Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

More on Ezra T. Gillilland of Pelham Manor, Inventor of the Telephone Switchboard and Friend of Thomas Edison


When most think of the inventor of the telephone and the phonograph, most think of Thomas Alva Edison.  Pelhamites, however, think of Pelham Manor resident Ezra Torrence Gilliland who actually assisted Edison in the creation and improvement of both inventions.  Gilliland further invented, on his own, the original telephone switchboard, the magneto bell, and a host of other technologies that were mainstays of the American telephone system for nearly a century.  

Ezra Torrence Gilliland was a prolific 19th century inventor and one of the most creative people ever to live in Pelham.  He served as one of the earliest village trustees of the Village of Pelham Manor, beginning his service in 1893 only two years after the Village was formed.  He later became President (i.e., Mayor) of the Village of Pelham Manor and served in that capacity until shortly before his death on May 13, 1903.  He also served for a time as President of the old Manor Club before that club became a women's club.  In 1893 Gilliland's wife, Lillian M. Johnson Gilliland, joined the board of The Pelham Home for Children and served in that capacity for many years.



Ezra T. Gilliland in an Undated Photograph.

I have written before about famed Pelham Manor inventor Ezra T. Gilliland and his wife, Lillian Johnson Gilliland.  See: 

Tue., Aug. 04, 2015:  Ezra T. Gilliland, The Inventor of the Telephone Switchboard and Friend of Thomas Edison, Was a Pelham Manor Resident.  

Thu., Aug. 13, 2015:  Lillian Johnson Gilliland's Memories of Thomas Edison and 19th Century Life in Pelham Manor.

Ezra and Lillian Gilliland moved to Pelham Manor in 1891 or 1892.  The Gillilands built their Pelham Manor home on a corner lot where Secor Avenue (now Secor Lane) meets Wolfs Lane.  Some sources indicate Ezra Gilliland's laboratory was built on the adjacent lot with frontage on Secor Avenue.  Others indicate that his lab was on the second floor of the home.  Yet others indicate his laboratory was in the basement of the home.  Most likely, he did laboratory work at various places in and around the home during the twelve or so years he lived there in Pelham Manor.  



Detail from Map Published in 1899 Showing Location of Home and
Laboratory of Ezra T. Gilliland. "Secor Ave." Since Has Been Extended
Across and Beyond Wolfs Lane and Now is Known as "Secor Lane."
Source: Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon and the Town
of Pelham, Plate 22 (Mount Vernon, NY: John F. Fairchild, 1899).  NOTE:
Click on Image to Enlarge.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes two obituaries published at the time of Ezra T. Gilliland's death.  They are significant because they provide additional details of his life during his time in Indianapolis before he and his wife moved to Pelham Manor.  



"EZRA T. GILLILAND."  Source:  E. T. GILLILAND DIED AT HIS NEW YORK
ASSOCIATED WITH EDISONIndianapolis News, May 13, 1903,
p. 11, cols. 3-4.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlgarge.


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Below is the text of two obituaries that appeared after Ezra T. Gilliland's death.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"Ezra T. Gilliland.

Ezra T. Gilliland, an inventor, to whom many of the improvements of the American Bell telephone are due, died Wednesday from Bright's disease at his home in Pelham Manor.  Mr. Gilliland was the inventor of the original bell switchboard, of the magneto bell and many other contrivances now in use by the company.  On the upper floors of his home he had a large laboratory, where he worked almost to the day of his death, solving problems of electricity.  He was an intimate friend of Thomas A. Edison, and they worked jointly on several inventions.  He was interested in the Gilliland Electrical Company, which has large factories in Adrian, Mich., and when he had perfected and patented his inventions he sent the models there to be duplicated for the market.  He kept seven expert electricians employed in the laboratory at his home.  He was for several years a director in the Bell Telephone Co.  He had served as trustee and president of Pelham Manor.

Mr. Gilliland was born in Cuba, N.Y., fifty-six years ago, and lived most of his life in New York.  He was a member of the Reform, Manhattan, Colonial, Pelham Manor, New York Athletic and Columbia Yacht Clubs.  He leaves a widow, who was Miss Lilian Johnson, of Indianapolis.  The funeral was held yesterday at his home.  The Rev. Harris E. Adriance, of New York, formerly pastor of the Pelham Manor Presbyterian Church, officiated.  The burial will be in Adrian, Mich., which is the home of Mr. Gilliland's mother and brother."

Source:  Ezra T. Gilliland, New Rochelle Pioneer, May 16, 1903, Vol. 45, No. 8, p. 8, col. 3.

"E. T. GILLILAND DIED AT HIS NEW YORK HOME
-----
A FAMOUS INVENTOR -- KNOWN IN INDIANAPOLIS.
-----
ASSOCIATED WITH EDISON
-----

Ezra Torrence Gilliland, age fifty-eight years, died at his home in Pelham Manor, West Chester county, New York, this morning.  He had been a sufferer from Bright's disease.  He began to fail four or five months ago and death was not unexpected.  He was born in New York State on June 17, 1845.  He was well-known in Indianapolis.

He opened the first telephone exchange in this city, and during his residence here he was married to Miss Lillian M. Johnson, the daughter of Captain Johnson, formerly of Madison.  At various times he has been interested in business ventures in Indianapolis, and socially he was well known.  The funeral arrangements have not yet been made.  He will probably be buried in New York or in Adrian, Mich.

Mr. Gilliland began life as a telegraph operator on the line of the Michigan Central or the Lake Shore railroad, and in his boyhood days became acquainted with Edison.  This developed into a friendship which lasted all through life.  They were associated in many business enterprises, and in the development of the telephone and phonograph he shared honors with Mr. Edison.

Inventor of Switchboard.

The fundamental principles of the switchboard, used by every telephone system throughout the world, is an invention of Mr. Gilliland, and the perfected transmitter is also the result of his work.

Mr. Gilliland organized and constructed the first telephone exchange in Indianapolis, which at that time was situated in the Vance Block -- at present the Indiana Trust Block.  That was in the '70s.  He owned that exchange and the Indiana rights of the telephone and he operated the Indianapolis exchange for a year or more and sold it to a syndicate for $20,000.  This syndicate, within twenty-four hours, turned it into the Central Union company for $1,000,000.

His reasons for disposing of the telephone exchange and his rights in Indiana was prompted by his love for mechanics.  With the money obtained by the sale of the property he started the Gilliland Electric Manufacturing Company.  The business prospered and outgrew the quarters and he bought the old factory of the Indianapolis Shoe Company, on Brookside avenue.  He carried on the business there for three years and moved his factory to Adrian, Mich.  The Adrian plant became one of the largest electrical manufacturing houses in the United States.  

For thirty years he manufactured equipment for the Western Union and he made practically all of the insulating pins that carry Western Union lines over the country.

One of his latest inventions was a cigarette-making machine which has a capacity of 500 cigarettes a minute.  This machine was made with a view of entering into competition with other cigarette manufacturing machinery controlled by the French government.  It has been adopted by the Havana Commercial Company, which has monopolized the business in Cuba.

Mr. Gilliland left a considerable fortune.  At times he has been worth over a million dollars.  He was affable, kindly and hospitable.  

Mrs. Danforth Brown, of Indianapolis, is a sister of Mrs. Gilliland, and has gone to the funeral."

Source:  E. T. GILLILAND DIED AT HIS NEW YORK HOME -- A FAMOUS INVENTOR -- KNOWN IN INDIANAPOLIS -- ASSOCIATED WITH EDISON, Indianapolis News, May 13, 1903, p. 11, cols. 3-4.  

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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

What is Pelham's Connection to the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor that Fought in the First Battle of Ironclads?


Introduction

On March 9, 1862, as the Civil War raged, the Union quietly moved a top secret weapon into the waters off Virginia.  The weapon was an oddly-shaped craft that looked like a "tin can on a shingle."  It motored into Hampton Roads Bay where the James River meets the Chesapeake Bay near Newport News and Hampton, Virginia. 

The weapon had been hastily designed and constructed to address a specific threat:  the Confederate ironclad known as the CSS Virginia that had been built from the lower hull and engines of the scuttled steam frigate USS Merrimack.  The Union's top secret weapon was the USS Monitor, its first ironclad designed to be impervious to cannon shot, shells, and small arms fire.  

History credits Captain John Ericsson with designing and "superintending" the construction of the USS Monitor.  History also records, however, that the USS Monitor could not have been built without the involvement of an illustrious Pelham Manor inventor who was among the early founders of the settlement that became today's Village of Pelham Manor.  His name was George Huntington Reynolds.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog details Reynolds' involvement with the USS Monitor and provides much detail about his celebrated life.

I have written before about George H. Reynolds and his involvement with the USS Monitor.  See Tuesday, Apr. 12, 2005:  Pelham and the Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor.  



George Huntington Reynolds in Photograph Published in 1903.
(Chicago, IL:  J. H. Beers & Co., 1903).  NOTE:  Click on Image
To Enlarge.

Background 

The day before the USS Monitor slipped into the waters of Hampton Roads Bay, Captain Franklin Buchanan of the CSS Virginia had sailed the southern ironclad into the same bay to attack the wooden Union ships blockading the harbor.  The little ironclad ran the USS Congress aground and destroyed it.  It rammed the USS Cumberland and sank it.  The remaining Union ships blockading the harbor watched helplessly as their shot bounced harmlessly off the seemingly invulnerable Confederate ironclad until they had to withdraw from engagement.  

The following day, March 9, Confederate Lieutenant Catesby Jones captained the CSS Virginia as it prowled the waters of the Bay.  Unbeknownst to Lt. Jones, the USS Monitor, famed "tin can on a shingle," had hustled down the coast from New York during a stormy and precarious voyage.  



CSS Virginia in 1862.  Source:  WIKIPEDIA:  The Free Encyclopedia,
"CSS Virginia" (visited Feb. 20, 2016).  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

The Captain of the Union ironclad on March 9 was Lieutenant John L. Worden.  According to a report on the voyage and subsequent battle prepared by the Chief Engineer of the Monitor dated March 9, 1862, the Monitor showed its mettle on the "stormy passage" and "proved . . . to be the finest seaboat I was ever in".  See Letter from Chief Engineer Stimers, USS Monitor, to Captain John Ericsson, Giving an Account of the Engagement, Mar. 9, 1862, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. 7, p. 25 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office 1898). 

The First Battle Between Ironclads 

The USS Monitor intercepted the CSS Virginia in Hampton Roads Bay where the ships fought history's first battle between ironclads.  The engagement was significant. The Virginia had been built to break the Union's blockade of southern port cities.  The Union Navy developed the Monitor specifically to destroy the Virginia.  For more than three hours the two ironclads battled each other at close range, but neither was able to best the other.  

Official reports of the engagement show how the new ironclad technology withstood the old technology of shot and shell.  The report of the Chief Engineer of the Union ironclad Monitor stated in part: "[W]e fought the Merrimack [i.e., the CSS Virginia] for more more than three hours this forenoon and sent her back to Norfolk in a sinking condition.  Ironclad against ironclad.  We maneuvered about the bay here and went at each other with mutual fierceness.  I consider that both ships were well fought.  We were struck 22 times -- pilot house twice, turret 9 times, side armor 8 times, deck 3 times. The only vulnerable point was the pilot house.  One of [the] great logs (9 by 12 inches thick) is broken in two. The shot struck just outside of where the captain had his eye, and it has disabled him by destroying his left eye and temporarily blinding the other.  The log is not quite in two, but is broken and pressed inward . . . . She tried to run us down and sink us, as she did the Cumberland yesterday, but she got the worst of it.  Her bow passed over our deck and our sharp upper edged side cut through the light iron shoe upon her stern and well into her oak. She will not try that again.  She gave us a tremendous thump, but did not injure us in the least. . . .  "You are very correct in your estimate of the effect of shot upon the man on the inside of the turret when it struck near him. Three men were knocked down, of whom I was one; the other two had to be carried below, but I was not disabled at all and the others recovered before the battle was over. . . ." Id.



Ironclads," a Chromolithograph of the Battle of Hampton Roads,
Produced by Louis Prang & Co.  Source:  U.S. Library of
Congress Division of Prints and Photographs (Digital ID
"pga.04044").  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.  

The Connection to Pelham

It was not very long ago that nearly every American schoolchild knew the story of the battle between the ironclads Monitor and the Merrimack (the CSS Virginia) on March 9, 1862.  But, what does this seminal event in military history have to do with Pelham, New York? 

