1. 2. Caroline GILLETT  
2. 3. Mary Ann GILLETT  
3. 4. Seth Augustus GILLETT   b. 21 Nov 1808, OH; d. 4 Oct 1888, Lawrence, KS.
4. 5. Robert Edwin GILLETT   b. 23 Jun 1809, Mesopotamia, OH; d. 28 Sep 1861, Tomah, Monroe, Wi; bur. 1861, Oak Grove Cemetary, Tomah, Monroe, WI.
5. 6. Ransom Addison GILLETT   b. 1818; d. 3 Feb 1889, Ravena, Portage, OH; bur. Ravena, Portage, OH.
6. 7. Martha GILLETT   b. 1823.
7. 8. Elizabeth GILLETT  

1850 census OH, Ravenna, Portage pp 20, roll 432_722 Seth age 42, merchant, appears with Malinda age 36 and Mary A 16, Sheridan P 15, Charles A 12, Martha E 8 and Helen F 5.

1860 census WI, La Crosse, La Crosse Ward 2, pp 255, roll M653_1417 Seth age 52 with Malinda age 45, Sheridan age 25, Charles Adair age 22 and Martha Adair age 18.

1880 census KS, Grant, Douglas pp36c, roll T9_380 Seth age 73, farmer, appears with Malinda age 64.

1. 9. Mary A GILLETT   b. Abt 1833, OH.
2. 10. Sheridan P. GILLETT   b. Abt 1834, OH.
3. 11. Charles Adair GILLETT   b. Abt 1837, OH.
4. 12. Martha Clarissa GILLETT   b. 25 Sep 1845, OH.
5. 13. Helen M. GILLETT   b. Abt 1845, OH; d. Bef 1860.

Theodore Weld Gillette, his son, writes of his father:

"Oberlin was at that time in the advance of most of the United States, in the advocation of the abolitionism of slavery and my father was one of the action workers in what was known as the Underground Railroad; which was used to help the runaway slaves to get into Canada. I heard him say in after years that he was instrumental in landing 143. He had narrow escapes from being shot by the infuriated owners."

"He was secretary of the first (argenialian) of the Oberlin College, Post Master of the Village and Editor of the Oberlin Evangelist. At the time of his death he was Judge of Monroe County, WI. The war had been going on for some months before he died and I was near Baltimore, MD. There was one of his articles written some twenty years before, in which he says that he had just come up the Mississippi River from New Orleans. On the boat was a man that lived in Mississippi by the name of Jeff Davis. My father predicted a war with the South and that Jeff Davis would be the leader of the South."


Robert E. Gillett came to Oberlin with President Finney and was for some time General Agent or Secretary of the College. He was also postmaster in Oberlin and was connected with the activities of the "Underground railroad" which helped in the escape of slaves to Canada.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OBERLIN COLLEGE1836 CATALOG
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUSTEES
Rev. ASA MAHAN,
Rev. JOHN KEEP,
Rev. JOHN J. SHIPHERD,
Rev. JOEL TALCOTT,
Rev. JOHN KEYS,
ADDISON TRACY,
PHILO P. STEWART,
PETER P. PEASE,
JABEZ L. BURRELL
OWEN BROWN, Esq.
LEVI BEEBEE,
ALEX SEYMOUR, Esq.
RIVERIUS BIDWELL, Esq.

ROBERT E. GILLETT, General Agent.
LEVI BURNELL, Corresponding Sec'ry and Treasurer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------

TOMAH, WISCONSIN

The town and village of Tomah were named in honor of Chief Thomas Carron, or Tomah as the French pronounced his name, of the Menominee Indians. The first man to acquire title to any portion of the future city was Jesse Norman, who came on foot from Walworth County in 1854. The first permanent settler in the village was Robert E. Gillett, who came from Cleveland, Ohio in 1855. He made a claim, taking in all of the original plat of the village and four forties adjoining in Sec 9. In May 1855, he built a log cabin, containing four rooms, the first building of any kind in Tomah.

The state government offered great inducements to parties in search of land with thirty years being allowed to pay with only seven percent interest. In 1856 Gillett built a steam sawmill in the northern part of the village. It was the only steam mill in the Monroe County. On June 1st, 1857 Mr. Gillett had the village platted and surveyed. Charles W. Kellogg, an elder in the Methodist Church built the first frame house in the village, on the "Knoll" in the western part of the village. On the first Sunday in July 1857 Elder Kellogg delivered the first sermon in the village in a new barn built by Gillett, who said he wished to have it dedicated.

