Steamboat Pilot
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
21 December, 1921

Celebrate 56th Anniversary

    Altho it happened several weeks ago many Steamboat people will be interested in knowing that Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Gilleland celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary on Dec. 4. Mr. Gilliland is 81 years old and a veteran of the Civil war. Because of faulty records he has never been able to obtain his pension from the government altho he enlisted when he was 18 years old and saw much service.

-transcription by Kate Maynard, 2013

The Steamboat Pilot
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
5 December, 1923

Fifty-Eighth Anniversary

    Mr. and Mrs. Samuel W. Gilleland celebrated their fifty-eighth wedding anniversary on Tuesday, December 4.
    Mr. Gilleland married Rachel Proctor of Miller county, Mo., in 1865. Nine children were born to them. They are Mrs. Jennie Hines of Eldon, Mo., Mrs. Lizzie Sterling of Canada, Sam G. Gilleland of Parsons, Kas., Mrs. Emma Green of Boise, Idaho, Mrs. Barbara Parkinson who died five years ago, Mrs. Leona Lloyd, James Gilleland and Hern Gilleland of Parsons, Kas.
    The couple are hale and hearty and still sweethearts together, having lived a very happy life, setting an example of married life to all.
    Mr. Gilleland is a veteran of the Civil war, fighting on the Union side, but because of technicalities is unable to draw a pension. He was once captured with ten others by a band of bushwhackers, who killed seven of his party and let the others go. He rendered great service to the army as a wagon driver.
    The family are highly respected citizens of this community. The parents are not as widely known as the children, as they only came here to live five years ago. They came from Idaho.
    A great feast of good things was enjoyed by the members of the family as well as Mrs. Phinney and Rev. and Mrs. Habgood, the guests, yesterday.

-transcription by Kate Maynard, 2011

Genealogical notes:  In the 1920 census for Routt County, Colorado, we find Samuel W. Gilleland, 78, in a household that includes wife Rachel, 73, and son Hern, 37.
    Samuel Washington Gilleland was born abt 1841 at Miller County, Missouri to Samuel S. Gilleland, of Guilford, North Carolina, and Mary Wellborn. The family can be found in Miller County, Missouri by the 1840’s where Samuel S. received several land grants.
   Samuel W. Gilleland died at Steamboat Springs on February 12, 1925.