Pelham Manor resident George Huntington Reynolds, it turns out, played a critically important role in the design and construction of the steam engine that powered the Monitor. According to one account: 

"While [John] Ericsson was rushing work on the Monitor he was also trying to complete an engine of his own device. The Government was pushing him to the extent of the speed limit in getting the Monitor under steam. He finished the boat in time, but not the engine. His friend Reynolds had one of his own engines at the Delemater [Iron] Works and finally induced Ericsson to permit the Monitor to be equipped with it. This was done, and the Monitor proceeded on her way to victory. If Ericsson had held out, as he stubbornly did for a long time, the Monitor would not have reached Hampton Roads in time to interrupt the leisurely destructiveness of the Merrimac; nor, perhaps, to have prevented her from bombarding Northern coast cities. Ericsson deserves the greater credit -- he built the Monitor; but George Reynolds should be remembered at the same time, for it was an engine of his invention that he himself put into the little insides of the Monitor which gave her the life impulse that enabled her to be on the job at a critical time in the history of the United States." 

Source: Credit For The Monitor - Part is Claimed for George Reynolds, Engine Builder, N.Y. Times, Aug. 6, 1924, p. 12. See also Credit For Monitor - Others Besides Ericsson Who Should Be Remembered, N.Y. Times, Aug. 22, 1924, p. 12; To The Editor of The New York Times, N.Y. Times, Aug. 22, 1924, p. 12; [Obituary of] G. O. Reynolds Jr., Insurance Man, 71, N.Y. Times, Jun. 4, 1956, p. 29 ("He was the son of the late George Osmar and Mable Winchester Reynolds of Pelham Manor, N. Y. His grandfather, George Huntington Reynolds, was one of the heads of the engineering staff of John Ericsson, building of the Monitor."). 

Reynolds likely was for the job of designing and installing a steam engine in the USS Monitor because he recently had gained fame as a steam engineer.  Only six years before, in 1856, Reynolds exhibited a steam engine of his own design at the American Institute Fair, held at the famed Crystal Palace in New York City, for which he received a gold medal.  Due in part to this success, the following year Reynolds was made superintendent of the American Institute Fair.  Additionally, in 1862, Reynolds became general manager of the Mystic Iron Works, Mystic Bridge, Conn., a shipbuilding yard during the Civil war.




Inboard Plans of the USS Monitor with Steam Engine by
George H. Reynolds Visible.  Source:  U.S. Naval Photograph
Via WIKIPEDIA:  The Free Encyclopedia, USS Monitor (visited
Feb. 20, 2016).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

George H. Reynolds lived with his family in Pelham Manor for many years. He was an active member of the Pelham Manor Protective Club and served as President of the local school board for eight years.  He built a palatial home in the Manor that no longer stands. He was one of the nation's preeminent mechanical engineers and was involved in many projects that are stories in and of themselves.  Late in life he moved to Connecticut, but various of his children and grandchildren remained in Pelham and surrounding areas for many years.



Detail from 1893 Map Showing Location of George H. Reynolds
Home (Virtually in the Center of This Detail).  His Home Was
Located Where Today's Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park
is Located Behind Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church.  The
Home Burned Down on June 6, 1940 and the Lot Subsequently
Was Converted to a Public Park.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of several resources that shed interesting light on the life of engineer and inventor George Huntington Reynolds, a founder of Pelham Manor.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"GEORGE H. REYNOLDS, who resides at Spring Manor, his handsome country home near Mansfield, Tolland county, is one of the noted mechanical engineers of this country, and he has a high reputation both as a man and a student of practical affairs. 

The Reynolds ancestry is traced to William Reynolds who came from Plymouth, Mass., to Providence, R. I., in 1637, one year after Roger Williams, banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had located there.  He was one of the original purchasers of the land from the Narragansett Indians, the sum paid for this land, which is now of vast value, being about $26.  William Reynolds was arrested and confined in prison at Hartford, Conn., for his refusal to pay taxes to the Dutch; and again because he refused to pay taxes to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, after they had learned of the existence of Roger Williams, whom they had thought dead.  Mr. Reynolds was married to Alice Kitson in the Open Court in Massachusetts. 

James Reynolds, son of William, died in Kingston, R. I., in 1700.  He settled at Newport, R. I., and after the birth of a child his wife was ordered by a council at Plymouth to appear before them in the month of February to give account of her faith.  She made the trip in midwinter, on foot, carrying her babe in arms, and accompanied by a maid.  Her answers to the questions of the council were not regarded as satisfactory, and she was stripped to the waist, and given ten lashes on the bare back.  Her maid received the same treatment for "being in bad company."  Joseph Reynolds, son of James, was born Nov. 27, 1652, and died in 1722, in North Kingston, R. I.  His wife’s name was Susannah. 

Samuel Reynolds, son of Joseph, was married Dec. 31, 1732, to Ann, daughter of Samuel Gardiner. 

Thomas Reynolds, son of Samuel, and great-grandfather of George H., was married Sept. 22, 1749, to Elizabeth Hopkins, who was born Sept. 22, 1729, a daughter of William and Mary (Tibbitts) Hopkins. 

Samuel Reynolds, son of Thomas, was born Feb. 12, 1752, and lived in Frenchtown, R. I., and later migrated to the western part of New York, near Buffalo, where he died.  On Dec. 4, 1777, he married Amy Weaver, who was born Nov. 18, 1759, and who died near Buffalo. Their children were:  (1) Sally married Andrew Moredock, a farmer, who died in Killingly; she died in Coventry, Conn. (2) Thomas was a seafaring man in early life, and died in Kingston, R. I. (3) Betsey. (4) Peleg married Mary Wells, and died in Mansfield, Conn. (5) Selah. (6) Christopher is mentioned below. (7) Samuel, a farmer and merchant, was the first agent of the old Norwich & Worchester railroad, and was killed by the cars. (8) Jonathan was a farmer and resided in Ashford, Conn., where he died. (9) John was a tailor, and died in Beloit, Wis. (10) Eleanor and (11) William were twins. (12) Eunice completes the family. 