In 1856 the first school was held in a barn. In 1857 a log house was built across from Gillett's house to house the school. Also in 1857 the first grocery and drugstores were established, as well as a blacksmith shop

Robert Gillett had a dream for a city of rare spirit that would endure. Visions of a railroad center faded, but the city became even greater than the dreams. There is still that peculiar kind of charm in the Valley of the Lemonweir that is now Tomah.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------

Robert afterwards moved to Tomah, WI (giving that town its name) and again met his old friend Simeon Durand Powers, whom he had known in Ohio. Here his son Theodore Weld first met Laetitia, daughter of Simeon and later they married.

Laetitia's brother Alonzo married Mary Burrell Gillett, Theodore's half sister.

Laetitia often visited the grave of Edward Durand in Desoto, WI. It was the first grave in that town and its location is now unknown to the relatives. It was under a magnificent oak near the Mississippi.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------
Newspaper clipping found at Oberlin College Archives (name of publication not found on clipping):
June 28, 1898

DOWN SOUTH IN 1844

Captain R. A. Gillett of Milwaukee is a son of Robert E. Gillett, who was one of the six men who founded Oberlin College.

Robert E. Gillett held high rank among the men connected with the Underground Railroad in Ohio during the last years of slavery, and many a colored man in Kentucky and Virginia owed his freedom to his skill as an Underground Railroad manager.

1835-1837
Mr. Gillett was designated as financial agent or secretary of Oberlin College and consequently it often happened that he was made guardian for colored pupils sent from the south and elsewhere.

A wealthy citizen of Louisiana, the father of two distinct families, one white and the other dark, saw much merit in his half colored children and their mother. When he wrote his will he provided that each one of the mulatto children - four boys and two girls - should receive $10,000 and their mother a like sum. He also sent the seven to Oberlin, where the children were to be educated.

Upon the death of the wealthy man, who was also prominent in various directions, the father of at least one son who has served in the United States senate and held another very high office, besides winning the rank of colonial in the confederate army, the guardian of the Oberlin children and their mother took steps to get the $70,000 that had been provided for them in the will.

He met with bitter opposition at every step and it required six years of hard work and close application. Mr. Gillett visited New Orleans on several occasions, the last time in 1844. That time Captain Gillett, the Wisconsin man who then was 10 years of age, accompanied him. They were stopped at the St. Charles. There were unmistakable signs that Mr. Gillett would win in his fight for the children. This enraged his opponents.

One afternoon, while Mr. Gillett and his boy were in the reading room, a delegation of a dozen or so stalwart, determined-looking men approached and asked: "Are you Robert E. Gillett of Oberlin?"

"That is my name, sir, and there is where I hail from. How can I serve you?"

"Well, sir, we are authorized to come here and tell you that you have until tomorrow morning to take the boat on your way homeward."

Mr. Gillett, whose fixedness of purpose had made him all his life a stanch friend of the colored people, who many times had risked his life in defending their interests, and had also run the risk of imprisonment by aiding them in their efforts to escape from servitude, rose from his chair, and walking up close to the leader of the delegation said to him so that all in the room could hear: "Well, sir, I am authorized to say to you and the balance of your delegation and all men of your stripe, that I am in New Orleans looking after a case in the United States court and that I shall remain here until that business is concluded; and if you, or any of your delegation, or any of your kind lay a hand on me you will do so at your peril."

The delegation apparently had seen and heard enough of Mr. Gillett of Oberlin, because they "about-faced" and left the room and he remained in New Orleans until his work was done, until he had secured judgment for the full amount, with interest, making a sum of nearly $100,000. There was no further trouble. It is evident that he was not regarded as a man it was wholesome to trifle with.

They were right; he was not.

During that visit south, Mr. Gillett and his son had occasion to go to Vicksburg. They put up at a hotel. People there soon discovered who Mr. Gillett was, that he was connected with a "nigger" college and looking after a large sum of southern money that was going north to help educate "niggers" at Oberlin.

In those days Vicksburg was the abode of not a few reckless characters.

Among the men who visited the hotel and looked the northerner over; one of the few who did not scowl at him was a Judge Springer. When no one else was about the judge stepped up to Mr. Gillett and said: "I don't believe you ought to remain here over night."

Gillett wanted to know why. The judge explained that his name, home and mission were known to some rather hard customers, who did not have a very kindly feeling for him. "I will gladly entertain you where I am stopping, at a private residence." said the judge; and he did so, and after the Vicksburg business was concluded he returned to his home.

