Joan Elizabeth Klink Secor, Known as Annie, Was a Notable Pelham Manor Resident and Town Historian

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Joan Elizabeth Klink Secor, known by family and close friends as "Annie," was one of the most beloved residents to have lived in the Village of Pelham Manor.  She was born in Vallejo, California in 1858.  She met James F. Secor, Jr. in 1880 while he was in Vallejo to inspect dry docks that had been built there by his father.  After a brief courtship, the couple married and moved to Pelham Manor where James Secor's father, James F. Secor, Sr., had built a large summer estate.  (I have written about the Secor estate before.  See Wed., Apr. 15, 2015:  The Secor Estate in the Village of Pelham Manor.)   

Joan Secor quickly became a social and cultural force in Pelham Manor.  She became president of the Tuesday Afternoon Club in 1900 and, when that Club merged into the Manor Club (which became a women's club) in 1914, she served as president of the newly-merged institution as well.  She stablized the finances of the Manor Club, presided over the fund-raising for, and the construction of, the new Manor Club building that is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  She retired from service as president of the club after 26 years in May 1925 when she departed for California to live with family members there.  A beautiful oil portrait of her, painted by George Brehm, still hangs in the assembly room of the Manor Club.

Mrs. Secor served as the second Town Historian for the Town of Pelham.  She served in this capacity for five years before she removed to San Francisco upon her retirement.  While serving as Town Historian, she wrote a pamphlet detailing the Town's historic landmarks published in 1924.  For the electronic text, see Secor, Joan Elizabeth, Landmarks In and Near Pelham (Pelham, NY:  The Town of Pelham, 1924) (published by the Town of Pelham on the occasion of the dedication of Pelham Memorial Park on May 30, 1924).

On Saturday, July 23, 1932, Joan Secor died suddenly at her home in San Francisco.  Once word reached Pelham, tributes poured in.  Her obituary, a series of tributes, and a number of photographs of her appeared in the local newspaper, The Pelham Sun.  Those materials are presented below.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

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"Mrs. Joan E. Secor Dies In San Francisco; Manor Club President 26 Years
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One of Pelham Manor's Most Revered Citizens; Was First President of Tuesday Afternoon Club Founded in 1900; Later Merged With Manor Club; Town Historian for Five Years.
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Mrs. Joan Elizabeth Secor, who for twenty-six years was president of the Manor Club and the guiding spirit in the growth of the club, died suddenly on Saturday at San Francisco, where she has made her home since May, 1925.  Funeral services were held at San Francisco on Monday.  The remains will be brought east for interment.  Plans for interment have not been arranged yet.

She was the widow of James F. Secor, old resident and at one time school trustee.

Mrs. Secor was the aunt of Miss Anna Cockle and Isla V. Cockle of Pelham Manor.  She is also survived by four sisters, Mrs. Vincent Cottman and Miss Jane Klink of San Francisco, Mrs. Emil Theiss and Mrs. Franklin Huntington of Norfolk, Va., and two brothers, George T. Klink and William M. Klink, of San Francisco..

Mrs. Secor was born at Vallejo, Calif., in 1858.  In 1880 Mr. Secor while inspecting the dry docks at Vallejo, which were constructed by his father, met Miss Joan Elizabeth Klink, and after a short courtship the couple were married at Vallejo.  They came to the Secor home in Pelham Manor to live shortly after.  The dynamic personality of the young bride soon established her as a leader.

In 1900 the need for a women's club in Pelham Manor was recognized and Mrs. Secor was instrumental in establishing the Tuesday Afternoon Club whose meetings soon became the culture center of the village.  Mrs. Secor was elected president of the club.  Other officers were Mrs. Charles B. Hull, vice-president; Mrs. William B. Randall, secretary; Mrs. Charlotte E. Cowles, treasurer.

The Tuesday Afternoon Club used to meet in one of the alcoves of the Manor Club building.  The Manor Club had been established as a men's club in 1887, and for years it has been successful.  However, at the time of the organization of the Tuesday Afternoon Club, the Manor Club was experiencing difficulties, and the organization was glad to encourage the use, at a nominal fee, of the building by the women's club.

