Gilbraith, Smith

Flourished: Lee County, Illinois

Gilbraith arrived in what would become Ogle County, Illinois, in 1835, staking a claim in Palmyra Township. When Ogle County became a county in 1836, Gilbraith was clerk of the election for county commissioners, and was subsequently appointed secretary of the county commissioners' court. When Lee County broke off from Ogle in 1839, Gilbraith was among those signing a bond guaranteeing that Dixon would be the county seat. In 1840, he helped lay out Dixon, and in 1841, he laid out the town of Coventry in Palmyra Township. From 1837 to 1841, he was postmaster of Dixon. Gilbraith also served as justice of the peace. He owned extensive tracts of public land in Lee and Whiteside counties.

Frank E. Stevens, History of Lee County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1914), 1:54, 60, 64-65, 69, 170, 255, 340, 436; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Lee County, 709:75, 94, 95; 712:214, 216; Whiteside County, 712:105, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.