Gideon, George S.

Born: 1815-XX-XX Washington, D.C.

Died: 1876-02-24 Washington, D.C.

Flourished: Washington, D.C.

George S. Gideon was a printer, publisher, bookbinder, and railroad executive. He was the son of Jacob Gideon, who established a printing business in Washington, DC in 1817. In October 1837, George married Catharine C. Drake, with whom he had one child. In 1841, he joined his father in establishing J & G. S. Gideon, a printing and bookbinding firm that operated its business on the west side of Ninth Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and D Street North. Among its numerous printing contracts, J. & G. S. Gideon printed the Official Registers of the United States, from 1843 to 1851. In 1850, George was living in Washington's Fourth Ward and owned real property valued at $6,000. By 1860, he was living in the Third Ward and owned real property valued at $10,000 and a personal estate of $20,000. In addition to his work in printing and publishing, George was an avid sponsor of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad, serving as president of the railroad from 1862 to 1866.

Obituary, National Republican (Washington, DC), 25 February 1876, 4:3; Marriage Records, District of Columbia Marriages, Clerk of the Superior Court, Records Office, Washington DC; J. Jefferson Looney and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2016), 13:236n; Gaither & Addison, comps., The Washington Directory, and National Register, for 1846 (Washington, DC: John T. Towers, 1846), 44; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, from the Thirtieth September, 1841, to the Thirtieth September, 1843 (Washington, DC: J. & G. S. Gideon, 1843); Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1845 (Washington, DC: J. & G. S. Gideon, 1845); Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1847 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1847); Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849); Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 4, Washington, DC, 253; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Washington, DC, 150; Gravestone, Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, DC.