Kit Carson County, Colorado
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Kit Carson County Pioneers:

Amasa and Effie (Rice) Gilman, Cope


In 1880 Buchanan County, Iowa, Josiah Gilman is farming, 60, born in Maine, with Charlotte 50 born in Pennsylvania.
Viola is 20, Lucy A. 18, Oma E. 16, Amasa A. 13, and Clara S. 9, all kids born in Iowa.

In 1885 Sioux City, Iowa, Josiah is 62, Charlotte 54, "Amos" 17, and Claire C. 14.

Josiah died October, 1901 and is buried in Logan Park Cemetery, Sioux City # 156979618.

Amasa's sister Lucy might be in Lincoln County, Colorado in 1910, 48, married 29 years to Walter C. Bell 51 born in Illinois, farming. They have Lena 27, Marion 18, Mable G. 6, all born in Iowa.
Walter and Lucy were in Fayette County, Iowa in 1900, and in Kansas City, Kansas in 1920, so they didn't stay long in Colorado.

Viola E. Gillman married Leonard G. Earl in Buchanan County January 5, 1881.
They're in Sioux City Iowa in 1885, Leonard 25, Viola E. 24, and Clyde J.1.

Viola must have died - in 1900 Sioux City, Amasa Earl born April 1882 in New York, is with grandmother Charlotte Gillman born September 1830 in Pennsylvania, widowed.

Charlotte Gilman, dying April 1910, is buried in Sioux City # 156979621.

Leonard married Dollie M. Batterson in Marshall County, Iowa on September 12, 1893, and they're in the Jackson County Kansas census in 1900, with Bessie born August 1894 in Iowa.
AMASA AND EFFIE

Effie Rice is in Buchanan County, Iowa in 1880, 8, with James Rice 44, farming, born in New York, Elizabeth 35 Wisconsin. Sylvester 12, Edith 10, Effie 8, Charlie 6, and Lavern 1 were all born in Iowa.

Effie M. Rice, 17, daughter of James Rice and Vargason, married Amasa Axel Gilman on May 26, 1888 in Buchanan County, Iowa.
Elizabeth J. (Vargason) Rice 184301923 is buried in Buchanan County # 98218344, with James Rice 1837-1894 # 93218445.

1895 Woodbury County, Sioux City,
Amasa Gilman, age 28, b. Allamakee Co.
Effie Gilman, age 23, b. Buchanan Co.
Pearl Gilman, white female, age 5, b. Woodbury Co.
Silvia Gilman, white female, age 3, b. Woodbury Co.
Bertram Gilman, white male, age 1, b. Woodbury Co.

Pearl E. Gilman 1889-1901 is buried in Sioux City, Iowa # 143917542.

Bertram died October 1902, also buried in Sioux City, per # 156979620.

Amasa A. Gilman proved up two quarters in 19 and 30, 5S 50W in 1916. That would be about four miles from Richard's claim.

In January 1919, Amasa L. Gilman of Cope, Colorado was listed as wounded, degree undetermined.

Amasa A. Gilman is in Washington County, Colorado in 1920, 53 born in Iowa, with Effie 48. Amasa L. is 21, Erwin V. 18.

"1925 Iowa, Buchanan Co., Hazleton Twp. Effie Gilman, age 53, widow, Boarder [in home of Walter & Ethel Jarrett], born Iowa, father James Rice, mother Eliz. J. Vargason born Wisconsin, parents married Iowa."

Effie is divorced in 1930, a matron at the State Home for Dependent Children in Denver.

In 1932 Denver, Effie (widow of Amasa) is living at 2427 S. Josephine.

