John D. Gillett, born at Fair Haven, Connecticut, on April 28, 1819.

He was the son of Eliphaz Gillett and Amrill (Sanford) Gillett. Owing to the death of his father, in 1822, when he was only three, John Gillett was early thrown upon his own resources, and imbibed that spirit of independence that marked his career. He spent his boyhood with his mother, and attended the Lancasterian school, then established in New Haven. At the age of seventeen years he went in the ship Thomas to Georgia, and spent two years in the mercantile business, and afterwards returned to New Haven and studied six months in Pearl’s Academy. Having heard favorable reports from his uncle, who had previously moved to the West, young Gillett, in the fall of 1838, started for Illinois, going via the Ohio river to St. Louis, and making the trip in forty days. From there he went to Springfield by stage, and afterwards traveled on foot to Bald Knob, where his uncle resided. He immediately engaged in farm work, receiving at the first a compensation of eight dollars per month, and with the first fifty dollars of his hard earned savings entered forty acres of land. Here, by his manly demeanor, prompt attention to business, and conscientious carefulness in always meeting his engagements, he laid the foundation of his successful business career, and won the reputation which followed him through life, that “his word is as good as his note.” After spending two years at Bald Knob, he improved a farm at Lake Fork, in Logan county, and resided there twenty-eight years. Then he moved to his new home at Elkhart. At the time when Mr. Gillett moved to Illinois, about one half of the land was in the market at government prices, much of it the most beautiful in the State. Seeing in this a rare chance for investment, he availed himself of the opportunities that offered, and entered from time to time twelve thousand acres, selling sections and lots as he found purchasers. In 1852, in company with Robert B. Latham, he entered between six and seven thousand acres of land. He was one of the extensive farmers in Illinois, and ranked with such men as Jacob Strawn and John T. Alexander, who were early settlers of the State. His home farm consists of nine thousand acres of as beautiful land as can be found in the United States. He has in Logan county eleven thousand acres, besides real estate in other localities and in other States. His business is principally raising and buying and selling stock. He keeps between three and four hundred cows for stock raising, among which may be found specimens of the finest quality. He kept, at the time of this biography, two thousand head of cattle and one thousand hogs, which number he feeds and ships annually to the Chicago market, from his own farm; while the number bought and sold, that never came upon his lands, is greatly in excess of this. He was a thorough master of his business, and had a way of dispatching work peculiar to himself. Between himself and his tenants there was a perfect understanding. Though not as much learned in books as some, his constant intercourse with men made him a careful student of human nature, and he was able to judge of men at sight. A close observer; a logical and forcible reasoner; decisive, prompt, energetic, charitable, indulgent, and possessing a fine, fully developed physique, he was a man who may justly be called “one of nature's noblemen.” He had no time for anything but his own business, consequently he never held any political office, though frequently urged to do so. He was, however, a firm and true friend of his country; and during the rebellion, allowed all of his hands to leave his farm and go into the army, although it resulted in heavy pecuniary loss to him. Five of them left families on his farm, whose wants were never neglected by him. Mr. Gillett married Miss Lemira Parke on March 31, 1842. Mr. Gillett's residence at Elkhart Grove, for beauty of situation, is unsurpassed, being the highest point in Logan county, not excepting Mt. Pulaski.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?o...illette&id=I2341

--J. D. Gillett became known as the "Cattle King of the World" because of his breeding of short-horn cattle
--close personal friend of Abraham Lincoln
--owned 16,000 acres of good farmland at his death
--father-in-law of Governor Richard J. Oglesby

http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/logan/elkhart.html