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MRS. JOAN E. SECOR DIES SUDDENLY
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(Continued from Page One)

In 1914 the Manor Club joined with the Tuesday Afternoon Club, and the women replaced the men as officers.  Mrs. Secor was elected president of the new Manor Club and she remained in the chair until her departure from Pelham in 1925.  After that she was honorary president.

It was under the guidance of Mrs. Secor that the Manor Club extended its membership from a handful of women to more than 500.  It was also under her direction that the present clubhouse of the Manor Club was financed and constructed.  She officiated at the laying of the cornerstone in 1921 and at the dedication of the building in 1922.

Mrs. Secor retired as president of the club in May, 1925, at which time she left Pelham to take up her residence in San Francisco.  Glowing tribute to her 26 years as president of the club was paid by the members of the Manor Club at the annual banquet.  An engrossed resolution was presented to the retiring president as well as handsome gifts in token on the esteem in which Mrs. Secor was held.  

Mrs. Secor was unanimously elected Honorary President and in recent years acted in an advisory capacity.  

Annually at the final meeting of the Manor Club a telegram of love and congratulation was forwarded to the honorary president of the club.  A similar greeting was received from Mrs. Secor.  At the last annual meeting she sent the following message:

'Greetings from the far away California coast, where I lived until I was in my 23rd year and then upon occasion of my marriage to Mr. Secor in 1880, I came to New York and shortly afterward to Pelham Manor.  I can truly say that I have lived my life in Pelham Manor, that is, in its working years, and they are the years that count.

'It was the Manor Club which gave me my first experience in the art of managing public affairs, and I learned during the years I was its president.  It is not the length of time one is in office, but what one accomplished while there which counts.  I now see that the whole-hearted cooperation in things that are uplifting, the generous willingness to do something to make the club better, more stimulating to what is highest and best in our daily lives, had made the Pelhams a finer place in which to live.  This was the great aim of our young years, and it has been accomplished as I see and feel although so many miles away.

'Life in the Pelhams is a finer thing by reason of the influence of a group of women who worked and still do, to bring out the best qualities of those about them through the study of literature, music, art, the drama and the various sections.

'Therefore, I say to you who thus labor, 'go forward, be not weary of well-doing.'  To my dear friends Mrs. Longley, who is to retire from the office of president, I send my warm love and congratulations upon her successful presidency, and now will close, my dear Sophie (Mrs. H. E. Dey) with kind remembrances to my many friends in the Manor Club, among whom you are surely included.

'JOAN E. SECOR,

'Honorary President.'

Mrs. Secor was for many years a contributor to The Pelham Sun.  Her historical articles were widely read and her history of Pelham, which she compiled as Town Historian, is very interesting.

Mrs. Secor's love for Pelham is shown in the tribute, 'A Toast to Pelham' which is printed in this issue of The Pelham Sun.  A framed copy of this tribute was presented to The Pelham Sun by Mrs. E. T. Gilliland, old resident who was a dear friend of Mrs. Secor.

As a tribute to the memory of the late Mrs. Secor the flag on the clubhouse grounds will be flown at half mast staff for a month.

The portrait of Mrs. Secor, painted by George Brehm and hanging in the assembly room of the club is draped in black.

A large spray of flowers to entirely cover the coffin was sent by the Manor Club to San Francisco."

Source:  Mrs. Joan E. Secor Dies In San Francisco; Manor Club President 26 Years -- One of Pelham Manor's Most Revered Citizens; Was First President of Tuesday Afternoon Club Founded in 1900; Later Merged With Manor Club; Town Historian for Five Years, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 29, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 19, p. 1, cols. 1-2 & p. 4, cols. 4-7.  

"PELHAM MOURNS LOSS AT DEATH OF MRS. SECOR
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Officials of Manor Club and Old Residents of Pelham Express Sorrow
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Pelhamites grieved at the news of the death of Mrs. Joan E. Secor.  The Pelham Sun has received many expressions of tribute from old residents and those who were associated with Mrs. Secor in her 26 years as president of the Manor Club.

Mrs. Walter B. Parsons, who recently was elected president of the Manor Club, was deeply moved at the news of the death of Mrs. Secor.  In an interview with The Pelham Sun she said as follows:

'To those of us who had the privilege of working under Mrs. Secor's guidance, she will always stand out preeminently as a dominant personality, because of executive ability and force of mind and character.  She had an unusual appreciation of all things beautiful, especially beautiful literature.  She was tolerant, patient, sympathetic and understanding; added to this, the endearing faculty of remember-

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PELHAM MOURNS LOSS AT DEATH OF MRS. SECOR
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(Continued from Page 1) 

ing people's names.  She was peculiarly fitted for her position as president of the Manor Club because she loved people, and in return, they all loved her.  The fullness of her life will always be an inspiration.'

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Mrs. William B. Randall of Pelham Manor, historian of the Manor Club, said as follows:

'Although Mrs. James F. Secor removed from Pelham in 1926 her death will bring to her many friends and neighbors here, a renewed sense of loss.  For she was a woman of distinguished talent and education, a leading spirit in the village activities for many years and the beloved friend of everyone who knew her.  Blessed by nature with a brilliant mind as well as a heart particularly warm and sympathetic, she enthusiastically gave herself to her friends, the church, philanthropies and especially to club work.  

'At the time of her death she was honorary President of the Manor Club of which she had been president for thirteen years.  Previous to that she had been president of the Tuesday Afternoon Club for as long a period.  She was an Honorary Director of the Pelham Home for Children of which she had also been President.

'The nobility of her nature and her ardent love for the higher things of life will always remain an inspiration to everyone who knew her.'

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'News of the sudden death of Mrs. James F. Secor has come as a great shock to her many friends of twenty years or more.  Her love and devotion to the finer things of life set a standard of high thinking and purposeful living.  She was an inspiring leader of the Manor Club in its various activities and with a genuine love of womankind was able to harmonize and appreciate the efforts of each and every group engaged in club work.  In passing, she has left a heritage of understanding and sympathy which has enriched the lives of all who knew and loved her.'  -- Mrs. James L. Gerry.

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'Mrs. Secor's death brings a feeling of deep loss to all who knew her.  She was a friend of thirty-four years standing, a woman whom I admired as one of the most talented in the community.  In her death I feel a keen sense of personal loss.'  -- Mrs. Edward Penfield.

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'To me the passing of Joan E. Secor, a deep friend of forty-two years, is an irreparable loss.  As a citizen of this community she manifested a splendid kind of civic pride and love for everything that was fine and beautiful.  Her memory will remain with us many years.' -- Mrs. E. T. Gilliland, old resident of Pelham Manor.

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'We were grievously shocked when the news reached us, that Mrs. Secor had died at her home in California.  We had known the Secors as friends and near neighbors for upwards of thirty years.  Mrs. Secor was indeed a faithful friend, a tender hearted sympathizer in times of trial, a consistent Christian and a loyal citizen whose loss was deeply felt when she decided to make her home in California among the friends of her youth, after her husband's death.  We are all glad that those friends have graciously permitted her to rest beside her husband.

'The people of Pelham will not soon forget Mrs. Secor who for many years did so much toward making our town such an attractive place in which to live.'

-John M. Shinn,
Former Town Historian.

'I can think of no woman in Pelham Manor who will be more sincerely mourned than dear Mrs. Secor.  Her name is closely associated with the upbuilding of the Manor Club which will stand as a memorial to her efforts and devotion to its members and to her numerous friends.' -- Mrs. H. G. K. Heath.

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'I have known Mrs. Secor since I came to Pelham almost thirty-two years ago.  As a friend she was always loyal, sympathetic and inspiring.  She was a natural leader and her leadership was never disputed from the beginning of the Tuesday Afternoon Club and the formation of the present Manor Club, until she resigned in 1925 when she went to live in San Francisco.  She was generous, liberal-minded and forward-looking, always eager to adopt the good ideas of the younger generation.  She held a unique position, not only in the Manor Club but in the whole community.  No woman was more loved, admired and respected or will be more sincerely mourned.'

-- Mrs. Henry E. Dey.

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'The death of Mrs. Joan Secor marks the passing of one of the loveliest characters for whom we are all so sincerely grieving.  It has been my greatest privilege to have known and loved her truly.  And she was kind.'