Keep this judge in mind.

While Mr. Gillett was on that southern tour he went to hear a popular southern orator. I should have added before that Mr. Gillett was editor of the Oberlin Evangelist. In a letter to the Evangelist he spoke of the meeting at which he heard the young orator in 1844. Among the other things this sturdy Ohioan and abolitionist said:

"I have this night heard a remarkable speech, delivered by a member of the Mississippi legislature, Jefferson Davis, and I want to predict, here and now, that within thirty years the south will attempt to establish a southern confederacy and that this Mr. Davis will be at the head of it."

A brother of Captain Gillett (Theodore Weld Gillette) enlisted in 1861 as a private in the Fourth Wisconsin. Later he was commissioned and was assigned to the commissary department.

While his command was at Baton Rouge in 1864, many of the southern loyal people applied for rations. One day a very old man called upon Lieutenant Gillett to say that he had lost his home and that all of his relatives among the boys and men had entered the confederate service, and that he was destitute.

"I see you bear the name of Gillett, " said the old man.

"Yes, sir, Gillett of Wisconsin."

"Did you ever live at Oberlin, Ohio?"

"I did; was born there."

"What was your father's name?"

"Robert E."

"Did he ever visit the south-was he connected with Oberlin College?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you remember whether he once visited Vicksburg?"

"I cannot tell, sir, but I can find out by writing my brother, who, I remember, went south with my father on one or two occasions."

Without the old gentleman's being obliged to make a request for food the lieutenant gave him a generous supply and told him to come around in the course of ten days or two weeks and he would give him the information he sought. He then wrote his brother, the captain, of whom I have spoken, and asked if he remembered Judge Springer of Vicksburg. The reply went back at once that he did and that the judge had done his father and himself a great kindness by shielding them from what he thought was imminent danger. He closed by requesting his brother to do anything or everything in his power to make it comfortable for the old judge, and the request was complied with.

J.A. Watrous.


More About ROBERT EDWIN GILLETT:
Burial: 1861, Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI

Notes for LUCY KELLOGG:
LUCY, dau. Of Ezra, b. 2 May, 1811; m. (1) 2 May 1838, Robert Edwin Gillette, b. 1809.

He d. Sept., 1861; was editor and publisher of the Oberlin (O.), Evangelist; later engaged in the real estate business and founded and named the village of Tomah, WI; she m. (2) William Austin Lathrop; res. in Cleveland, OH.


Children by first husband

Ruth Kellogg Gillette, b. 24 Feb., 1839; is a teacher in Green Bay, Wis.
Theodore Weld Gillette, b. 23 Oct., 1840; m. 2 May, 1864, Laetitia
Sophronia Powers, of Sparta, Wis., dau. of S. D. Powers, b. in Ferrisburg,
VT.; was a sheep raiser in San Diego, Tex.
Julia King Gillette, b. 22 Nov. 1842; m. 24 Feb., 1875, Dr. Anson
James Adams, of Flint, Mich., b. Nov. 1842, son of Oliver R.
Adams, b. in Homer, N. Y., 12 July 1815, and Harriet James, b.
29 July 1818; he was graduated from Williams College, and from
the Homeopathic College of Cleveland, OH.
Frederick Kellogg Gillette, b. 17 Sept., 1844; was a telegraph operator;
res. in Garrettsville, OH.


More About LOIS ANN (INGRAHAM) WARNER:
Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI

Children of ROBERT GILLETT and MARIE (BURRELL) are:
i. ROBERT ARTHUR GILLETT, b. July 08, 1834, Elyria, Loraine, OH; d. December 28, 1907, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI; m. (1) SARAH CAROLINE TURNER, 1862; d. 1872; m. (2) SEREPTA A. ATKINSON, Abt. 1873; d. December 1905, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI.

More About SARAH CAROLINE TURNER:
Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery, Tomah, Monroe, WI

ii. MARY ANN GILLETT, b. March 21, 1836, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. March 1916; m. ALONZO JOSEPH POWERS; b. September 13, 1840; d. October 1915.

Notes for ALONZO JOSEPH POWERS:
Alonzo had a large dry goods store in St. Paul MN of which he was President, his brother Eugene was VP. His son Fred also was with him in the store.