Christopher Reynolds, son of Samuel, was born July 11, 1790, in Frenchtown, R.I., where his boyhood days were spent.  In 1810 he located at Mansfield, where he was employed as a farm hand by a Mr. Tillinghast, who made his home on the Steven C. Gardiner farm.  He planted the large maple tree, still standing in the yard. It was one of three, but one of the others was killed by lightening [sic], and the other by the heat of a burning barn.  During the War of 1812 Mr. Reynolds was a member of the Mansfield militia, and was one of the few men drafted from the company to go to New London to assist the threatened descent of the British.  After his marriage Mr. Reynolds entered the fulling mill, then located a short distance south of the Tillinghast farm, on land now owned by his son Edwin. The old dam is still there, but the mill has since been torn down.  Here Mr. Reynolds was engaged in cloth dressing, and also in farming a small tract of land, which he had bought.  On this place ten of his twelve children were born.  Until it ceased to be profitable on account of the close competition of the larger mills, he continued at the cloth business.  Then for a time Mr. Reynolds employed his spare time in such labor as he could secure, and, moving to Eagleville, he assisted in building the first dam across the Willimantic river at that point.  While the dam was being constructed large salmon, while endeavoring to get over it, were killed by musket shot.  His former farm was purchased by his two sons, George H. and Edwin, who assumed a large indebtedness, and the parents removed to the farm, where they spent their declining years, and where they died, the husband and father July 21, 1871, from the infirmities of age, and the wife and mother, Sept. 24, 1860.  They were interred in the old cemetery, a mile east of their first home in Mansfield. 

Not withstanding [sic] a severe illness from inflammatory rheumatism, Christopher Reynolds was always a hard-working and industrious man, bravely contending against pain and suffering, until the latter years of his life, when he was almost entirely confined to his chamber.  In early life he was a Democrat, but later became a Republican.  Though not a church member he was a man of high character, honest moral and upright, and he reared a family of which any father might well be proud. 

On Sept. 26, 1813, Christopher Reynolds was married, in Mansfield, to Clarissa Huntington, who was born in that town March 5, 1794, daughter of Jonas and Rhoda (Baldwin) Huntington.  The Huntingtons and Baldwins were among the old and honored families of Mansfield, at one time numerously represented throughout that section.  To this union were born: (1) Adaline, born May 2, 1814, married May 2, 1837, Jacob S. Eaton, a woolen manufacturer of Ludlow, Mass., and died in Indian Orchard, Mass. (2) Melissa, born March 14, 1816, married Sept. 26, 1842, Charles Shumway, for many years a watchman in the Corliss Engine Works at Providence, R. I., and died in Mansfield. (3) Elizabeth, was born March 14,1818, was married (first) March 26, 1854, to Rev. Asa Sanders; her second husband Benajah Gurnsey Roots, a civil engineer, who assisted in the building of the Illinois Central railroad, and later was prominent in State school matters in Illinois. She was killed in a runaway accident. (4) Sarah H., born Jan 31, 1820, was married Sept. 21, 1841, to Fayette Barrows, a farmer, and died in Mansfield. (5) Julia H., Born Oct. 8, 1821, was married Oct 24, 1842, to Leander Derby, a comb manufacturer, who died in San Andreas, Cal.; she now resides in Brooklyn, N. Y. (6) Glenn H., born Nov. 25, 1823, was married May 19, 1846, to Elizabeth F. Eaton. He remained at home engaged in farming until of age, when he went to Providence, R. I., where he was employed in various mercantile lines until 1856.  He then spent ten years at Danielson, after which he managed a store at Cranston, R. I., for the A. & W. Sprague Manufacturing Company.  In 1868 he set up the mill supply business at Providence, where he remained until 1886, when he returned to Mansfield, in a few years removing to Danielson, where he now resides. (7) Jane, born July 9, 1826, died Aug. 8, 1827. (8) John D., born July 28, 1827, was married April 6, 1854 to Martha Slater, and after her death, to Mrs. White. For many years he was a school teacher, and is now postmaster at Andover, N. J. (9) George Huntington is next in the order of birth. (10) Edwin, born March 23, 1831, is mentioned at length elsewhere in this volume. (11) Benjamin Franklin, born Jan. 29, 1833, married April 27, 1857, Amanda Hawkins.  He has been Chief Engineer of the Omaha Water Works for the past seventeen years, and resides at Florence, Neb. (12) Albert W., was born Dec. 11, 1835, married Jan. 15, 1857, Rebecca Runion; he was a mechanical engineer of great promise, and died in New York, from overwork, in testing machinery. 

George Huntington Reynolds was born Feb. 8, 1829, in Mansfield, and like his brothers, early became responsible for his own support.  When quite young he showed signs of that genius that has placed him in the front rank of the calling he is pursuing at the present time.  As a mere boy he and his brothers would erect bridges, make wagons, sled, and other play things with a touch of genuine skill.  The bridges which they erected across the small streams on the family homestead, they used in hauling stone and wood, often overloading their wagons so as to break down the bridges, that they might build them up in better form.  At the age of eleven years George H. was employed on the farm of Mr. Tillinghast, who had given his father employment thirty years before.  Three months’ schooling was allowed him each year; the first year he had $9, out of which he bought his clothing for the year; the second year, $11; the third, $13; and the fourth, $16.  Work began at daylight and lasted until long after dark.  By trapping game, picking nuts, and other side labors, the boy managed to earn enough extra money with which to buy paper, pencils and ink, for use in drawing bridges, vessels, houses and other things in spare moments.  The children of today can hardly comprehend the amount of work a farm boy at that time was expected to accomplish.  During his third year with Mr. Tillinghast, Mr. Reynolds picked sixteen bushels of hazel nuts, which sold for a dollar a bushel, thus netting his employer three dollars more than his year’s wages.  As it is said to take sixteen bushels of nuts in the bur to make one bushel of nuts, the lad must have picked 256 bushels of burs.  These nuts were picked on land now owned by Mr. Reynolds, and also on land then and now owned by the Merrows. During these years of hard work with Mr. Tillinghast, Mr. Reynolds was never sick a day, and never lost a days time. Up to this time his schooling had consisted of attendance during the winter months. When he was fifteen he engaged with Chauncey Dunham, of Mansfield, for $6 a month. Mr. Dunham lived in the house now owned by Mr. Edwin Reynolds as a summer home, and the brick house still standing was made from clay hauled by our subject’ s father when he was eighteen years old. 

Soon after this George H. Reynolds attended a select school in August, September and October, taught by a Mr. Dimock, a student from Yale, who was a thorough instructor, and gave Mr. Reynolds more insight into his studies than he had secured from all his previous schooling, particularly in mathematics, in which he was quite bright. After leaving Mr. Dimock’s school Mr. Reynolds was employed as a spinner in woolen mills in Ludlow, Mass. And at Broad Brook, Wilsonville and Merrow, Conn. He was a master of the trade, and at Merrow he could do his work in half the time his predecessor had needed. It was at Merrow that his first mechanical construction work was done. The mill owners were putting in new machinery, and the boss machinist (sent from Harvard to take charge of the work) selected as his assistant Mr. Reynolds, who showed such an aptitude for the work that the "jealousy of the "boss" was aroused, lest his place might be lost. As a result Mr. Reynolds left the spinning trade and devoted himself to mechanical work. Going to Leominster, Mass., he began work on steam machinery, which has been his work to the present day. In 1856 he exhibited a steam engine of his own designing, and a decided improvement on what had gone before to the American Institute Fair, held at the Crystal Palace, New York, for which he was awarded the golden medal of the Institute, and was made superintendent of the Fair the following year. 

In 1859, Mr. Reynolds became chief draughtsman of the Delamater Iron Works, and in 1862 he was made superintendent and general manager of Mystic Iron Works, of Mystic Bridge, Conn. These works were established for the purpose of building ships and engines for the Government during the Civil war, and when the war was over Mr. Reynolds returned to the Delamater works to assume the position of superintendent, which he held until 1884, when he resigned to take a similar position with the Crane Elevator Company of Chicago. He has done more to improve and perfect the passenger elevator, perhaps, than any other one man living, and is still engaged in the study of it’s problems. His services in this connection are much sought after by builders of elevators, not only in this country but in Europe as well. The dynamite gun greatly interests him, and all the guns so far constructed have been made under his patents. He is consulting engineer of the Pneumatic Dynamite Gun Company of New York, and superintended the gun construction of the dynamite cruiser "Vesuvius." He has also built guns for Italy and England. When the Crane Elevator Company was absorbed by the Otis Elevator Company, Mr. Reynolds was still continued as engineer for the combination. The Locomobile Company of America has engaged him as it’s engineer. He is one of the foremost engineers of this generation, and has taken out more than a hundred patents in his line of work. For many years Mr. Reynolds had his home in Pelham Manor, N. Y. In 1885 he built a handsome and attractive home on land in Mansfield, which he has reclaimed from it’s primitive condition of forest and boulder, and with the aid of the landscape gardener, has made it one of the most picturesque and charming places in the town. This romantic spot has received the name of Spring Manor, from the many springs of clear cold water that well up on the grounds. The entire estate consists of about a thousand acres of land, on which, as a boy, he spent years of hard work for Mr. Tillinghast, as noted above. Personally Mr. Reynolds is genial and social, and he is an interesting talker, with splendid memory, and a large fund of general information. His disposition is hospitable, and his manners democratic. He has traveled widely, and his impressions of the countries he has seen are vivid and impressive. A staunch Republican, Mr. Reynolds has never sought office, though while living in Pelham Manor, he served eight years as president of the school board. 

On Nov. 1, 1853, Mr. Reynolds was married to Abby F., daughter of James Brown, of Westfield, Vt. To them have come children as follows; (1) Nellie J., born Sept. 2, 1854, died in young womanhood. (2) George Osmar, born Dec. 9, 1856, graduated from the Friends’ School at Providence, R. I., entered the service of New York manufacturing firm and is now one of the firm of Hitchcock, Dermandy & Co., manufacturers of hatters’ furs. He is married and has two children, George Osmar Jr. (who shows much ability as an artist) and Grace. (3) Irving H., born April 13, 1862, took up mechanical work in 1879 as a marine engineer, and in 1884, entered the employ of the Edward P. Allis Company of Milwaukee. He has been identified particularly in the development of the Modern High Duty Water Works pumping engine, notable examples of his work being in the city water works of Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Omaha, etc., many of these engines holding the world’s records for economy. At the present time (1903) he is chief engineer of the Allis-Chalmers company, manufacturers of engines, mining and milling machinery, and employing upwards of six thousand men. He married Bertha Barker, of Milwaukee, in 1889. (4) Grace C., born July 10, 1870, died in infancy."

Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties Connecticut Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens And Of Many Of The Early Settled Families -- Illustrated, pp. 188-91 (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1903).

"Report of the Necrologist
BY CELIA MARY REYNOLDS
-----

GEORGE HUNTINGTON REYNOLDS passed away January 3, after a painful illness, at his beautiful home at Mansfield Depot, Conn.  Mr. Reynolds was a descendant of James Reynolds of North Kingstown, R. I.  He was born at Mansfield, February 8, 1829.  Being one of a family of twelve children he was early thrown upon his own resources.  Working on a farm in his boyhood, and later as a spinner in a factory, he employed his spare moments studying and practicing mechanical drawing.  As a result he gradually worked his way up to the position of chief draughtsman of the Delamater Iron Works, and, after the civil war, became superintendent of the same.  He held the latter position until 1884, when he resigned to take a like position with the Crane Elevator Co., of Chicago.  His work in that capacity resulted in great improvement in the passenger elevator service.  He was also an inventor and builder of dynamite guns and locomobiles.  In 1853 Mr. Reynolds married Abby E. Brown, of Westfield, Vt.  Four children were born to them, two of whom are living -- George Osmar Reynolds and Irving H. Reynolds."

Source:  Reynolds, Celia Mary, "Report of the Necrologist" in SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REUNION OF THE Reynolds Family Association HELD AT Mohican Hotel, New London, Conn. THURSDAY, AUGUST 20TH, 1908, pp. 12-13 (Middletown, CT:  Press of Pelton and King, 1908).

"George H. Reynolds
-----

George Huntington Reynolds, the well known mechanical engineer, died at his home, Spring Manor, Mansfield Depot, Conn., Jan. 3, 1908, aged 79.

He was born in Mansfield and when quite young showed signs of mechanical genius which later on placed him in the front rank in his calling.  He began active work as a spinner in woolen mills.  While employed in this capacity at Merrow, Conn., his first mechanical work was done.  As a result he left Morrow and went to Leominster, Mass., where he devoted his time to steam engineering.  In 1856 he exhibited a steam engine of his own design at the American Institute Fair, held at Crystal Palace, New York, for which he received a gold medal and the following year was made superintendent of the fair.  In 1859 he became chief draftsman of the Delamater Iron Works and three years later was made superintendent and general manager of the Mystic Iron Works, Mystic Bridge, Conn., a shipbuilding yard during the Civil war.

After the war he returned to the Delamater works as superintendent, which position he held until 1884, when he resigned to assume a similar position with the Crane Elevator Company, of Chicago.

As consulting engineer of the Pneumatic Dynamite Gun Company, of New York, he superintended the construction of the dynamite cruiser 'Vesuvius' and the dynamite guns built for various governments.  As an inventor he was very successful, having taken out over a hundred patents for various mechanical devices."

Source:  "George H. Reynolds" in American Machinist, Jan. 16, 1908, p. 107.  

