My Genealogy Hound

GILBERT S. LANDER, of Sedalia, is one of the oldest employes of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and is one of their most reliable and trustworthy men. He is now foreman of the wood-working department of the car-shops, and has under his jurisdiction about fourteen men. When he first came to this city it was a small place of about three thousand inhabitants, and the car-shops were scarcely half as large as at present.

The parents of our subject were Seneca and Polly (Shaw) Lander, natives of Maine. The former was a dealer in livestock, and passed his entire life in Oxford County, where his demise took place when he was in his eighty-fifth year. His wife was the daughter of Gilbert Shaw, a farmer, and died when in her sixty-sixth year. Both parents were members of the Baptist Church, and were held in high esteem by all who knew them.

G. S. Lander was born in Woodstock, Me., November 13, 1827, being the third in a family of six children, all but two of whom are still living. He was reared on a farm and remained with his parents until nineteen years of age, when he went to Portland and began serving a three-years apprenticeship as a carpenter. Next he worked at his trade for two years in Boston, and in 1854 moved to Wisconsin. He soon found employment as a car-builder in the Chicago & Northwestern shops at Fond du Lac, and after twelve years of steady work there went to Wyandotte, Kan., and from 1870 to 1876 was in the Union Pacific car-shops. In July of the last-mentioned year he became a resident of Sedalia, having been tendered the post which he now occupies.

The first marriage of Mr. Lander took place in Wisconsin, the lady of his choice being Miss Helen Henry, a native of New York State. She died, leaving one child, John H., who is now a printer in Worcester, Mass. In Wyandotte Mr. Lander and Mrs. Louisa A. Cockrell were united in marriage. Mrs. Lander was born in Clay County, Mo., and is a lady of amiable and genial qualities. Our subject is identified with the Knights and Ladies of Honor, and Equity Lodge No. 26, A. O. U. W., in which he is a past officer, and in 1882 was a Representative to the Grand Lodge in St. Louis. On political questions he is always to be found on the side of the Democracy.