Children of ROBERT GILLETT and LUCY KELLOGG are:
iii. RUTH K. GILLETTE, b. February 24, 1839, Oberlin, OH; d. Aft. 1921; m. E. H. ELLIS.
iv. THEODORE WELD GILLETTE, b. October 23, 1840, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. April 10, 1921, Bellingham, WA; m. LAETITIA SOFRONIA POWERS, May 02, 1864, Sparta, WI; b. May 04, 1843, Henrietta, OH; d. October 11, 1920, Bellingham, WA.
v. JULIA KING GILLETTE, b. October 20, 1842, Oberlin, OH; d. Aft. 1921; m. K. ADAMS.
vi. FREDRICK KELLOGG GILLETTE, b. September 17, 1844; d. Aft. 1921.

1. 14. Robert Arthur GILLETT   b. 8 Jul 1834, Elyra, Lorain, OH; d. 28 Dec 1907, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI; bur. Riverside Memorial Park, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI.
2. 15. Mary Ann GILLETT   b. 21 Mar 1836, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. Mar 1916.

1. 16. Ruth Kellogg GILLETTE   b. 24 Feb 1839, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. Aft 1921.
2. 17. Theodore Weld GILLETTE   b. 23 Oct 1840, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. 10 Apr 1921, Bellingham, Whatcom, WA; bur. 21 Apr 1921, Bayview Cemetery, Bellingham, Whatcom, WA.
3. 18. Julia King GILLETTE   b. 20 Oct 1842, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. Aft 1921.
4. 19. Fredrick Kellogg GILLETTE   b. 17 Sep 1844, Oberlin, Lorain, OH; d. Aft 1921.

Ransom was age 39 and Postmaster of Ravenna, OH during the 1860 Census OH, Portage, Ravenna pp 92, roll 653_1025.

Probate records: Cuyahoga Cty, OH index 1867-1890: vol 4, pp 49 Gillett; and vol 4, pp 63 Gillette.

1. 20. Cecelia Adelaide GILLETT   b. 1847, Ravena, Portage, OH; d. 1864.
2. 21. Franklin W. GILLETT   b. 1852, Ravena, Portage, OH; d. 1897.
3. 22. Fannie Clara GILLETT   b. 1855.

Robert was in the Civil War.

1. 23. Charles A. GILLETT   b. 1863, Tomah, Monroe, WI.
2. 24. Mary A. (Mattie) GILLETT   b. 31 Oct 1864, Tomah, Monroe, WI; d. Jul 1952, Minneapolis, MN; bur. Riverside Memorial Park, Fox Lake, Dodge, WI.
3. 25. Theodore Weld GILLETT   b. 1866, Tomah, Monroe, WI; d. 7 Dec 1873; bur. Oak Grove Cemetary, Tomah, Monroe, WI.
4. 26. Minnie J. GILLETT   b. Oct 1869, Tomah, Monroe, WI; d. Bef 1917.
5. 27. Sarah Letitia GILLETT   b. Nov 1871, Tomah, Monroe, WI; d. 1 Dec 1873; bur. Oak Grove Cemetary, Tomah, Monroe, WI.

1. 28. Frederick E. POWERS  

Search Results

Database: Texas Census, 1820-90
Combined Matches: 1


Database: Civil War Service Records
Combined Matches: 1


Surname Given Name Middle Initial Company Unit Rank - Induction Rank - Discharge Notes Allegiance
Gillette Theodore W. I 4 Wisconsin Cavalry. Private Com. Union


Year Surname Given Name (s) County State Page Township or Other Info Record Type Database ID#
1880 GILLETTE THEODORE Duval County TX 229 San Diego Fed Pop Schedule TX 1880 Federal Census Index TX28436101

In the early years of statehood, Texas had an awful time protecting its citizens from the denizens of death roaming the countryside. If the Indians and Mexican weren’t dealing destruction on a wide scale, Anglo outlaws and bandits were. A newcomer to the western fringe could practically count on being attacked, and it took someone with a special sort of courage to propose pioneering anywhere outside the most heavily populated settlements. This was an area that was real frontier in the 1870's.


GILLETTE, Theodore W. (d. 1921)

Head of Fairhaven Water Company and Pioneer Good Roads Advocate Called at Age of 80.
Theodore W. Gillette, president of the Fairhaven City Water & Power company, and one of the most public-spirited men Bellingham has ever had, died at his apartments in the Hotel Leopold at 5:15 last night at the age of 80 years, five months and twenty-one days. Mr. Gillette's death comes as a shock to his numerous friends, many of whom did not know that he was seriously ill and those closest to him understanding that he was improving, as he apparently was. The immediate cause of death was a blood clot on the brain. He had been feeling unwell since he made a strenuous automobile drive to Seattle and back, and this, says his brother, Fred K. Gillette, was the beginning of his final illness, which kept him in bed about ten days. Friends of Mr. Gillette agree that he was one of the finest characters this city has ever known and that he was one of its greatest promoters. From the beginning of his residence here, extending over a period of more than thirty years, he was identified with the city's growth. The same was true of all other places where he lived, it being his nature to be among the leaders of a community and to be one of its hardest workers.
Came Here is 1889.

