Gould, John M.
Born: 1822-02-24 New Hampshire
Died: 1912-10-10 Moline, Illinois
Flourished: 1848 to 1912 Rock Island County, Illinois
John M. Gould, manufacturer, banker, and public official, was born in Piermont, New Hampshire, and attended local common schools, then studied for two years at academies in Canaan and Lyme, New Hampshire. He taught school in Canaan and Lyme from 1840 to 1843 and clerked in a store in Lyme, then relocated permanently to Illinois in 1844. Gould stayed briefly in Chicago before settling in Grand Detour, where he worked as a store clerk for three years. He purchased a share in the business that employed him, and operated the firm as J. M. Gould & Co. for a year before selling his stake to move to Moline in 1848. There he worked with John Deere in the plow-making business as a member of the firm of Deere, Tate & Gould for four years. Gould subsequently partnered with Dewitt C. Dimock to manufacture wooden-ware and furniture, and the pair later turned to other industries. In 1857 Gould and Dimock joined with C. P. Ryder to found the banking firm of Gould, Dimock & Company. This bank merged into the First National Bank of Moline in 1863, with Gould initially serving as cashier. At the time of the 1860 census, Gould owned real estate valued at $5,500, and possessed $10,000 in personal property. In politics, Gould was initially a Democrat, and was elected a county judge in Rock Island County in 1853 and served in this capacity for four years. He served twice as postmaster of Moline, first from 1857 to 1858, then again from 1859 to 1861, and was active in civic affairs in the city. Gould ran unsuccessfully as a Douglas Democrat for the Illinois House of Representatives in 1858. Three years later, he left the Democratic Party and became a Republican, reportedly due to his opposition to slavery. Gould registered for the draft in the Fourth Illinois Congressional District in 1863, but there is no further evidence that he served in the Civil War. He married Alice Chase Moulton in 1848, and following her early death married Hannah Marcy Dimock in 1850. Gould and his second wife had five children.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Rock Island County, Illinois (Chicago: Biographical, 1885), 469-70; Historic Rock Island County (Rock Island, IL: Kramer, 1908), pt. 2, 57-59; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Ogle County, 13 August 1848; Rock Island County, 9 August 1850, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Rock Island County, IL, 202; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1855-1865, 20a:119, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Daily Islander and Argus (Rock Island, IL), 26 October 1858, 1:2-3; Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 1 November 1858, 2:4, 5 November 1858, 1:3; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Moline, Rock Island County, IL, 303; U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2010); Moline Daily Dispatch (IL), 10 October 1912, 2:1-3; The Rock Island Argus (IL), 11 October 1912, 2:1-3; Gravestone, Riverside Cemetery, Moline, IL.