Gillard After College and Ultimately His Death
Activism in California
Jacob was a very prominent activist within the civil rights community and would often travel to California for business. He was in the mining industry and made money from it as a career. Jacob was lucky enough to have $150 dollars worth of shares in the Golden Rock Water Company which is equivalent to above $5,000 dollars today. Jacob was very motivated on making money throughout his Gold Rush career. William Cooper Neil, a groomsman at the Gilliards wedding, was quoted saying, “[Gilliard] soon expects to leave for Australia… to leave on a golden mission.” He also would spend a lot of time at and was very involved in the 1855 Color Convention in California, in which he was appointed to lead a committee to help elect the next chairman. This led to him spending months at a time away from home and working in the trade business.
Gilliards Married Life
After Jacob left the college, he married his wife on the first of June 1854; he was 26 and she was 24. His wife was Helen Putman, and her parents, George and Jane Putnam, were abolitionists as well as a prominent family in Salem. Born in 1830, Helen was a close friend of Charlotte L. Forten, who was raised by Helen’s aunt and was a cousin of Central College students Robert and Joseph Purvis and James Vogelsang Forten. In her journal (which has been published and written about by scholars), Charlotte described how the wedding of Helen and Jacob took place in the shadow of the Fugitive Slave Act. In addition to Charlotte L. Forten, other prominent abolitionists in attendance include William C. Nell, serving as a groomsman. Nell’s collected writings included several mentions of both Gilliard and his wife. After the wedding, Jacob and Helen moved to her hometown of Salem Massachusetts and lived with her family for a short time. On the 1855 census Helen Putman’s parents were both labeled as being hairdressers, which was a profession Jacob also practiced.
His Continued Work as a Barber While On Ships Inbetween
He also took a number of jobs on steamships working in the trade industry as a barber. On his trips he would be docked all along the country. Following his time in California Jacob took a job on the steamship "The Central American '' in 1857. The ship left Panama to return to the United States for New York City. Unfortunately it was caught in a hurricane on the 9th of September and by the 11th the ship had fallen apart with 425 lives being lost, one of which was Jacob Gilliard. After his death all his belongings were left to his wife. When he died, he had no real estate, all the money given to his wife was his self estate. At the time of his death he had $2,500 to his name which is the modern equivalent to $87,000 today.