HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



345 



in Philadelphia and in Doylcstown town- 

 ship, Bucks county, where a portion of his 

 boyhood was spent. He later learned the 

 jewelry trade, and in 1872 located in Hat- 

 boro and opened a jewelry store, later 

 opening a clothing and a more general mer- 

 chandise store. He conducted both busi- 

 nesses for ten or twelve years, and then en- 

 gaged in the real estate business, which he 

 has since followed with success. In poli- 

 tics Mr. Garner is a Republican, but he 

 has never aspired to public office. He has 

 served many years on the local school board, 

 of which he is president, and has always 

 taken an active interest in educational mat- 

 ters. He has also served for several years 

 as a member of borough council, and taken 

 a leading part in all that pertained to the 

 best interests of the borough. He is one of 

 the directors of the Bucks County Trust 

 Company, and interested in a number of 

 Bucks county's local enterprises. 



He married Fannie H. Wilson, daughter 

 of Silas Wilson, a well known dry goods 

 merchant of Philadelphia, and they are the 

 parents of five children : Howard W., a 

 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, 

 and now studying in Paris ; Marion, resid- 

 ing at home ; Samuel Carl, in the brokerage 

 business in Philadelphia ; and Ralph and 

 Florence, who are attending the public 

 school. 



FRANKLIN GILKESON. The late 

 Benjamin F. Gilkeson, for many years one 

 of the leading attorneys of the Bucks county 

 bar, and prominently identified with the 

 political affairs of his native county, was 

 born in Bristol, Bucks county, August 23, 

 1842, and spent his whole life there. 



His father, Andrew W. Gilkeson, Esq., 

 was born in Montgomery county, but was 

 of Bucks county ancestors, and spent most 

 of his life in this county. His father, also 

 named Andrew, was a lieutenant-colonel in 

 the war of 1812, and prominently identified 

 with the volunteer militia in the years im- 

 mediately following the second war with 

 Great Britain, and the family were among 

 the early settlers of Pennsylvania. Andrew 

 W. Gilkeson was a prominent attorney, 

 being admitted to the Bucks county bar 

 April 29, 1840, and practicing for many 

 years at Bristol. He took an active in- 

 terest in the afifairs of the county, and filled 

 the office of prothonotary of the county for 

 the term of 1854-7. He married Margaret 

 M. Kinsey, of that borough, whose ances- 

 tors had been among the early English set- 

 tlers in Bucks county, her great-great- 

 grandfather, Samuel Kinsey, having settled 

 in Bristol township in 1728. Andrew and 

 Margaret M. (Kinsey) Gilkeson were the 

 parents of four children, of whom Benja- 

 min Franklin was the eldest, and the late 

 A. Weir Gilkeson, also a prominent at- 

 torney of Bristol, was the youngest. 



Benjamin F. Gilkeson was educated in the 

 graded schools of Bristol and at the acad- 



emy at Hartsville. He studied law with 

 the late Anthony Swain, of Bristol, and was 

 admitted to the bar February 2, 1864, and 

 at once engaged in practice at Bristol. Pos- 

 sessed of more than ordinary ability in the 

 line of his profession, an earnest and care- 

 ful student, his unflagging energy and in- 

 domitable will soon brought him to the 

 front, and for twenty-five years prior to his 

 death he was the leader of the Bucks county 

 bar, and represented vast corporate interests 

 both in the county and elsewhere. Soon 

 after' his admission to the bar he launched 

 into the political arena, and was a promi- 

 nent figure in the political councils of the 

 county and state for many years. Reared 

 in the Democratic faith, he was an early 

 convert to the principles of the Republi- 

 can party, and was for several years a col- 

 league of Hon. Caleb N. Taylor, at that 

 period a potent political factor in Bucks 

 county and twice her representative in con- 

 gress. Taylor and Gilkeson later became 

 estranged, and the rising young attorney 

 became the recognized leader of his party 

 in the county, and held that position in local 

 and state politics for many years. He 

 served as the representative of his county 

 in many state, national and congressional 

 conventions, and also in the state committee, 

 of which he was for some years chairman. 

 He was intimately associated with the lead- 

 ing statesmen and politicians of his day, 

 serving in the cabinet of Governor Daniel 

 H. Hastings as commissioner of banking, 

 and taking an active part in state affairs 

 for many years. He was second comptroller 

 of the United States Treasury during the 

 administration of President Harrison, and 

 made an excellent record. He was promi- 

 nent in the Masonic fraternity, and served 

 as district deputy grand master for Bucks 

 and Montgomery counties. He was one 

 of the trustees of the State Lunatic Asykim 

 at Norristown, and held many lotlier posi- 

 tions of trust and honor. 



Mr. Gilkeson was twice married: first in 

 1870, to Charlotte B. Jones, daughter of 

 George B. Jones, of Pittsburg. She died 

 in 1872, and he married (second) in 1874 

 Helen E. Pike, daughter of Samuel Pike 

 of Bristol, and they were the parents of 

 three children: Franklin, a member of the 

 Bucks county bar, and of the firm of Gilke- 

 son & Janes, and two daughters, Helen and 

 Ethel. 



HARRISON C. STOUT. Among the 

 useful and respected citizens of Bucks 

 county must be numbered Harrison C. 

 Stout, of Quakertown. He is a grand'^on 

 of Jacob and Lydia (Barndt) Stout, whose 

 son, Abraham Barnard, in youth assi-ted 

 his father on the farm and afterward 

 learned the cabinet maker's trade. In poli- 

 tics he was a Whig, and in religion a 

 member of the German Reformed church. 

 • He married Lydia Cressman, and they were 

 the parents of one son ; Harrison C, men- 



