David S. Gilmore

DAVID S. GILMORE has been connected with the publishing and editing of newspapers in Southern Kansas for a quarter of a century or more. For upwards of twenty years he has been proprietor and editor of the Northern Lyon County Journal at Allen, and is one of the leading citizens of that town.

He is a son of one of the very prominent pioneers and early builders of Emporia, the late D. S. Gilmore. D. S. Gilmore was born in County Dundee, Scotland, in 1841, a son of William Gilmore, who was a cabinet maker and who brought his family to America, living for a time in Rochester, New York, and in 1858 settling among the pioneers of Southern Kansas. D. S. Gilmore was also connected with the printing trade, and as a pressman helped move the first power printing press up the river to Leavenworth and thence to Topeka, this being the first press of the kind brought into Kansas. There were no railroads in the state at the time. For some time D. S. Gilmore was joint owner with Mr. Statler of the Emporia News. At the first call for troops he enlisted in a Kansas regiment of infantry and was a Union soldier until the close of the war, and his widow now receives a pension for his services. Following the war he was in the newspaper business at Emporia and later for twenty years was in the furniture and undertaking business. He was also associated with W. T. Soden in the manufacture of furniture, their factory being located on the river at Emporia.

D. S. Gilmore also took a prominent part in public affairs. He served as county clerk of Lyon County and as commissioner, also filled the office of mayor of Emporia, and was one of the leading republicans in this section of the state. He was a member of the Christian Church and of the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Margaret L. Brown, who was born in Indiana in 1846 and still lives in Emporia. Their children were: Jean, wife of William White, a hardware salesman living at Seattle, Washington; Stella, wife of W. H. Brooks, who for the past thirty years has been a grocery merchant at Emporia; Anna, wife of R. H. Lewis, a merchant at Kansas City, Kansas; Helen, wife of Eugene W. McGain, an attorney at Pawhuska, Oklahoma; David S.; John, a salesman for W. H. Brooks Grocery Company at Emporia; and Margaret, wife of E. C. Ryan, secretary and treasurer of the Mutual Building and Loan Association of Emporia.

David S. Gilmore was born at Emporia, August 16, 1868, and gained his early education in the public schools, being graduated from the Emporia High School in 1888. He took up the printing trade, and for a time was on the Emporia Republican for C. V. Eskridge, and was then with the Emporia Gazette, when it was owned by J. R. Graham, and afterwards when W. Y. Morgan, now lieutenant governor of Kansas, was its proprietor.

In 1896 Mr. Gilmore entered journalism as an independent profession, establishing a paper called the Admire Journal at Admire, but two years later he removed the plant to Allen and changed the name to the Northern Lyon County Journal. This is one of the influential newspapers of Lyon County and has a circulation over a tier of six townships in the northern part of the county and also goes into many homes and other adjacent counties. The offices of the plant are on West Fifth Street. It is a weekly paper and is independent in politics.

Mr. Gilmore himself is a member of the socialist party. He attends the Methodist Church and belongs to the International Typographical Union. In 1892, at Emporia, he married Miss Minnie L. Thomas, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Thomas, both of whom are now deceased and who were of Welsh descent. Her father was a stone mason by trade. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have six children: Phyllis, wife of C. M. Certain, who is connected with the street railway company at Emporia; D. Sam, Jr., a printer for the Sanders-Cook Printing Company at Pittsburg, Kansas; Dorothy, a freshman in the State Normal School at Emporia; Helen, a freshman in the Allen High School; and Clarissa and William.

[Note: The following corrections to the biography of D.S. Gilmore from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, provided by Emily Aulicino at aulicino@teleport.com.]

David Storrier "Bud" Gilmore was the son of David Storrier Gilmore and Margaret Louise Brown. His paternal grandparents were Robert Grey Gilmore, son of William Gilmore of Ireland, and Helen Storrier. His maternal grandparents were Rev. Solomon Glory Brown and Margaret Rhodes.

Robert Grey Gilmore was born 1811 in Donaghadee, Co. Down, Ireland as his Presbyterian ancestors fled Scotland due to religious persecution. Robert's father, William Gilmore, barely escaped when the English captured Dublin during the Great Irish Rebellion of 1798. In 1833 Robert emigrated to Canada, but returned to Ireland where he married Jan 1837 to Helen Storrier, the only daughter of David and Margaret Storrier. Helen was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1812 and when her parents were nine moved to Donaghadee, Ireland. In 1837 Robert and Helen came to America, landing in New York, but settling in Rochester. In 1857 Robert and six sons made their way to what is now the town of Emporia, Lyon Co, KS. In 1857 the county was Breckinridge.

David Storrier, father of the subject of this sketch and oldest child of Robert and Helen, was born in February 1838 Rochester, Monroe Co, NY. David was raised during the time newspapers were developing their roots in Kansas. He helped bring the first power press to Kansas up the river to Lawrence and then on to Topeka by wagon as no railroads existed at the time in Kansas. David served in the Civil War in the 2nd Kansas Infantry and was in the battle of Wilson Creek, fought south of Springfield, Missouri. David was interested in politics and was the pressman for the Leavenworth Daily Times. He later took charge of the paper. In July 1865 he was a partner in the Emporia News with Jacob Stotler, but later sold his partnership and opened a furniture business. David and partner Fred Hearth (Hirth) built an undertaking parlor and furniture store around 1866, and this building was said to be the oldest building in Emporia in 1937 when the building was demolished at 13 West Sixth. David served as County Clerk in 1869 and was re-elected in 1871 by a majority of seven hundred votes. In 1877 he was chosen county commissioner in the Emporia District and was re-elected a second term. During both terms he was Chairman of the Board.

David Storrier "Bud" Gilmore, subject of this sketch, was the oldest son and third child, born 16 August 1868 in Emporia, Kansas. he was a newspaper apprentice at an early age for the Republican in Emporia under the owner-editor, Charles V. Eskridge who later became a Kansas governor. Bud worked on many newspapers in Kansas and established some of his own. He worked for the Emporia News when it was edited by Jacob Stotler, the Emporia Democrat under J.M. McCown, the Gazette under J.R. Graham, the Globe around 1886-87 when it was established by Jake Stotler, the Hartford Call under W.J. Means, and the Times when it was edited by P.F. Yearout and Marshall Starr. For a time, he also worked for his uncle John S. Gilmore, owner of the Wilson County Citizen in Fredonia, Kansas.

David, the subject, operated the Lyon County Democrat in Emporia beginning March 3, 1893. the paper was discontinued in 1895 and sold to the Times. In November 1895, he established the Admire Journal, but in August 1897 D.S. moved the paper to Allen, at which time the paper's name was changed to the Northern Lyon County Journal in order to encompass the entire northern section of the county. In 1908 the Journal was discontinued for a time.

On June 8, 1892 in Emporia, David married Margaret Louise "Minnie" Thomas, daughter of Samuel Thomas and Margaret Phillips. I will not list the children of as many are still living.

Please refer to my book The Descendants of Robert Grey and Helen (Storrier) Gilmore 1881-1981 Compiled and written by Emily F. Doolin-Aulicino, Oregon Book Binding Co, Silverton, OR, copyright 1981. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, without written permission from the author.

This book is located at the Kansas Historical Society, Topeka, KS.

Any questions/additions: Email Emily Aulicino at aulicino@teleport.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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BIOGRAPHIES — VOLUMES 3, 4, & 5
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