Untitled
Surnames: Bryant, Bowmer, Patterson, Kenaston, McCue, Works, Nash, Longbotham
From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 241-242
MRS. JUDITH LANE GILMORE, one of the old and highly esteemed residents of Smelser township, living in Georgetown, Grant county, is the widow of Lysander GILMORE, who died in 1855. Mrs. GILMORE was born in Missouri Sept. 13, 1821, a daughter of William and Eliza (BRYANT) BOWMER, both of whom were born in Kentucky.
William BOWMER came to Wisconsin in 1827, and worked in the lead mines of Big Patch, in the township of Smelser, for one year. He then returned to Missouri and brought his family, settling in Smelser township, Grant county, in 1828. Here he pre-empted land from the government, and settled down to mining and agricultural life.
As a miner and farmer he was successful, but decided to change his residence, in 1881 selling his farm and moving into the township of Paris, where he lived until his death, in March, 1886. During the war of 1812 he faithfully served as a soldier under Gen. Jackson, and was at the battle of New Orleans; he received a pension. The mother of Mrs. GILMORE died in 1832, leaving five children. Of the family born to Mr. and Mrs. BOWMER, John, born in Kentucky in 1819, came to Grant county, served in the Black Hawk war; he married Betsey Ann PATTERSON, who came from New York in 1836; he now resides in Oregon, where he is a prominent man. Anna, born in Missouri in 1820, was burned to death while boiling down sugar at her father's camp in Grant county. Judith Jane, Mrs. GILMORE, is our subject. William, born in Missouri in 1823, migrated to California in 1850, and died there. Armilda died when a child. Eliza, born in Grant county in 1830, married Harvey KENASTON, and resides at Lone Pine, Neb., with one daughter, Ada. Michael, born in Grant county in 1832, died in childhood.
Our subject, Judith Jane GILMORE, was educated in the private schools of Galena and Elk Grove. In 1836 she was married to Lysander GILMORE, formerly of Chautauqua county, N.Y., who was born in 1811, a son of Hon. James GILMORE, one of the old pioneer settlers at Jamestown, Wis. The children born to this union were: Hiram, born in Wisconsin in 1837, married Miss Mary McCUE, and resides at Farley, Iowa; Edwin died at the age of eleven; Julia, born in 1842, died at the age of eighteen; Emily, born in May, 1844, married Spaulding WORKS, and resides in Idaho, the mother of three children, Drusie, Lillie and Ivy; Janet, born in 1846, died in childhood; James, born in 1848, died young; Melissa, born in 1853, is the widow of Charles NASH, and resides in Colorado; and Alvira, born in 1855, married Thomas LONGBOTHAM, of Platteville, Wisconsin.
After marriage Mr. and Mrs. GILMORE settled on land he purchased from the government during the administration of President Martin Van Buren, and Mrs. GILMORE still has in her possession the parchment deed for this land, which is located near the line of Smelser and Jamestown. Mr. GILMORE engaged in mining and farming, in which he was most successful. In politics he was originally a Whig, later a Republican, and filled many of the county and township offices, being a justice of the peace, for a number of years before his death. Mrs. GILMORE has been connected with the Christian Church for many years, and in the denomination still finds her religious home.
Mrs. GILMORE is everywhere known as a lady of kind and Christian character. She was one of the first white children brought to Smelser, Grant county, and passed through many hardships in the early days of Wisconsin, and related many interesting tales of the time when the Black Hawk Indians held the settlers for many days confined in the blockhouses. She has administered to the wants of the sick through this section whenever sent for, and no record of the county would be complete without her honored name.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck