My Genealogy Hound

FRANK R. GILSON, editor and proprietor of the daily and weekly Palladium, and one of the influential citizens of Benton Harbor, was born in Charlestown, a suburb of Boston, Mass., on the 30th of December, 1848. His parents, Edmund L. and Eloiza C. (Butters) Gilson, were natives respectively of New Hampshire and Vermont, and were married in Boston, Mass. Prior to coming to the West, they had resided for a short time in Massachusetts, and upon removing to Illinois in 1855 located in La Salle County, but subsequently went to Buckley, Iroquois County, Ill., where Frank R. grew to man’s estate. He left the farm at the age of seventeen years and went to work in a printing-office at Onarga, Ill., subsequently buying an interest in the paper, and in 1870 he moved it to Moline and conducted its publication for a short time, and sold it as the Moline Review in 1871.

Later Mr. Gilson resided for a few months in Davenport, Iowa, working on the Gazette, and he also lived in Clinton, Iowa, for twelve years, being city editor of the Clinton Herald. After making his home in Clinton for twelve years, he came, in 1885, to the thriving village of Benton Harbor, and with shrewd discernment, noticing that there was a splendid opening here for a good paper, he purchased the weekly Palladium, So successful was he in its publication, that in 1886 he established the daily Palladium, a six-column quarto, devoted to local items of interest as well as matters of general and State interest. Both the daily and weekly are bright and newsy, containing good editorials, as well as flashes of wit and humor. In typographical appearance they are unexcelled by any publication in this section of the State. In the city and throughout the county they are read with interest and have a wide circulation. In politics, the Palladium is Republican in tone, and is the recognized organ of the party in Benton Harbor.

Mr. Gilson has concentrated his energies upon his literary work, with what success we have already noted. His editorials are characteristic of the man himself — vigorous, tireless in their condemnation of wrong, and equally unwavering in their allegiance to the principles of right and justice. Through his press notices he is a zealous advocate of local interests, and in that way has been an important aid to development and progress. In addition to the newspaper business, he conducts a successful job-printing establishment, that turns out first-class work. The success of both the daily and weekly editions, and the support they are receiving from the people, are abundant evidence of the intelligent appreciation by the people of the efforts made by the papers in their behalf. Socially, Mr. Gilson is a Knight of Pythias, and is also identified with the Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of America. At the present time he is serving as Secretary of the Benton Harbor Building and Loan Association. Mr. Gilson is married and has two children, a son and daughter. Roy R. is acting for his father’s paper as city editor at the early age of seventeen years, and is probably the youngest city editor in the United States.