Effie was still in Denver in 1937 - September 23, 1937 Fayette, Iowa.
" Funeral services for Sylvester James Rice, 69, who died Wednesday in Mt. Vernon township, were conducted at 2 p. m. Friday at the Kistner chapel by Rev. Charles Rubenburg, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hazleton. Mr. Rice was born Sept. ??, 1S67, in Buchanan county, Iowa, son of James and Elizabeth Rice.
Surviving are two sisters, Mrs. Fred Hunt, Running Water, S. D., and Mrs. Effie Glllman, Denver, Colorado, and four brothers, Charles A., Vern and Earl Rice, all of Huzleton, and Frank Rice, Fayettc.
Another sister preceded in death"

SILVA

Richard Bragg, age 25, married Silva "Gilmon" on September 11, 1915 in Kit Carson County.


Silva May Bragg, born November 14, 1891 to Amasa Gilman and Effie Rice, died August 30, 1988 in Butte, to be buried in Mountain View Cemetery.

AMASA AND CARRIE

Amasa, 61, born in Iowa, marrried Carrie Cooper on January 19, 1929 in Detroit.

They're in Denver in 1930, Amasa 63, with six roomers, and then Carrie Gilman 49 born in Indiana.

May 7, 1931.z

z z
May 10, 1931

Thanks to the Denver Public Library for the obituaries.


IRVIN

Irvin Gilman married Beulah J. Snider on July 2, 1921 in Denver.
They're in Scottsbluff, Nebraska in 1940, Irvin 38, Beula 35, Loraine 16, and Gerald 8.

ALVIN

Alvin J. Gilman married Tessa H. Delaney on January 3, 1922 in Denver.

Alvin James Gilman 1895-1979 is buried in Scottsbluff, Nebraska # 117078479, with Tressa 1894-1978 # 117078570.

AMASA L.

Amasa Lavern Gilman, Sr. 1899-1986 is buried in Roseburg, Washington # 116199479>

Ruth McCoy married Amasa Gilman on April 27, 1921, in Denver, Colorado and had three children Dorothy, Laverne, who is still alive and living in Portland Oregon, and Jackie who was my grandmother. The family moved to southern Oregon. I spent alot of my summers down in Roseburg, Oregon with them and have so many fond memories:). Pearl remarried an Ivan Hatfield and is buried down in Jackson County Oregon with him. We have copies of family photos and my mom has a family bible with names but I think it went back just to Oscar and Pearl.

Dorothy L. George 1922-2007 is buried in Douglas County, Washington # 111442718.