Mrs. Danforth Brown."

Source:  PELHAM MOURNS LOSS AT DEATH OF MRS. SECOR -- Officials of Manor Club and Old Residents of Pelham Express Sorrow, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 29, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 19, p. 1, col. 2 & p. 4, cols. 5-7.

"A TOAST TO PELHAM
By the Late Joan E. Secor
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Pelham!  Wherein three great racial strains were mingled in the early settlement of the locality -- English, Dutch and French -- a glittering triad through which glows Britain's brain and Holland's soul and the undaunted spirit of France!  Stand at attention, citizens of the Pelhams and briefly review our glorious inheritance.

Borne from afar on the breeze, hear Chaucer's lay and Milton's strain, and Shakespeare's song blending with the majestic rhythms of the 'King James Vision!' Catch the gleams of Rembrandt's brush; the stern notes proclaiming the 'Revocation of the Edict of Nantes,' of the mighty voices of statesmen, philosophers, poets, as the battalions of France step to the music of the 'Marsellaise,' or answer the call from early America to the great Lafayette!  From leaf-strewn lane and quiet wood catch echoes of the marching feet of Revolutionary soldiers!  The rattle of wheels along the 'Old Boston Post Road,' mingling with the whir of wings and the soft calls of linnet and lark!

Headquarters of Washington!  Site of the Battle of White Plains!  Site of the Battle of Pelham!

Cottage of Anne Hutchinson!

Cottage of Aaron Burr!

Scenes of the exploits of Cooper's Indian crowd upon the vision -- an ancient house; a giant tree!

A mouldering headstone here and there along the King's Highway or the old Indian trails and paths leading to the waters of Long Island Sound recall the early picture.

Pelham!  Founded upon the principles of civil and religious liberty; vitalized by the toil of Puritan, patroon and Huguenot; consecrated by their sacrifices; dedicated to the service of God and country, we the inheritors of this region offer 'Salutation' to our favored township!

Pelham!  Fairest community with[in] Westchester County's boundaries!  Lilac-crowned!  Lupin-wreathed!  Clover-scented!  Tall trees of glistening dogwood fuard her walks and lanes where merry children shout and play, where church bells ring and school bells call, and homes are altars raised to God our King!"

Source:  Secor, Joan E., A TOAST TO PELHAM By the Late Joan E. Secor, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 29, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 19, p. 4, cols. 4-5.  

Also:  http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/Pelham%20NY%20Sun/Pelham%20NY%20Sun%201932/Pelham%20NY%20Sun%201932%20-%200449.pdf

Joan E. Secor in an Undated Photograph.

Image Courtesy of The Manor Club, Pelham

Manor, NY.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"MRS. SECOR when she became president of the

Manor Club.  Source:  The Pelham Sun, Jul. 29, 1932,

Vol. 23, No. 19, p. 4, col. 6.  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

"THE LATE MRS. JAMES F. SECOR
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It was with deepest regret that the members of the Manor Club and residents of Pelham in general received news of the passing of Mrs. James F. Secor in California on Saturday.  She had passed the allotted span of three-score-and-ten and her life was full of accomplishments that engraved their deeds deep in the history of the Pelhams.

And as a chapter of Pelham's history is ended.  It was a very complete chapter, the many leaves of which it consisted being richly embellished with the virtues of cultural leadership, wisdom, wise counsel and judgment and an inspiring idealism, and all centering on the courageous command given to Mrs. Secor and followed so loyally by members of the Manor Cllub for more than a quarter century.  Mrs. Secor was idolized and her memory will always be revered.  

Turning back those few short years since she left Pelham in 1925, we remember the lines written during a week in which Pelham in its entirety was paying homage to Mrs. Secor and her accomplishments as she retired from public life.  It will bear reprinting:

'A Beloved Woman

'Never before has it been our privilege to witness such a deep tribute of love paid to any woman as that tendered on Tuesday afternoon to Mrs. James F. Secor, retiring president of the Manor Club.

'For twenty-six years she has held that one office and filled it with dignity, remarkable diplomacy, and an unswerving loyalty to the ideals on which it was founded and by which it has grown.