Mr. Gillette came to Bellingham bay in 1889, after a busy life in Texas, Idaho and other places and after long service in the Civil war. He spent a very adventurous life, it being recalled by his brother that about thirty of his friends were killed by Indians, bandits, etc., in Southeastern Texas, where he spent several years as a sheep farmer.

Mr. Gillette was born in Oberlin, O., October 20, 1840. In June, 1861, he became a volunteer in the union army, enlisting as a private in Company M, Fourth Wisconsin Mounted Infantry, and serving in that until his honorable discharge September 18, 1866. This regiment probably saw longer service than any other volunteer regiment in the Civil war. Mr. Gillette's willingness and eagerness to serve soon won him promotion. For some time he was regimental quartermaster, then brigade quartermaster and lastly lieutenant. In the midst of the war he went back home to be married and immediately thereafter returned to his regiment. His wife, Mrs. Letitia S. Gillette, died October 11, 1920.

Good Roads Enthusiast.
After his discharge from the army, Mr. Gillette went back home for a time. In 1872 he removed to Southeastern Texas and from there after six years of sheep farming and many adventures to Salt Lake City, where he lived a year or two, and thence to the Wood mining country in Idaho. In Ketchum he established a hardware store and became active in local affairs was elected to the board of county commissioners and held that office for two terms. Another of his activities was his origination of the water system of Ketchum, Idaho. He took a great interest in good roads and this interest was manifested later in Whatcom county and in Southern California, where for many years he spent his winters, residing in South Pasadena. Coming to Bellingham bay in 1889, he soon afterward organized the Fairhaven City Water & Power company, which owns the South Side water system and was active in the organization and affairs of the Fairhaven Electric Light company. He was president of both concerns. About fifteen years ago he sold the electric light company's property to Stone & Webster interests.
Served on County Board.

About 1892 Mr. Gillette was elected a member of the board of Whatcom county commissioners and two years later was re-elected. In politics he was a republican all his life, and he was enthusiastic in service to his party as he was in everything else he interested himself in. Loyalty and service, in fact, were two of his strongest characteristics, and self-sacrifice and devotion to family and friends were others.
Mr. Gillette was a member of Fairhaven Lodge, No. 73, F. & A. M.; C. R. Apperson post No. 79, of the G. A. R.; and the Loyal Legion, an organization of officers of the Civil war, his membership in this society being held in Tacoma. He was also a member of the Kulshan club and of the Chamber of Commerce.

The survivors are two sons, Halbert P. Gillette, of Chicago, one of the country's best known civil engineers, and Walter A. Gillette, of South Pasadena, Calif.; one brother, Fred K. Gillette, Bellingham, and two sisters, Mrs. E. H. Ellis and Mrs. Julia K. Adams, of Sacramento. Funeral services will be held at an hour to be announced by Harry O. Bingham. One son, Halbert, will be here Thursday and the other is expected.