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Tuesday, August 04, 2015

Ezra T. Gilliland, The Inventor of the Telephone Switchboard and Friend of Thomas Edison, Was a Pelham Manor Resident


Ezra Torrence Gilliland was a prolific 19th century inventor and one of the most creative people ever to live in Pelham.  He served as one of the earliest village trustees of the Village of Pelham Manor, beginning his service in 1893 only two years after the Village was formed.  He later became President (i.e., Mayor) of the Village of Pelham Manor and served in that capacity until shortly before his death on May 13, 1903.  He also served for a time as President of the old Manor Club before that club became a women's club.  In 1893 Gilliland's wife, Lillian M. Johnson Gilliland, joined the board of The Pelham Home for Children and served in that capacity for many years.



Ezra Torrence Gilliland in an Undated Photograph.

Gilliland was born in New York in 1846, a son of Robert C. Gilliland and his wife, Caroline.  As a youngster, Ezra lived with his family in Portville and in Allegany Township, both in Cattaraugus County, New York.  As a young man, he became a telegrapher.  By the beginning of the Civil War, Ezra Gilliland had become an expert telegraph operator.  By the age of 24, he had moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and had begun tinkering as an inventor.  

After invention of the telephone Gilliland became interested both as a manufacturer and an improver. According to his obituary in the New York Times, "Chief among his inventions are the Gilliland bell, for attracting the attention of  “central”, the Gilliland switch board, now in common use, and the exchange, of which he gave the original idea."

Gilliland was, at one time, a close friend of Thomas Edison.  The pair got to know each other in about the early 1870s while working with telegraph equipment.  They became fast friends, even referring to themselves as "Damon and Pythias."  They built summer resort homes next to each other in Fort Myers, Florida.   Gilliland and his wife even introduced Edison to his second wife, Mina Miller, during a visit by Edison to see the Gillilands in Boston.  

During the late 1870s, Gilliland presented tinfoil phonograph "exhibitions" throughout the midwest, trying to drum up public interest in the invention.  During the 1880s, Gilliland worked with Edison in various aspects of the improvement of the phonograph and became a major investor in the Edison Phonograph Company.  The pair had a falling out over ownership of the Edison Phonograph Company.  Edison even sued Gilliland in a lawsuit that attracted national attention, alleging that Gilliland and his lawyer friend, John C. Tomlinson, cut a secret deal to profit from the phonograph behind Edison's back.  In April, 1890, a judge ruled against Thomas Edison and in favor of Ezra Gilliland in the matter.  Thomas Edison reportedly never spoke with Ezra Gilliland again.  



Advertisement that Appeared in the June 4, 1878 Issue
of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette Touting an Exhibition
of the Tinfoil Phonograph Managed by Ezra T. Gilliland.
NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.


Gilliland married Lillian M. Johnson on February 5, 1880 in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The couple lived there for a period of time.  While there, Gilliland was granted three patents for two telephone apparatuses and a driving gear for a magneto electric machine.  

For many years Mr. Gilliland oversaw the Bell Telephone Company’s "experiment station" in Boston.  While there, according to the New York Times, he "did most of his important work." Gilliland also was one of the organizers of the Western Electric Company.  

Among Gilliland's many inventions was the telephone switchboard.  On April 30, 1895 the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Letters Patent Number 538,327 for an invention by Gilliland called the "Telephone Central-Office System". According to the patent: 

"The system herein described is particularly adapted for use with small exchanges and a magneto telephone system. It is of great importance that the apparatus should be simplified as much as possible and that the line should be kept as clear as possible so as to make the fullest use of the current developed by the voice, for its strength is necessarily limited and should be utilized to its full advantage. With these two objects in view I provide a system in which when two subscribers are connected the annunciator drop of one of them is retained in the circuits as a clearing out drop while the other is shunted out. Special clearing out drops are therefore unnecessary. To effect this I attach to an ordinary spring-jack and additional or auxiliary contact plate which is connected with the subscriber's leading-in wire before it passes through the drop, and I provide a pair of plugs on the opposite ends of two strands of wire, one of the plubs having a plate which contacts with the additional contact and excludes the drop from the circuit, the other having a plate which contacts only with the contact that is connected to line through the drop, thereby including the drop in the circuit. When two subscribers are connected through their spring jacks and such a pair of plugs, the result is that the annunciator drop of one of the subscribers is in the circuit and the annunciator drop of the other subscriber is out of the circuit. This apparatus embodies the main feature of my invention." 

Gilliland's patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.



Ezra T. Gilliland's Patent Drawing Included with United States
Patent and Trademark Office Letters Patent Number 538,327
for an Invention by Gilliland Called the "Telephone
Central-Office System"  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

In about 1891 or 1892, Gilliland and his wife began looking for a home near New York City.  According to Mrs. Gilliland, "We hunted around in Connecticut and had almost decided on Davenport Neck in New Rochelle when we finally determined to come to Pelham Manor."  In about 1892, the Gillilands built a home on Wolfs Lane in the Village of Pelham Manor.  Soon thereafter they built a laboratory for Ezra's "experimental work" next door.  See Good Times Began At Home and Stayed There In The Old Days In The Manor – Mrs. Ezra T. Gilliland Who Will Celebrate 80th Birthday in December Recalls Neighborhood Character of Social Life in Pelham Manor in the Early Days of the Village, The Pelham Sun, Sep. 9, 1938, p. 3, cols. 1-5.

The Gillilands built their Pelham Manor home on a corner lot where Secor Avenue (now Secor Lane) meets Wolfs Lane.  The laboratory was built on the adjacent lot with frontage on Secor Avenue.  



Detail from Map Published in 1899 Showing Location of Home
and Laboratory of Ezra T. Gilliland.  "Secor Ave." Since Has
Been Extended Across and Beyond Wolfs Lane and Now is
Known as "Secor Lane."  Source:  Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the
City of Mount Vernon and the Town of Pelham, Plate 22
(Mount Vernon, NY:  John F. Fairchild, 1899).
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The couple cherished their time in Pelham Manor.  They played golf on a "small neighborhood course" once located at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Boston Post Road.  They had a tennis court on their property and flooded it during winter to allow neighbors to ice skate.  They held lavish clambakes on their property and enjoyed bicycling throughout the region.  See Good Times Began At Home and Stayed There In The Old Days In The Manor – Mrs. Ezra T. Gilliland Who Will Celebrate 80th Birthday in December Recalls Neighborhood Character of Social Life in Pelham Manor in the Early Days of the VillageThe Pelham Sun, Sep. 9, 1938, p. 3, cols. 1-5.