'It was an afternoon of deep emotions for Mrs. Secor is to leave Pelham for California this month, there to make her future home, and as speaker after speaker told of their love for her, of her great service to the club and to the community, of their sadness at the parting they bravely but unsuccessfully strove to master their emotions.  Handkerchiefs were busy, too, in among the members of the audience for whether it be those of the older members or those recently become members, to all, their president is a beloved friend.

'There was never any quation about the power exercised by Mrs. Secor, never any doubt as to the correctness of her judgment, nor of her leadership, never any complaint at the arduous duties which her office entailed, just an inpiring service to the community of all those talents and charms of which she is possessed.  Pelham loses much by her going.

'For the last two weeks social activities in Pelham Manor have centered themselves on individual tributes given at receptions at which Mrs. Secor was the honored guest.  No one in the Pelhams and few outside have been paid greater homage -- sincere, prompted from hearts of those who gave them.

'It is a wonderful thing for any woman to enshrine herself in the hearts of the women of her community as Mrs. Secor has in the hearts of members of the Manor Club, and for the recipient the memories of it all will be pleasant pondering on the sunny slopes of California -- we hope for many years, for Joan Elizabeth Secor has richly earned long life, health and all the blessings which a Great Creator can bestow.

'Our farewell is tempereed in its sadness by the hope of a welcoming return against some day.'"

Source:  THE LATE MRS. JAMES F. SECOR, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 29, 1932, Vol. 23, No. 19, p. 2, col. 1.  

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Lillian Johnson Gilliland's Memories of Thomas Edison and 19th Century Life in Pelham Manor

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Lillian M. Johnson Gilliland was the wife of famed inventor Ezra Torrence Gilliland.  She lived in Pelham for nearly fifty years.  She and her husband arrived in about 1891 or 1892 and built a house and an adjacent laboratory building near the intersection of Wolfs Lane and Secor Avenue (now known as Secor Lane).  I have written about Lillian Gilliland and her husband, Ezra Gilliland, before.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Aug. 4, 2015:  Ezra T. Gilliland, The Inventor of the Telephone Switchboard and Friend of Thomas Edison, Was a Pelham Manor Resident.

Fri., Feb. 13, 2015:  A Magical Valentine's Day in Pelham Manor in 1895.

Although Ezra Gilliland died on May 13, 1903, Lillian Gilliland remained in Pelham for nearly the next four decades.  In 1938 she gave a lengthy interview to a reporter from The Pelham Sun.  She provided her recollections of her husband's extensive involvement with Thomas Edison in the 1870s and 1880s.  She also recalled her and her husband's early days in Pelham Manor, shortly after the Village of Pelham Manor was created in 1891.  The resultant article provides a quaint snapshot of a simpler llife in Peham Manor more than 120 years ago.  The text of the article is transcribed below, followed by a citation to its source. 

Mrs. Ezra T. Gilliland in 1938.

Source:  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.

NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

“Good Times Began At Home and Stayed There In The Old Days In The Manor

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Mrs. Ezra T. Gilliland Who Will Celebrate 80^th Birthday in December Recalls Neighborhood Character of Social Life in Pelham Manor in the Early Days of the Village.

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‘We were just like one big family then,’ Mrs. Ezra T. Gilliland long-time resident of Pelham Manor told a Pelham Sun reporter when questioned at her home on Boston Post Road, about life in the old days of the village. 

Speaking of the old days on Secor Hill, Mrs. Gilliland who will celebrate her 80^th birthday on next December 13^th, recalls with relish and a slight nostalgic sorrow the joys of other days; days filled to overflowing with gaiety and movement, joys in which many neighbors shared, both summer and winter, joys in which the home was often both the beginning and the end.

Mrs. Gilliland, who is small and dainty, with the quick neat grace of a bird, has weathered many changes in Pelham Manor since the days very early in the 90’s when she and her husband came from New York to make their home here.  Her husband, who died in 1903 was widely known as a successful inventor.  He was at one time associated with the American Bell Telephone Company and with the late Thomas Alvah Edison.  Much of the apparatus designed by the late Mr. Gilliland is now in the Smithsonian Institute.  He served as president of the Village of Pelham Manor and was an active and leading figure in the early days of the community.  He was also president of the old Manor Club.