Expression of Regret by J. J. Donovan
"T. W. Gillette, facing death with a smile, light of heart and brave in spirit, has passed on to join his loved ones on the other side. A gallant gentleman is gone after a long life of usefulness and honor. Truth, honor, justice were his guiding stars and he was true to them in times and places where it required the highest type of moral and physical courage. He feared neither man nor devil. He trusted and believed in god and kept His law. He has gone to his reward.
"As a youth under twenty-one he enlisted in the Wisconsin cavalry and he served with distinction through the Civil war, leaving the service with the brevet rank of major. He fought in many hand-to-had conflicts with Confederate cavalry and was severely hurt when his horse went down in one of these battles, but he refused to retire and was on duty until the end.
"After the war he undertook with a friend ranching in Texas. His friend was killed by Mexican raiders, his stock stolen and for the sake of his young wife and children he retired from the Southern frontier and came West.
"As an assayer, merchant and county commissioner he had an honorable part in the development of the Wood River district of Idaho. His reminiscences of life in the mines, of the mingling of the adventurous of all ranks, were most delightful and unvalled (sic) Bret Harte in character and color.
"Coming to Bellingham bay in 1889 with his friends, Major and Mrs. Darling, Governor and Mrs. George A. Black and others, Mr. Gillette and his family immediately became factors in the business and social life of the young city. His home and business interests have been here ever since excepting as Mrs. Gillette's failing health in recent years required her to spend her winters in Pasadena.
"Mr. Gillette's company put in the water and electric light system for Fairhaven and he was active manager of the water system in which he took keen interest and pride until the end. As county commissioner, he gave this county loyal and valuable services during the panic times of '93. He had the vision to see the future of this county and may truly be called the father of our county road system, which R. L. Kline and others carried on and which J. B. McMillan and associates have brought near completion. Good roads, good water, good citizenship were articles of faith with him.
"Though over eighty years old his form was erect, his eye clear and his faculties unimpaired. His wife's death last October ended many years of tireless devotion. It was a hard blow. He tried bravely to keep the old smile and undying optimism but the wound was there. Yesterday at 5 o'clock the end came quickly and painlessly. A well-spent life was ended. The brother and two sons with their families have the sympathy of the entire community."

(From The Bellingham Herald, April 11, 1921)

1. 29. Freddy K GILLETTE  
2. 30. Theodore Stanley GILLETTE   b. 6 Jan 1868, Waverly, IA; d. 6 Jan 1868, Waverly, IA.
3. 31. Halbert Powers GILLETTE   b. 5 Aug 1869, Waverly, Bremer Co., IA; d. 18 Jun 1958, San Marino, Los Angeles Cty, CA.
4. 32. Harry Kellogg GILLETTE   b. 14 Mar 1871, Waverly, IA; d. 29 Jul 1871, Waverly, IA.
5. 33. Walter Arthur GILLETTE   b. 27 Dec 1875, Waverly, IA; d. 17 Aug 1957, Buddy, ID.

1920 Fed Census CA, Sacramento, Sacramento has Julia (age77) as head of family and her daughter Lucy K. (age36) living with her as well as her sister Ruth K.(age81). Assume both Julia and Ruth are widows.

1. 34. Lucy K. ADAMS   b. Abt 1884, MI.

1910 census WA, Whatcom, Bellingham, 6th ward

Mattie's family horse farm, Laural Hill, supplied the horse team for President McKinley.

1. 35. Inez WARREN   b. 18 Nov 1888, Fox Lake, WI; d. 3 Sep 1973, Minneapolis, MN.
2. 36. Edith WARREN   b. 4 Nov 1889; d. 1941.

Halbert Powers Gillette and Julia Washburn Scranton were divorced.



WHO WAS WHO IN AMERICA VOL III 1951-1960

GILLETTE, Halbert Powers, Editor, engineer
b Waverly, IA Aug 5, 1860 Theodore Weld and Laetitia S. (Powers)

Graduated Hammond Hall Academy, Salt Lake City, 1886; E.M. School of Mines, Columbia University 1892. Assistant NY state engineer 1896-1898; contractor 1898-1902; Associate editor, 1903-1905 Engineering News; President Gillette Publishing company; Chief engineer of the Washington Railroad Commission 1906-1907.

Member American Society of Consulting Engineers.

Author:
Economics of Road Construction, 1901
Earthwork and Its Cost, 1903
Handbook of Rock Excavation - Methods and Cost, 1904
Handbook of Cost Data, 1905
Concrete Construction - Methods and Cost (w/Charles S. Hill), 1908
Cost Keeping and Management Engineering (w/Richard T. Dana), 1909
Handbook of Clearing and Grubbing, 1917
Handbook of Electrical and Mechanical Cost Data (w/Richard T. Dana), 1918
Handbook of Construction Cost, 1922
Road and Street Construction (w/J.C. Black), 1940
...also many articles on weather, climate and geological cycles, 1928-1948.

Editor Roads and Streets

Home: 1125 Oak Grove Avenue
San Marino, CA

d June 18, 1958.


