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Rev. James Gilruth

Rev. James Gilruth

Male 1793 - 1873  (80 years)    Has 10 ancestors and 49 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name James Gilruth 
    Prefix Rev. 
    Birth 29 Jan 1793  Belleville, Wood County, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Death 2 Jun 1873  Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Siblings 4 Siblings 
    Person ID I320386  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 9 Aug 2009 

    Father Thomas Gilruth,   b. Jul 1745, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Mar 1826 (Age 80 years) 
    Mother Marion T. Ingles,   b. 14 Feb 1776, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 Apr 1847 (Age 71 years) 
    Marriage 7 Mar 1792 
    Family ID F127716  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Hannah Koontz,   b. 8 Sep 1799   d. 28 Nov 1818 (Age 19 years) 
    Marriage 21 Nov 1816 
    Children 
     1. Helen Hannah Gilruth,   b. 20 Nov 1817, French Grant, Scioto Co., Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 12 Jan 1886, Findlay, Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 68 years)
    Family ID F127706  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 23 Oct 2001 

    Family 2 Mary (Jane) Westlake,   b. 2 Oct 1801, Big Levels, Greenbriar Co., Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Jun 1895, Chilicothe, Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 93 years) 
    Marriage 25 Sep 1823  Gallipolis, Meigs Co., Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Children 
     1. Harriet Gilruth,   b. 2 Dec 1824   d. 6 Dec 1852 (Age 28 years)
     2. Mary Gilruth,   b. 5 Jun 1827   d. 30 Jun 1828 (Age 1 year)
    +3. Naomi Melcina Gilruth,   b. 24 Jul 1828   d. 1915 (Age 86 years)
    +4. Matilda Carolina Gilruth,   b. 12 Aug 1831, Granville, Licking Co., Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Mar 1923 (Age 91 years)
    +5. Alitia Pauline Gilruth,   b. 25 Feb 1835   d. 1908 (Age 72 years)
     6. Mary Gilruth,   b. 25 Feb 1835   d. Yes, date unknown
    +7. Christiana M. Gilruth,   b. 20 Jul 1837   d. 1905 (Age 67 years)
    +8. James Henry Gilruth,   b. 7 Apr 1840, Worthington, Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 5 Dec 1926 (Age 86 years)
    +9. Thomas Westlake Gilruth,   b. 6 Apr 1843, Worthington, Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Jan 1921, Kansas, Missouri, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 77 years)
    Family ID F127707  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 9 Aug 2009 

  • Notes 
    • one of the first Methodist preachers in the County

      Was in the War of 1812.
      1813 James "was sent out on several scouting expeditions".
      1818-1819 Became a Methodist minister.
      okt 1823 James was appointed to Fairfield Circuit by the Ohio Conference. The expected to live in Lancaster but ended up living in Rushville.
      1823-1824 psessed a quarter section of land that later became the site of Maumee City.
      aft okt 1823 Bridal trip to Rushville by James Gilruth and Mary Westlake: French Grant to Jackosn, then Chillicothe, then Kingston, then Circleville, then Lancaster, then Rushville.
      mrt James went to French Grant to witness the death of his father. Thomas seemed to regognize James, and after having seen him as he had wished, he passed away several days later.
      sep 1828 James Gilruth and Mary Westlake visited "Mother Gilruth". They also visited Mary Westlake's mother, and brought her home with her.

      was obsessed with idea of a christian socialist community". He was also outspoken about antislavery sentiments, and opposed rented pews.

      "In the winter of 1818-19, a great revival swept through southern Ohio; and in February of the latter year, our subject was, as he himself had said many a time, 'powerfully converted' at a Methodist meeting. By the latter part of March, he had so favorably impressed his presiding Elder that he was licensed to preach; and on the 7th day of August, following, when the conferenct met, he was ordained as a regular minister. He continued in the regular ministry in the Ohio Conference for thirty-two years. He made his first visit to Iowa in 1844; and in that year, or the year following, entered a quarter section of land two miles north of the city of Davenport. He returned to Ohio and remained until the spring of 1851 when he removed with his family to Davenport, Iowa. He became a member of the Iowa Conference, a relation he sustained until the day of his death. He officiated as pastor in charge, or on circuit, whenever appointed, until the year 1863, when he was placed upon the superannuated list. Gilruth Chapel near his home was named for him. In 1853, he moved his family onto a farm near Davenport, where he resided until his death."

      "He had made money, became quite rich, indeed, but he never lost the respect and confidence of the neighbors nor of those who had business transactions with him, be the means of acquiring it. he sustaind his Christian integrity in business as well as in the pulpit. He possessed bright intellect, had vivid imagination, and a love for the beautiful in nature and literature. His memory was very retentive, his command of language good. He was a mighty man physically, and in his prime, his weight was nearly 300 pounds."

      From "The Past Is Prologue", Mary Westlake states: "I remember that the first year of our marriage, having no children, we saved $100. out of the $200. due us and with it, Husband purchased the quarter section of land, in what afterwards became the site of Maumee City. That was in 1823-24. He bought it of the Government and, about 1836, sold it to a company of speculators for $100. per acre. This company failed and he lost a large part of his money. $10,000 of what he really got, he afterwards loaned, without interest, and lost both interest and principal. This last happened while we lived in Berea."

  • Sources 
    1. [S1042] History of Lower Scioto Valley, Ohio. (a biographical sketch from); Inter-State Publishing Co., Chicago, 1884.

    2. [S1043] Nelson W. Evans, A. M., A History of Scioto County, Ohio,Together With a Pioneer Record of Southern Ohio, (Portsmouth, Ohio. Published by Nelson W. Evans, 1903), 1267 (Reliability: 2).

    3. [S1043] Nelson W. Evans, A. M., A History of Scioto County, Ohio,Together With a Pioneer Record of Southern Ohio, (Portsmouth, Ohio. Published by Nelson W. Evans, 1903), 715 (Reliability: 2).



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