‘We hunted around in Connecticut and had almost decided on Davenport Neck in New Rochelle when we finally determined to come to Pelham Manor,’ Mrs. Gilliland recalled.  The branch line of the New Haven railroad then active made commuting  a simple enough proposition.  About 1892 she and her husband built a home on Wolf’s Lane, the house now occupied by the Ely family.  Mr Gilliland soon built a laboratory for his experimental work right next door.

Mrs. Gilliland recalls the none too frequent houses that then stood in this section of the Manor known as Secor Hill, among them the old Secor house, now the residence of Mrs. Julius Manger and also the home of Mr. James Secor on Boston Post Road at Ely avenue.  The playwright, Joseph Arthur, author of ‘Blue Jeans,’ came to the Manor to live through friendship with the Gillilands.  The Geise family then resided in what is now the residence of Mrs. John Clyde Oswald. 

The reporter walking up the Boston Post Road to Mrs. Gilliland’s residence speculated on the changes that have taken place along the historic highway.  The sweet smell of newly cut grass spoke of the country but was rudely obliterated the second after by the nauseating fumes from the exhaust of a passing truck.  The highways tell the story, thought the reporter. 

Mrs. Danforth Brown who for 17 years served as manager of the Manor Club starting at the time when it became a women’s club in 1914, makes her home with Mrs. Gilliland her sister in Pelham Manor.  She told with humorous appreciation of a day long ago when she remembers Mr. Gilliland calling to his wife ‘Come to the window, here comes an automobile.’  An automobile, if you please, and on the Boston Post Road of all places!  On another occasion, both Mrs. Gilliland and Mrs. Brown recall Mr. Gilliland rushing out of the house, armed with whiskey to help resuscitate a wretched horse that had been overcome as he toiled up the hill on the Post Road on a terrifically hot summer day.

Speaking of the Boston Post road and traffic, Mrs. Gilliland related with glee that when there was some talk of extending the New Rochelle Trolley up the Post Road to connect with the New York line, the old residents on Secor Hill strenuously objected on the grounds of too much noise.

The Gilliland family were long friends of the late Thomas A. Edison and in fact, it was at their summer home in Winthrop, Mass., that Mr. Edison met Mina Miller who was to become the second Mrs. Edison.  A pleasant interlude came into their life when they spent about a year abroad while Mr. Gilliland was busy installing a factory in Antwerp.  Mrs. Gilliland had an interesting experience at that time while traveling in Italy when she went to use a telephone and saw staring her in the face the words ‘Gilliland Patent.’  The old-fashioned bell for ringing the operator was devised by Mr. Gilliland.

Way back in 1885 when Mrs. Brown, then a Miss Johnson and a student at the Conservatory of Music in Boston, recalls demonstrating the first wax records made for the old-fashioned phonographs at the Boston Exposition.  Mrs. Brown to the great interest of many visitors at the Exposition, sang a song and a record was made so that her voice could be heard again through the medium of the talking machine.  She recalls the crowds but fails to remember the title of the sond.  Mr. Gilliland collaborated with Mr. Edison on the phonography invention.

Returning to memories of old Pelham Manor, Mrs. Gilliland volunteered casually the startling information ‘We used to play golf here on the corner, at the intersection of Highland avenue and Boston Post Road, on a small neighborhood course.’  She recalled too annual summer clambakes she and her husband used to have on their lawn, with preparations for days beforehand and the chef from the New York Athletic Club presiding. 

‘There was no depression then, no President Roosevelt,’ Mrs. Brown interpolated with a sigh for the good old days.

‘We made our own pleasures at home,’ Mrs. Gilliland said.  Young people, she added, know nothing of those ‘primitive days.’  There were no movies, no ubiquitous automobiles.  People were dependent on themselves and on their neighbors to make their own good times.

Mrs. Gilliland remembers bicycle parties of about eight persons who would pedal along Split Rock Road down to the Clairmont Inn on Riverside Drive where dinner had already been ordered.  After dining the party would bicycle over to the Grand Central Station and stow their bikes in the baggage car, returning home by the ‘main line.’

