits, his manners and his way of doing everything were so different from those of other people. He marked out for himself the path of his career and religiously walked therein. He had naturally a legal mind. This he trained and cultivated with great and untiring study and energy. With him labor was the touchstone by which genius towers to its lofty heights. For the purpose of storing his mind with all the principles of the law, he grew a midnight student o'er the dreams of its sages, and sought to borrow from their lights such attributes of learning as would more surely aid him in ascending the shining course that loomed up before him. The love of his profession lured him on to those inspiring toils by which man masters men, and reaches the goal to which his ambition aspires. In his study of Blackstone and other classical writers he had mastered the fundamental principles of the law, and had fixed in his mind those great landmarks of jurisprudence, so that the practice of law became to him a pleasure. Grasping complex questions with great vigor, his clearness of conception gained for him a speedy solution. Having a broad mind and being in no sense a one-sided lawyer, he studied both sides of his case, and with that clear and accurate mind of his solved with remarkable power and certainty the questions the law involved. In his arguments to the court on law points his diction was concise, his logic forcible, and his arrangement most methodical, making his argument clearly convincing. To the jury he presented the facts of his case in that plain and common sense manner which any man of an ordinary mind could understand, and which usually crowned his efforts with success. Thus he climbed the heights of his profession and joined that long and illustrious line of legal lights that have adorned the practice of this ennobled science. There was no branch of the law with which he was not conversant. His fame was not bounded by his own county, but on the other hand extended throughout the state.
"Aside from Mr. Gilpin's legal attainments, he was a man possessed of a great fund of general information. His knowledge of history and science and literature was astonishingly great. Hardly any questions could arise on which he had not an opinion or of which he knew nothing. It seemed a pleasure and a pastime for him to drink from the whole fountain of human knowledge. The consequence was that he was a man who was able to take a comprehensive view of any question propounded to him. He improved the privi-leges of living in the evening hours of the nineteenth century."
The late Judge W. D. Patton, county judge of Armstrong county and president of the Armstrong County Trust Company, of Kittanning, said of him: "John Gilpin was one of the leading lawyers of this part of the State, a thorough student, a technical lawyer, careful, analytical, and a hard worker. He had the respect of all members of the bar - and his ability as a lawyer would have been recognized and respected anywhere."
Judge Joseph Buffington said of him: "John Gilpin was one of the most astute and thoroughly trained men in the science of pleading and his knowledge of black-letter law and of the fine shades of distinction in all modern decisions, was comprehensive and keen. His mind was singularly acute. He was a daring practitioner and would risk the outcome of his case on technical points, and seldom failed to carry them through successfully. A man of strong personal feeling, he made his client's cause his own. He possessed a withering power of sarcasm, and in his addresses to the jury could strip his adversary's case with merciless logic and argument. In his preparation of a case he was thorough and tireless, and a busy court week would find the light burning in his office long after midnight. He inherited mental qualities of a high order from a long line of distinguished ancestors."
Mr. Gilpin died before his prime, perhaps before he had attained the heights of his professional possibilities. He was survived by his wife and their two children.
Mr. Gilpin was a prominent Mason, a past master of his lodge, etc., nevertheless he showed his liberality of mind as well as purse by providing in his will for an annual contribution of $100 to the Catholic Church, to be continued as long as the church rang its bell for an hour on the anniversary of his birth.
He and James Mosgrove owned the square where the first interments were made within the borough limits, on the east side of McKean street, between Arch street and the alley north appropriated by the former owner, Dr. John Armstrong, for burial purposes.