Ezra Torrence Gilliland died from heart disease at the age of fifty-five in his Pelham Manor home on May 13, 1903.  His wife continued to live in Pelham Manor for nearly forty years thereafter and remained active in the Manor Club over which her husband had once presided.  

*          *          *          *          *

Below is transcribed text from a variety of sources relating to the life of Ezra Torrence Gilliland of Pelham Manor.  Each is followed by a citation to its source.  Links are included when available.  

"DEATH OF E. T. GILLILAND
-----
He Was the Inventor of Appliances for
Improving Telephone Service.

Ezra Torrence Gilliland died yesterday from heart disease at his home in Pelham Manor in his fifty-fifth year. Mr. Gilliland was a native of Adrian, Mich. At the beginning of the civil war he became an expert telegraph operator, and when the telephone was invented he became interested both as a manufacturer and improver. Chief among his inventions are the Gilliland bell, for attracting the attention of  “central”, the Gilliland switch board, now in common use, and the exchange, of which he gave the original idea.

For many years Mr. Gilliland was in charge of the Bell Telephone Company’s experiment station in Boston and while there did most of his important work. He was one of the organizers of the Western Electric company and was also associated with Thomas A. Edison for several years.

Of late years Mr. Gilliland had not been active in electrical work. Up to a year ago he held the Presidency of Pelham Manor. A widow survives him. The funeral will take place at Pelham Manor on Friday at 10 o’clock. Interment will be at Adrian, Mich."

Source:  DEATH OF E. T. GILLILAND -- He Was the Inventor of Appliances for
Improving Telephone Service, N.Y. Times, May 14, 1903.

"Ezra T. Gilliland was born in 1846 at New York.2,1  He was the son of Robert C. Gilliland and Caroline G. ?.1  Ezra T. Gilliland appeared on the 1850 Federal Census of Portville, Cattaraugus County, New York, in the household of his parents, Robert C. Gilliland and Caroline G. ?.1  Ezra T. Gilliland appeared on the 1860 Federal Census of Allegany township, Cattaraugus County, New York, in the household of his parents, Robert C. Gilliland and Caroline G. ?.3  Ezra T. Gilliland appeared on the 1870 Federal Census of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, enumerated 2 June 1870.4  

Ezra T. Gilliland married Lillian M. Johnson on 5 February 1880 at Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana.5,6  Ezra T. Gilliland and Lillian M. Johnson appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, enumerated 14 June 1880.5  In 1889, Ezra was in a legal dispute with Thomas A. Edison.7  Ezra T. Gilliland and Lillian M. Johnson appeared on the 1900 Federal Census of Pelham, Westchester County, New York, enumerated 11 June 1900.8  Ezra T. Gilliland died on 13 May 1903 at Pelham, Westchester County, New York.2,9,10  He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan.2  (For burial information see Find-a-Grave.) 

Ezra was a telegrapher and a close friend of Thomas A. Edison.11  He was also an inventor in his own right. While living in Indianapolis he was granted patents for three devices: a driving gear for a magneto electric machine, and two telephone apparatuses.12  An article written by historian John T. Cunningham and published in the Elyria Chronicle Telegram on August 15, 1979, tells of the friendship between Edison and Ezra and how Edison met this second wife, Mina Miller, at the Gilliland's home when they were living in Boston.11  However, sometime in early 1889 Ezra and Thomas became entangled in a bitter business dispute. Edison charged Ezra and a lawyer, John C. Tomlinson, with "treachery and breach of faith" and filed a suit in the U.S. Circuit Court.7  In April 1890, a judge rules against Edison and for the defendants Ezra T. Gilliland and John C. Tomlinson.13  

Citations 

1.  [S5347] Robt. Gilleland household, 1850 U.S. census, Cattaraugus County, New York, population schedule, Portville, page 241, dwelling 30, family 30.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com). 

2.  [S5374] Ezra T. Gilliland, online http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi 

3.  [S5358] Robert Gillerland household, 1860 U.S. census, Cattaraugus County, New York, population schedule, Allegany township, PO Allegany, page 1, dwelling 10, family 10.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com). 

4.  [S5390] Wilford Baker household, 1870 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Ohio, population schedule, Cincinnati 14th Ward, PO Cincinnati, page 21, dwelling 122, family 121.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com). 

5.  [S5391] Ezra T. Gilleland household, 1880 Federal Census, Marion County, Indiana, population schedule, Indianapolis, ED 115, page/sheet 42, dwelling 326, family 381.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com). 

6.  [S5392] Marion County (Indiana). Clerk of the Circuit Court. Marriage records 1877-1881, microfilm, access date: January 14, 2014, Film 0499373, Family History Library, 35 North West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

7.  [S5395] New York World, May 13, 1889. 

8.  [S5393] Ezra T. Gilliland household, 1900 U.S. census, Westchester County, New York, population schedule, Pelham, ED 109, page/sheet 5A, dwelling 55, family 55.; Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com). 

9.  [S5398] Logansport Reporter, May 15, 1903, front page. 

10.  [S5400] Unknown author, "Death of Ezra T. Gilliland." 

11.  [S5396] Elyria Chronicle Telegram, August 15, 1979. 

12.  [S5397] Sullivan Times, February 23, 1884. 

13.  [S5399] New York Times, April 11, 1890."

Source:  Gilliland Families -- Finding John Gilliland, Person Page 244 (visited Jul. 27, 2015).


"WAS INVENTOR OF THE SWITCHBOARD
-----
Death of the Man Who Gave the First Impetus to Telephones in Indiana.
-----
Sold for $20,000 What Was Worth $1,000,000
-----

The death of Ezra T. Gilliland Wednesday at his home in Westchester county, New York, closed the life of a man whose genius had a great deal to do with the remarkable development and utilization of the telephone.

Mr. Gilliland began life as telegraph operator on the line of the Michigan Central on the Lake Shore railroad and in his boyhood days became acquainted with Edison. This developed into a friendship which lasted all through life. They were associated in many business enterprises, and in the development of the telephone and phonograph he shared honors with Mr. Edison.

The fundamental principles of the switchboard, used by every telephone system throughout the world, is an invention of Mr. Gilliland, and the perfected transmitter is also the result of his work.

Mr. Gilliland organized and contructed the first telephone exchange in Indianapolis, which at that time was situated in the Vance block -- at present the Indiana Trust block. That was in the ‘70s. He owned that exchange and the Indiana rights of the telephone, and he operated the Indianapolis exchange for a year or more and sold it to a syndicate for $20,000. This syndicate, within twenty-four hours, turned it into the Central Union company for $1,000,000.

His reasons for disposing of the telephone exchange and his rights in Indiana was prompted by his love for mechanics. With the money obtained by the sale of the property he started the Gilliland Electric Manufacturing company, at Indianapolis. The business prospered and outgrew the quarters and he bought the old factory of the Indianapolis Shoe company, on Brookside avenue. He carried on the business there for three years and moved his factory to Adrian, Mich. The Adrian plant became on of the largest electrical and manufacturing houses in the United States.

For thirty years he manufactured equipment for the Western Union, and he made practically all of the insulating pins that carry Western Union lines over the country.

One of his latest inventions was a cigarette making machine which has a capacity of 500 cigarettes a minute. This machine was made with a view of entering into competition with other cigarette manufacturing machinery controlled by the French government. It has been adopted by the Havanna Commercial company, which has monopolized the business in Cuba.

Source:  WAS INVENTOR OF THE SWITCHBOARD -- Death of the Man Who Gave First Impetus to Telephones in Indiana -- Sold for $20,000 What Was Worth $1,000,000, Logansport Reporter [Logansport, Indiana], May 15, 1903.  

"The Phonograph.

Yesterday Mr. E. T. Gilliland began the public exhibitions of Edison's speaking phonograph in Greenwood Hall.  Three exhibitions were given -- one in the forenoon, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  Their style is pleasantly informal.  Mr. Gilliland and his instrument, standing in the middle of the hall with his auditors and spectators gathered around him while he explains the operations of the marvelous piece of mechanism, answers any questions that may be put, and exhibits its powers in the same way that was described last week when he gave the newspaper writers a hearing.  As a means of entertainment and as a study to those thoughtfully inclined, the instrument was shown to have great interest, and many there were who returned several times to listen to the miraculous voice.  Mr. Gilliland's explanations are exceedingly simple and unaffected with technical terms, and he seems to take delight in bringing the most marvelous of inventions right down to the comprehension of the veriest tyro in the study of mind and its phenomena.  The exhibitions will continue several days in Greenwood Hall."

Source:  The Phonograph, Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 4, 1878.

"WAS MR. EDISON GULLED?
-----
He Sues Gilliland and Tomlinson, Charging Broken Faith and Treachery.

THE WORLD recently announced that Thomas A. Edison had discovered that Ezra T. Gilliland and John C. Tomlinson had sold to Jesse H. Lippincott the agency held by Gilliland for the sale of phonographs for $250,000, in alleged breach of contracct, and on representations that they received only $75,000.  Suit has now been begun in the United States Circuit Court by Mr. Edison, charging Gilliland and Tomlinson with treachery and breach of faith and demanding an accounting.  In his complaint Edison says that he induced Gilliland to join him in business by offering him a larger salary than he had been receiving from the Bell Telephone Company, and that he made Tomlinson wealthy by giving him large retainers as counsel.  Gilliland was made general agent for the sale of the phonographs, but he agreed to hold this monopoly at the control of Edison.  He further says that the defendants induced him to sell his 11,960 shares of the Edison Phonograph Company to Lippincott for $500,000, and then they sold the agency to the same person, virtually making him sole owner of the business.  The defendants put in a general denial.

Mr. Tomlinson says that neither he nor Gilliland is a beneficiary of Edison, but, on the contrary, they have lost heavily through their connection with him.  The sale of the agency was a perfectly fair and honorable transaction.  He denies that they told Edison that they were to receive only $75,000, but that they had accepted $250,000 of the stock in the new company, and subsequently sold the stock to Lippincott for $250,000.

The case will probably come to trial in June, Edison's counsel being Col. Robert G. Ingersoll and Eaton & Lewis, while Frederick R. Coudert and W. Bourke Cockran are for Gilliland and Tomlinson."

Source:   WAS MR. EDISON GULLED? -- He Sues Gilliland and Tomlinson, Charging Broken Faith and Treachery, N.Y. World, May 13, 1889.

"AGAINST EDISON.
-----
THE WIZARD'S SUIT AGAINST GILLILAND AND TOMLINSON DECIDED.

Judge Wallace of the United States Circuit Court yesterday handed down a decision sustaining the demurrer to the complaint in the suit of Thomas A. Edison against Ezra T. Gilliland and John C. Tomlinson.  Edison alleged that he authorized Gilliland to sell his phonograph company stock; that Gilliland found a purchaser -- Mr. Lippincott of Philadelphia; that a contract was made for the sale, and that then he made a discovery.  It was that Gilliland, having taken Tomlinson in with him, had agreed with Mr. Lippincott to take the stock for $500,000 and to pay $250,000 for certain rights to sell phonographs held by Gilliland.  Gilliland, Edison charges, represented that he was to be paid for his agency rights in stock not worth over $75,000, and at the same tie had an agreement with Lippincott to take the stock off his hands at par.  Mr. Edison sued to recover the $250,000, which he alleged the defendants had obtained by fraud.  

Judge Wallace says:  

'The bill is fatally defective.  Because the facts set forth do not disclose that the plaintiff has parted with his stock or otherwise been a loser in consequence of the alleged misconduct of the defendants.  He has entered into an agreement to sell and deliver his stock at a future day upon receiving the purchase money, but that day had long expired before the bill was filed, and it does not appear that the contract was ever consummated.  For all that appears he has the stock now, is still its owner, and nothering ever came from the contract.  Whether Lippincott repudiated it or whether the plaintiff did or whether it was carried out is left wholly to conjecture.

'It must be assumed upon demurrer that the plaintiff has stated his case as favorably as the facts will permit.  It must be inferred therefore that the contract for some unexplained reason has fallen through and that the plaintiff is in the same position as before it was made.  The case as stated by the bill is at best one in which a principal has employed agents to sell property for him and they have taken advantage of their agency to sell their own property at a price largely in excess of its real value.  The case is not one where the principal has lost the sale of his own property by the misconduct of his agents, but the theory of the bill is tht the property was actually sold, while the facts alleged show that the sale has never been completed, and consequently that the plaintiff has lost nothing by the transaction.'"

Source:  AGAINST EDISON -- THE WIZARD'S SUIT AGAINST GILLILAND AND TOMLINSON DECIDED, N.Y. Times, Apr. 11, 1890.  


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