The Winter with its snows and ice brought gay sleighing parties, merry with bells on the frosty air.  After gay rides the parties would often wind up at the New York Athletic Club.  Mr. Gilliland would have the tennis court flooded for skating, providing fun for the entire neighborhood. 

Music too, played an important part in the social life of those more leisurely days of the 90’s and early 1900’s.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Gilliland were actively fond of music and it was as their guest that the Italian tenor, Campanini came to Pelham Manor and sang at the old Manor Club, his last appearance in this country.  The noted tenor was accustomed to drink a pint of champagne before giving a performance.  The iron-clad rules of the old Manor Club were lifted on this occasion in order that the tenor might quaff his wine before lifting his voice in song.

With particular enthusiasm and an obviously sincere admiration for her many fine quantities, Mrs. Gilliland speaks of the late Mrs. Joan E. Secor, a brilliant, gracious and leading figure in the old days of Pelham Manor.  A leader of the Tuesday Afternoon Club, Mrs. Secor was to carry on her cultural activities in the Manor Club when it became a Woman’s Club. 

Mrs. Brown recalls the old Toonerville Trolley with affectionate memory.  She lived on Pelhamdale Avenue for some time and remembers one particularly stormy Winter night when the car was stalled in front of her home.  She supplied the motorman with hot coffee and food during the long night hours when he refused to leave the car, hoping that help might come at any moment to dig him out of the drifts.

Mrs. Gilliland moves along with the times, keeping her club interests formed so many years ago.  She is an honorary member of the Manor Club now and was the first chairman of the club house committee.  Mrs. Gilliland was honored last Spring for long association with the Pelham Home, having served as a board member since the founding of the cardiac institution on Split Rock Road.”

Source:  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.

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Pelham's Most Famous Lovers' Lanes: Beech Tree Lane Was the Favorite

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There was a time when the road we know today as Pelhamdale Avenue was little more than a winding cowpath leading inland from Long Island Sound toward today's Boston Post Road.  During the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, a second pathway slowly extended from the pathway that became Pelhamdale.  The second pathway grew toward today's Pelham Bay Park and on toward Hunter's Island in Long Island Sound.  That unpaved country path eventually became an unpaved country roadway, known today as Beech Tree Lane.  

The pathway, even before it became "Beech Tree Lane" in 1927 was famous as a "Lovers' Lane" where lovers strolled while visiting the "picnic grounds" as the woods from the New Haven Branch Line tracks to the Bolton Priory estate were known.  

Once Beech Tree Lane was paved and opened in about 1927, its honor of being the most celebrated lovers' lane in the Town of Pelham only grew.  That honor was quite an accomplishment given that all three villages at the time had their own lovers' lanes.  Those of the Village of Pelham Manor were better-known, however, and, thus, were more frequented  by Pelhamites and non-Pehamites alike.

Every small town and community, of course, likely has had at one time or another one or more lovers' lanes.  Lovers' lanes became more widespread with the development, during the early twentieth century, of the culture of the automobile.  For much of the first half of the twentieth century, Pelham's dark and quiet streets seemed to have served as excellent lovers' lanes, although few seemed to have rivaled the lane that had no name until it became "Beech Tree Lane."  The issue seems to have grown particularly annoying to local residents, however, during the mid-1930s.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog documents a few of the lovers' lanes in our Town.  There were several dark and secluded lanes, mostly in Pelham Manor where lovers spent their precious time.  Most interestingly, Beech Tree Lane always seemed to be the prime destination for lovers, but the lane parallel to it that, like Beech Tree Lane, ended at Pelham Bay Park was another lovers' lane:  Park Lane.  Undeveloped portions of Secor Lane and Wolfs Lane in Pelham Manor were other well-known lovers' lanes during the 1930s.  In today's Village of Pelham, the principal lovers' lane during the 1930s was Ninth Avenue.