Jacqueline # 116198242 "Jacqueline M Hogan - Age 76, of Roseburg, Oregon, passed away on June 1, 2004, at her residence. She was born on January 19, 1928, in Denver, Colorado. She was preceded in death by her husband, Emmett on February 18, 2001. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-Law, Butch and Kathy Hogan of Roseburg; her daughter and son-in-law, Jackie and Mike Wines of Longview, Washington; her sister Dorothea George of Central Point, Oregon; her brother, Amasa L. Gilman of Tigard, Oregon; her sister-in-law, Dess Roper of Roseburg, Oregon; and sister-in-law, Ray Nelson of Portland. Her grandchildren include Jeri and Sam Ingalls and their two children, Amber and Jason of Longview, Washington; Jennifer and Larry Roussel and their three children, Joshua, Samantha and Jacob of Kelso, Washington; Haley and Chris Lansing and their two children, Lauryn and Max of Roseburg; and Emiley and Monte Ketchum and their daughter, Libbey, also of Roseburg. She had numerous nieces and nephews. "
Amasa Gilman, who died on Dec. 29, 2012 at 90, formulated his unique vision for education at the Metropolitan Learning Center in Northwest Portland.'; Amasa Gilman saw a school as a place to build a child’s self-esteem and with that philosophy, he became a beloved educator at a revolutionary Portland public school. The educator, described as reserved with a strong presence by those who knew him, died on Dec. 29, 2012 at 90. Gilman sought to give students and teachers the opportunity to develop their creativity by breaking the bounds of a traditional classroom. Once he left his role as principal, his free spirit continued to push him as an artist, and he lived the lessons he preached during his career as an educator. He was born in Denver on March 20, 1922. He moved with his family to Riddle in southwestern Oregon, where his father ran a car repair garage.
After high school, he moved to California to work with an aviation company but soon transferred to England during World War II to serve as an airplane mechanic for the U.S. Air Force. While in England, Gilman met and married his first wife, Dorothy, and had his first daughter, Loraine, before moving back to Oregon after the war. Gilman graduated from Southern Oregon University (then Southern Oregon College) and moved from life as a mechanic into education, where he became determined to bring a student-driven style to the classroom.
He served as fifth-grade school teacher in the Portland school system before eventually becoming a principal, and his classroom became an inspiration for his daughter Loraine, who grew up to become an elementary school teacher.
"It was fun," she said of his classroom. "His emphasis was science and social studies, and he made it really fun. His kids all seemed to really like him a lot."
In 1968, Gilman worked with a number of teacheRs to create and then become principal of the Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC) in Northwest Portland. The center was a revolutionary concept, a K-12 school in which the traditional letter grading system was nowhere to be found.
Gilman literally took the door to his office off the hinges at the Metropolitan Learning Center, to create the kind of openness between students, teachers and administrators he hoped the school would facilitate. The experience as the center’s principal was the "highlight of his work," according to Eva Gillman,  his second wife.
"When he was a kid, he didn’t have a happy time at school," she said. "Going to the principal’s office was like going to the executioner’s office. He wanted no child to ever experience that."
Under Gilman’s leadership, the school quickly developed an extensive waiting list of students trying to get in. The school gained a reputation for its relaxed climate, but the stress of challenging the status quo took a toll on Gilman.
"He ended up with bleeding ulcers for a while and had to slow down," Eva Gillman said. "It’s easier to go along but he was one who stuck his neck out."
In 1975, Gilman’s term as principal came to a close when the public school administration transferred him to a new location with the hope he could bring the same atmosphere to a different school.
This decision was met with anger at MLC, as students and teachers protested the decision outside the facility with pickets and signs.
"Kids were really involved because they loved Amasa," John Morrison, a teacher at MLC from 1973-1978, said of the protest. "They didn’t want to see him go."
Gilman, who had separated from his first wife in the 60s, met Eva, a native of Sweden, in 1975 after leaving MLC, and the couple married the following year. He served short stints as principal in two elementary schools over the next two years but did not believe his style fit well with the new schools.
He retired in 1978 , and he and Eva moved to Hawaii, where Gilman owned three acres of land. For the next two years, the couple lived in a van with a bed inside while building a home meant to resemble the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Amasa Gilman and his second wife, Eva, moved to Hawaii and built a home designed like the Great Pyramid of Giza after he retired from his career in education. "Amasa had a great passion for ancient Egypt," Eva Gilman said. "He had this dream of building a pyramid house, which is what we did."
 
"This is the kind of stuff Amasa got into," Eva Gilman said. "(When living in Oregon) we would come home from work, and he would say, ‘Let’s go to San Francisco. Now.’ And we’d get in the car and go. He was always saying yes to things."
In retirement, Gilman drew on his background in metal work during his years as an airplane mechanic to develop as an artist. He used his skills as a welder to create metal sculptures of birds, horses and countless other animals, as well as jewelry.
Gilman sold his artwork at Portland Saturday Market hut called The Phoenix. He and Eva Gilman moved to a home in Tigard in 1985, after two years of traveling in their van to each state in the continental U.S. After five years operating the hut, he opened his art shop, still called The Phoenix, in Multnomah Village, where he continued to create pieces with a Native American style.
For the final 15 years of his life, Gilman struggled with debilitating neuropathy and closed the store.
He is survived by his wife, Eva, of Tigard; daughters from his first marriage, Loraine Cruz of Tualatin and Melody Gilman-Frederick of Portland; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.     
2013 " MLC has for 45 years been able to do extremely well by not deciding to follow the prescription of the district," says state Rep. Lew Frederick, a former MLC parent and teacher at the school, whose late father-in-law, Amasa Gilman, founded the school and was its first principal."



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