Joshua Judson Gilbert
In the first decade of the century, when
the present city of utica was a growing village, John Gilbert, an Englishman,
settled in Oneida county and erected a starch factory just outside the
western boundary of the city limits. Here shortly afterwards, in
the year 1807, he was joined by his brother, Edward Gilbert, the father
of the subject of this biography. The family was already identified
with the industry which the brothers carried on at Utica, an elder brother
having some time previously commenced the
business of starch-making at Jersey City,
N.J. Edward Gilbert, who was born in London, England, in April, 1787,
came to this country in 1794, and resided with his brother's family in
New Jersey up to the time that he joined his brother John in Utica.
His wife was Anne Maddock, the daughter of Roger Worthington Maddock and
Sarah Harwood, his wife, of Birches,
England, at which place Mrs. Gilbert was
born in the same year and month as her husband.
On the 15th of September, 1866, Edward Gilbert,
who was then residing at Lewisberg, Pa., with his daughter, Mrs. Justin
Loomis, died, survived by five children, John M. and Colgate Gilbert, of
Buffalo, N.Y., Joshua J., Mrs. Andrew Tembroek, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and
Mrs. Loomis, above referred to.
Joshua Judson Gilbert was born at Utica on
the 4th day of September, 1821. His education received at the Utica
Academy, a well-known educational institution of those days, and soon after
his graduation he went to Buffalo, where, with his brothers, he was engaged
for four years in the manufacture of soap. Returning to Utica, he
remained with his father until 1854, when he decided upon Little Falls
as an excellent point for the erection of works for the manufacture of
starch, and coming to Little Falls
in that year, he remained a resident until
his death, which occurred on February 5, 1881.
[There is much more about Joshua, but little
that pertains directly to Oneida county]
History of Herkimer County, New York," by
George A. Hardin, Syracuse, N.Y, D. Mason & Co., publishers, 1893.
Lisa
Slaski