GILL, CHARLES W.
Those who figured as the founders of the city of Galveston and as the promoters of its earlier commercial and industrial advancement wrought well and left an influence that continues to permeate the civic and business activities of this beautiful Texan city. But there came a time when the well-being of the city demanded more strenuous methods than those that had previously obtained, if Galveston was to hold its own as a commercial and distributing center. That the work of advancement has continued vigorously during the past quarter of a century, even in the face of the great disaster that overwhelmed the city in recent years and placed a giant burden on the shoulders of its loyal citizens, has been due to the timely and efficient labors and influence of spirited and progressive men - men of initiative, of determination and of sterling integrity of purpose. With due appreciation of the efforts of those who have preceded them, a proper need of recognition must be given to those who have been instrumental in the uprearing of the larger and greater Galveston, and among this number Charles W. Gill occupies no inconspicuous place. He first came to Galveston in 1882 and here he has maintained his home since 1886, identified with the best elements of progress development along normal lines. He has had much to do with effective real estate operations, in connection with which he has carried on an extensive and important business, more especially in the handling and improving of his own properties, then while he has given his influence and capitalistic support in the promotion of various business enterprises that have inured greatly to the benefit of the city.
Aside from such associations as are implied in the foregoing statements, Mr. Gill is also one of the most prominent and honored representatives of the Masonic fraternity in the state and he has been conspicuously identified with the fostering of its interests, while in the time honored organization he has attained to the maximum, or thirty-third degree, of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, a distinction that bears its own significance. As a representative businessman and as a loyal and honored citizen he merits special consideration in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand.
Charles W. Gill is a scion of a family of patrician English origin and one that was founded in America in the early colonial epoch, the original progenitors having settled in Maryland during the régime of the distinguished Lord Baltimore. The name has figured prominently and honorably in connection with business, public and civic activities during the long intervening period, as one generation has followed another onto the stage of life. There have been men leal and loyal, and women of gracious and gentle refinement, and the subject of this review has reason to find satisfaction in reverting to his ancestral history. His paternal ancestors were of the stanch old stock early prominent in the noble Society of Friends, and the original representatives in America came hither, from Northumberland County, England, to secure the privilege of worshiping according to the dictates of conscience, which freedom was practically denied them in the mother country. Joseph Gill, grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was a native of Maryland and eventually became prominently identified with the development of the coal and iron resources of western Virginia and also as one of the substantial bankers of that section of the Union, where he wielded much influence, as did he later in Ohio, whither he removed in the pioneer epoch of that commonwealth. He there became the owner of large tracts of land and he assisted materially in the development of the state, where he was identified with banking and agricultural pursuits at the time of his death.
John W. Gill, father of Charles W., was a native of Virginia, where he was reared and educated, and for a number of years he was associated with his father in the banking business in what is now the state of West Virginia. He established the old Crescent Iron Works at Wheeling, West Virginia, developing the same into one of the largest industrial enterprises of its kind in the United States. During the financial panic of 1858 the works were shut down and, like many another of the successful businessmen of the country, he suffered serious financial reverses. He was, however, a man of great energy, ambition and business sagacity, and he eventually recouped his losses to a large degree. From West Virginia he removed to Ohio, and at Mount Pleasant, that state, he engaged in the manufacturing of silk upon an extensive scale, according to the standards of the period. While identified with this line of enterprise he had the distinction of manufacturing the first United States flag out of silk material, and he was thus the pioneer in this line of industry in the country, eventually manufacturing silk flags upon a somewhat extensive scale. In the manufacture of silk plush and brocade goods he won a number of medals given for such products in various expositions, both in this country and abroad. After the close of the Civil war he removed to Springfield, Illinois, where he passed the residue of his life and where his death occurred in 1872. His wife, whose maiden name was Rhoda A. Smith, was a native of Columbus, Ohio, her father being Judge David Smith, and she survived her husband many years, being summoned to eternal rest in the year 1908. Of their children, four sons and two daughters are now living.
Charles W. Gill, the immediate subject of this review, was about seven years of age at the time of the family removal to Springfield, Illinois, where he was reared to maturity and where he secured his early educational discipline in the public schools. Later he continued his studies for two years in Northwestern University, Evanston, one of the beautiful suburbs of the city of Chicago, and after leaving this institution he returned to his home in the capital city of Illinois, where he eventually engaged in the drug business. He continued in the drug business in Springfield for a period of eight years and then set forth on a prospecting tour through the south, in connection with which he first came to Galveston, in 1882, as has already been noted. That the attractions and future prospects of the city impressed him is evident when we revert to the fact that four years later, in the spring of 1886, he here took up his permanent abode. He has given his attention principally to the real estate business and his operations have not been those of a broker to any considerable extent, as his resources have been such as to enable him to make large and judicious investments in local realty, and his efforts have thus been largely in the development and handling of his own properties. He has not looked alone to personal success but has so directed his energies and so generously improved his properties as to conserve the substantial upbuilding and normal progress of his home city. He is a member of the directorate of Murdock Pavilion & Bath House Company, in which he and one of his associates own the controlling stock, and he is also one of the interested principals in the fine new fishing pier on the beach at Galveston. Both of these enterprises add materially to the attractions and privileges of the city, and the public appreciation thereof has been of the most insistent type.
It is well known that in the Masonic fraternity the number of those who attain the thirty-third degree of the Scottish Rite must earn the honor, through long years of earnest toil in the Masonic vineyard and should the fruits of the labor be sufficient to be recognized by the supreme council, the honorary degree is then conferred. In stating that Mr. Gill has secured this distinction ample evidence is given of his standing among his fraters in the noble and historic fraternity. He was the one chiefly instrumental in the organizing of the two higher bodies of Scottish Rite Masonry in Galveston, and he has been a most enthusiastic and appreciative worker in the various bodies of both the York and Scottish Rites. He is honorary inspector general of the supreme council; is past commander in chief of Texas Consistory, No. 1, Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret; is past master of Pike-Tucker Council, No. 1, Knights of Kadosh; is identified with San Felipe Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, and L. M. Oppenheimer Rose Croix Chapter, No. 2, in all of which bodies he is a life member; and in the York Rite his affiliations are briefly noted as follows: Tucker Lodge, No. 297, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons; San Felipe de Austin Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, and San Felipe de Austin Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, of which he is past eminent commander, and was instrumental in organizing El Mina Temple of Mystic Shrine. Mr. Gill is also a valued member of Galveston Lodge, No. 126, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, holding membership in the local parish of Grace Episcopal church, of Galveston.
Mr. Gill has been twice married, and of the six children of the first union, all are living except Charles W., the firstborn, who died at the age of twenty-three years. The names of the other children are here entered in order of birth: John W., David M., Mary D., Esther R., and Anna C. On the 31st of December, 1908, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gill to Miss Tommie V. Hodges, daughter of Thomas W. Hodges, a representative citizen of Belmont, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Gill are prominent in the social life of their home city and
Historical Review of South-East Texas and the Founders, Leaders and Representative Men, Vol 2, by Dermot Hardy and Maj. Ingham S. Robert, by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910