Other books written by HP:
Gillette and Dana - Handbook of Construction Plant
Gillette and Thomas - Handbook of Road Construction; Methods and Cost



THEOSOPHY, Vol. 32, No. 2, December, 1943
(Pages 77-80; Size: 13K)
(Number 97 of a 103-part series)
SCIENCE AND THE SECRET DOCTRINE

ELECTRONIC "CYCLES"

FOR many years Mr. Halbert P. Gillette, of the Gillette Publishing Co., specializing in engineering books and periodicals, has made an intensive study of weather cycles. In the beginning his theories made such bizarre reading from the point of view of scientists, that little attention seems to have been paid to them. Essentially, they were based on theories of interflow of electrons between the earth, the sun, and the other planets. The real nature of electrons, and their ubiquity, now being better recognized, his ideas fall more into line with the thought of the day.(1)

Mr. Gillette has sought to tie up his theories to the clay varves, or seasonal layers, in lake deposits. Among the most important of the cycles discovered, is one of approximately 605 years, subdivided into three equal periods of less importance. This is equal to 51 orbital periods of Jupiter. He believes that it represents the orbital period of Pickering's undiscovered "Planet P." Pickering's estimate of this orbital period was 656 years.

Gillette claims that whenever a planet is in solar longitude either of 108 or 288 degrees, it causes a peak of a rainfall cycle, whether evidenced by rainfall records, tree rings, or varves. Such peaks coincide with sunspot maxima. In addition to the major cycle produced by each planet, it causes harmonic sub-cycles of 1/3, 1/9, 1/27 of the length of the major one, etc. The great maxima and minima of rainfall, of course, come when peaks and depressions of cycles and subcycles coincide. According to Gillette we are progressing toward a period of great drought whose apex will be 1984. Volcanic upheavals and compass variations appear to have cycles closely coinciding with the major rain cycles, he says. This coincidence of cycles is of vast importance in the occult side of nature; as is well known to Theosophists, the years 1897-98 signalized a coincidence of cycles, the longest of which was about 5,000 years, of such intensity that the entire world order was upset by it.

Gillette goes rather far into an attempted correlation between human affairs and rain cycles, tracing the upheavals around the fall of Rome to an 1815-year rainfall cycle whose minimum fell in 774 A.D. From this he reasons that we are not likely to have a "Dark Age" of that nature again until about 2590. Certainly five or six hundred years more will see the extinction of most of the nations of the world as it is today. It is interesting to note that 14 of the 1815-year cycles would make 25,410 years, or within about 400 years of the great sidereal period of 25,868 years which signalizes world catastrophes and the ending of sub-race cycles. Gillette notes the probability of a major climatic cycle of that length. Another long cycle which he points out as recorded in the stones is of about 4,000,000 years; 4,320,000 is the Maha Yuga or summation of the "Four Ages," in Theosophy!

One of the most important correlations discovered by Gillette is evidence of a circulation of electrons between the sun and the planets, with the poles of the earth acting as receiving centers. Every 24 hours, at the time when the north magnetic pole of the earth is directed most toward the sun, the earth's surface becomes most charged with electrons.(2) An additional evidence is the diurnal tide in the air, too great to be accounted for by gravitation, but which Gillette ascribes to the electronic magnetization of the oxygen in the air. This interflow constitutes the mechanism of the influence of the sun and planets upon the weather of the earth.

Gillette remarks:

It may seem incredible that a climatic cycle of great amplitude could be caused by a planet that is at a vast distance from the sun and earth. But if the cause is basically electronic, great distance is not necessarily a bar to great effects. We are so accustomed to regard astronomical effects as being mainly of gravitational origin that we are prone to think that increased distance from the sun necessarily causes reduced effects. But picture a stream of spiralling electrons moving from the sun toward a planet that attracts the electrons because it has an opposite magnetic field, and ask yourself why those electrons should become fewer the farther they travel.... It is possible that an electron-vortex between sun and planet may gain rather than lose ... because galactic electrons may be drawn into the vortex by magnetic attraction.

Now far be it from us to encourage the practice of astrology; but we have here a rebuttal to one of the stock arguments against astrology -- that planetary bodies cannot affect one another strongly because of distance. Moreover, if we consider the vital effect of weather upon human affairs, and the direct biological and psychic effects of changing electric and magnetic conditions of the earth upon human beings, we have here a basis for a biological astrology of considerable possibilities. Or, let us say, for new sciences of astro-biology and astro-psychology.
It would not have been Hermes, however, who would have considered these sciences "new." As repeated in The Secret Doctrine, the Book of Hermes says:

The creation of Life by the Sun is as continuous as his light; nothing arrests or limits it. Around him, like an army of Satellites, are innumerable choirs of genii.... They fulfil the will of the gods (Karma) by means of storms, tempests, transitions of fire and earthquakes; likewise by famines and wars, for the punishment of impiety.... It is the Sun who preserves and nourishes all creatures; and even as the Ideal World which environs the sensible world fills this last with the plenitude and universal variety of forms, so also the Sun, enfolding all in his light, accomplishes everywhere the birth and development of creatures.... All these Genii preside over mundane affairs, they shake and overthrow the constitution of States and of individuals; they imprint their likeness on our Souls, they are present in our nerves, our marrow, our veins, our arteries, and our very brain-substance .... (I, 294.)