These lovers' lanes were so widely known that most who used them were from outside Pelham.  Indeed, the problem grew so acute in 1934 that Pelham Manor police began hauling drivers out of the parked cars and taking them before the Village Court and charging them with "parking without lights" on the streets.  At about the same time, the Village Trustees of Peham Manor voted to prohibit parking on both sides of Park Lane for a distance of 350 feet west from the New York City line in an effort to shut down the portion of that lane used by lovers.  The following year, the Village of North Pelham began an initiative to prevent parking by lovers "admiring the scenery" along Ninth Avenue.

“Map of Section 2 Manor Circle Property of the Robert C. Black

Realty Co. Pelham Manor Westchester County, N.Y.” Certified

as Approved by the Planning Commission of the Village of Pelham

Manor on May 17, 1926.  Maps Shows the Winding Country

Road in an As-Yet-Undeveloped Area Centered Around

Beech Tree Lane.  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

Transcribed below is the text from a number of articles from local newspapers describing local lovers lanes in the Town of Pelham.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"PETTERS, BEWARE!  BEECH TREE LANE NOT FOR LOVERS
-----
Village Board Orders Police to Route All Parkers From Sparsely Settled Section.
-----

Beech Tree Lane may be romantically titled, but the Pelham Manor village fathers are determined that it shall not be Lovers' Lane.  Monday night the police department was instructed to rout all motorists who park their machines on the thoroughfare after dark.  Complaint about the many parkers on the street was received by the trustees.

Beech Tree Lane is a new street and is close to the site of the old roadway through the woods from Pelham Manor to Hunter's Island.  The famous old Lovers' Lane has given way to a modern residential district which, although sparsely settled, is now one of the beauty spots of the village."

Source:  PETTERS, BEWARE!  BEECH TREE LANE NOT FOR LOVERS,  The Pelham Sun, Oct. 10, 1930, p. 10, col. 1.  

"Lanes In Manor Not For Lovers
-----

Although the street signs read Wolf's Lane and Secor Lane in Pelham Manor, they might just as well read, 'Lovers' Lanes,' for that seems to be the way they are known to out-of-town motorists.  Two men appeared before Judge Frank Roberson in Manor court Friday night and pleaded guilty to charges of parking without lights on these streets.

'Seems to be a favorite trysting place,' commented the Judge.  'I've never had a parking case of this type yet that wasn't within 100 yards of either Secor or Wolf's Lane.' 

The men, Robert Mattes, 29, of No. 1019 East 179th street, New York City, and Thomas Garner, 29, of No. 510 Dyckman street, Peekskill, paid fines of $3.00 each.  

The Pelham Manor trustees abolished one 'Lovers' Lane'  Monday night, when on recommendation of Trustee Christopher T. Chenery, the board voted to prohibit parking on both sides of Park Lane for a distance of 350 feet west from the New York City line.  Chief of Police Michael J. Grady was instructed to see that the ordinance was put in force immediately and also to have two signs installed on each side of the street, warning prospective parkers."

Source:  Lanes In Manor Not For Lovers, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 15, 1934, p. 2, col. 2.   

"Ninth Avenue Will No Longer Be A Haven For Parkers In North Pelham
-----

'Parkers' who have made a habit of parking on Ninth avenue are going to find themselves dispossessed.  John Grael of No. 314 Ninth avenue complained to the North Pelham police on Sunday night that couples in parked cars had become a nusiance.

Police willl not allow the couples who are frequently in silent automobiles 'just admiring the scenery,' to do their admiring in Pelham, especially since there is no scenery to be seen in that section of Ninth avenue.

The condition is one which annoys residents who live adjacent to some choice 'lovers' lane,' so called, and when a resident files a complaint with police, no time is lost in dispersing the 'sparkers.'  

Periodically the lovers of nature invade Pelham, or so it would seem as police of all the three villages get their complaints of the condition in groups.  And the trouble, the 'sparkers' have found, is that patrolmen are not the least bit sympathetic.

Pelham Manor police, because the village has many heavily treed avenues and outlying streets, have chased many a parked car off its highways.  Pelham Heights is visited by the 'petters' only infrequently as is North Pelham."

Source:  Ninth Avenue Will No Longer Be A Haven For Parkers In Noth Pelham, The Pelham Sun, Sep. 13, 1935, p. 3, cols. 1-2.  

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

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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 80^th 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 Village, The 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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