Perry B. Gaylord

PERRY B. GAYLORD, a prominent lumber dealer of Sandoval, is a native of the Empire State, having been born in Onondaga County, August 13, 1831. He is the son of Royce and Desire (Burdick) Gaylord, natives respectively of Connecticut and New York. The father was born in 1791, and the mother nine years later. Royce Gaylord was descended from one of four brothers who came to the United States from England in an early day. Their father, the great-grandfather of our subject, bore the name of William Gaylord, and originally lived in Normandy, but being driven out of that land on account of his religious belief, he located in England, from which country his sons came to America..

The father of our subject received his education in the common schools of Connecticut, and when old enough to work learned the trade of a fuller, which he followed for a great number of years. After his removal to New York State he purchased a small farm and spent the latter years of his life in its cultivation. He was twice irarried, and by his first union became the father of a daughter, Lucetta S., for forty years a teacher in the public schools of Syracuse, N. Y.

By his union with Miss Burdick five children were born:

Orra,
Perry B.,
Jessie,
Elizabeth and
Amelia, the latter of whom is deceased.

The parents were members of the Presbyterian Church, and spent their last years in New York.

In politics, Mr. Gaylord was first a Whig and later a Republican..

Perry B. Gaylord completed his studies in the Academy of De Ruyter in New York, and remained under the parental roof until reaching his majority. In the meantime, and when reaching his fifteenth year, he began to earn his own money by working out on farms during the summer seasons, receiving for his services $7.50 for the first year. When eighteen years of age he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for about twelve years.

In 1856 our subject, who was at that time living in Lyons, Iowa, returned to New York, where he married Miss Cordelia, daughter of Ebenezer and Lyda (King) Cowles, natives of Connecticut. Mrs. Gaylord was born in New York, and after her marriage accompanied her husband to Lyons, Iowa. Three years later they removed to Illinois, where he had purchased a farm in Washington County. From the year 1869 to 1874 he was engaged in tilling the soil in that locality, and in the lastnamed year came to Sandoval, near which city he farmed for about nine years. Then going to Nebraska, he was likewise employed for the same length of time, and in the year 1893 returned to Sandoval and purchased his lumber yard. He is building up a profitable business, and carries from $5,000 to $6,000 worth of lumber. He has associated with him in this enterprise his son A. C., whose qualifications as a business man are such as to make whatever he undertakes a success.

To Mr. and Mrs. Guylord were born seven children, of whom we make the following mention:

Edward R. received his education in the university at Syracuse, N. Y., and is now engaged in teaching music in Great Falls, Mont.;
Cordelia, also a graduate of the university at Syracuse, is the wife of S. A. Ingersoll, who is interested in the Sandoval Manufacturing Company;
Cornelia, who is now deceased, was the wife of G. W. Douglas;
Arthur C., who is in business with his father, was educated at Doane College, Nebraska;
Henry M. died when thirteen years of age;
Mary, who married H. H. Willis, attended school at Fail-field College, Nebraska, where also
Emily, the youngest of the family, was graduated.

Our subject and his wife are devoted members of the Congregational Church, in which he is a Deacon. In politics he is a Prohibitionist, although in early life he was a Republican.

Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois"
Chapman Publishing Co, Chicago, 1894
Pages 531 - 532
Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer