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Educated in, and a graduate of law; fitted by training for an active professional and political life, Judge Gillham gave it all up in deference to the wishes of his family. To please them he dug the grave deep down in his own heart and there forever buried the hopes, the aspirations and the ambitions which had stimulated him to secure such an education. All this could not have happened without a struggle, for it meant the laying of a new foundation, the building of a new structure. He loved his parents, and the sacrifice he made at their request evidenced the beautiful spirit which so permeated his life; it was almost an active answer to the command, "Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee."

Judge Gillham was born near Riggston, Scott county Illinois, September 7, 1834, and was the youngest of eight children born to James and Sarah L. Gillham, all of whom preceded him to the other world. Passing his school days, and the long, hard hours spent in preparation for a professional life, there is but little worthy of record antedating his marriage.

When he was quite a young man his marriage with Rebecca Ann Waits, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth Waits, of Cynthiania, Harrison county, Kentucky, was solemnized. Of this union eight children were born. Two died in infancy, and the remaining six, Martha, Gertrude, James Edward, Mrs. J. B. Gordon of Seattle, Washington; Jesse Lofton, John Wesley and William were left, with the bereaved widow and mother, to mourn his loss.

Early in life, while attending school in Jacksonville, he experienced religion and united with the Methodist Episcopal church. Throughout the years of his life he was a faithful, consistent member. He served as trustee in the church of his choice for many years and was ever ready to lend counsel and aid to its interests, or any of its undertakings. That he fully believed in all he professed none can doubt, for in his daily life were exemplified the christian virtues of faith and hope and charity.

Judge Gillham stood very high in the estimation of the people of Scott county. They recognized his ability and his true worth as a man and in 1872 elected him to the position of county judge. He filled the office four years until 1876 and the records show how faithfully and impartially he discharged his duty. His rulings were fair and his decisions just.

Judge Gillham lived at Riggston, where he was engaged in farming. His home life was a near perfect as it is possible for home life to be. It was in the home, shut off from the cares, vexations and torments of a caviling world, that the true traits, the real heart of the sweet-mannered, faithful husband and father were most happily shown. He was kind, patient, indulgent. Nothing which he could contribute to the comfort, welfare or happiness of his wife and children was ever withheld from them. In his nature he embodied all that the terms "husband" and "father" signify and found in the happiness of his family his greatest joy.

Socially he was a pleasant gentleman and numbered his friends by the hundred. He was kind to the sick, good to the poor and needy and on more than one occasion looked closely after the temporal welfare of the aged and infirm. In every essential Judge Gillham was a good man; he lived a pure life, and left behind him an honored name and spotless reputation.

He was in failing health for a couple of years before his death. He suffered from a complication of diseases and his afflictions he bore cheerfully and patiently. He knew he could never recover; felt that he had run a good race, had made a good fight. He knew in whom he had placed his trust and on the 27th day of June, 1902, sank quietly and peacefully into the sleep of death. He was sixty-eight years, nine months and twenty-one days old.