Mr. Gillette borders on another "occult" subject with the following remark:

An unexpected by-product of this galactic electron theory is an explanation of the sun's radiant energy. If the sun is bombarded by electrons moving in and adjacent to its orbit, it must be heated by their impacts. Let the velocity of the electrons approach that of light, let their number be sufficiently great, and it follows that the sun must become white-hot under their hammering.

If we hold, as theosophists, that every "electron" (a highly metaphysical entity, by the way) has its own seven principles, then we must recognize that the measurable physical interchange of electrons between planetary bodies carries correlations that are mental, psychic, and spiritual as well.
These are matters suggestive in view of the theosophical teaching about the sun's nature and function. In her first book, Madame Blavatsky showed that the sun is not incandescent:

...the materialists ... will some day find that that which causes the numberless cosmic forces to manifest themselves in eternal correlation is but a divine electricity, or rather galvanism, and that the sun is but one of the myriad magnets disseminated through space -- a reflector -- as General Pleasonton has it. That the sun has no more heat in it than the moon or the space-crowding host of sparkling stars. That there is no gravitation in the Newtonian sense, but only magnetic attraction and repulsion; and that it is by their magnetism that the planets of the solar system have their motions regulated in their respective orbits by the still more powerful magnetism of the sun, not by their weight or gravitation. (Isis Unveiled, I, 270-1.)
In 1883, she wrote, "The fact is that ordinary science makes at once too much and too little of the Sun, as the store-house of force for the solar system, -- too much in so far as the heat of planets has a great deal to do with another influence quite distinct from the Sun, an influence which will not be thoroughly understood till more is known than at present about the correlations of heat and magnetism, and of the magnetic, meteoric dust, with which inter-planetary space is pervaded." (THEOSOPHY II, 448, fn.)
In answering questions on the Stanzas in The Secret Doctrine, H.P.B. described the Sun as follows:

The Sun we see, gives nothing of itself, because it is a reflection; a bundle of electro-magnetic forces, one of the countless milliards of "Knots of Fohat." ... The Sun has but one distinct function; it gives the impulse of life to all that breathes and lives under its light. (Transactions, pp. 116-7.)
Mr. Gillette brings evidence for another important and somewhat Theosophical tenet, when he says:
Coming back to the fact that planets cause sun-spots when they are in one of two longitudes 180 degrees apart, I can conceive of but one cause, namely that in those longitudes both planet and sun are in the center of a stream of galactic electrons. Since these longitudes, namely 108 and 288 degrees, are quite near the estimated orbit of the sun, I infer that the orbit has those longitudes. By spectroscopic observation ... astronomers have found that the sun is moving toward the star Vega whose longitude is about 284 degrees. Great exactitude as to direction of the sun's motion is not attainable by the spectroscopic method.
If Mr. Gillette is even partly right, great physical changes must occur as the Sun moves through space, simply because of these electron streams. What of the many yet undiscovered streams of other energies that must be intersected as the solar system proceeds "into newer spaces of the cosmos"?

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TWO (2) FOOTNOTES LISTED BELOW:
(1) Roads and Streets, November, 1941.
(2) Discovered by Mauchly in 1920.


Dr. Halbert P. Gillette, a noted engineer and astronomer, who has spent many years upon the study of major weather cycles, found many different ones in the study of clay layers and other results of rainfall -- including tree growths. He ascribed these effects to unknown planets, one of them having an orbit of 221,600 years, and so down to one of 316.7 years.(3)

(3) Engineering and Contracting, November, 1930.

1. 37. Edward Scranton GILLETTE   b. 3 Feb 1898, Philadelphia, PA; d. 3 Aug 1988, Lake Forest, Lake, IL.
2. 38. Louise GILLETTE   b. 1899, Rochester, NY; d. 2 Feb 1998, Granite Farms Estates, PA.

1. 39. Infant GILLETTE  
2. 40. Ruth Louise (Peg) GILLETTE   b. 2 Dec 1912, South Pasadena, CA; d. 2 Oct 1965, Ketchum, Blaine Cty, ID.