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William GilbertFrom The Peopling of New York CityWilliam GilbertWilliam Gilbert was born in February 1718 and died on September 19, 1797[1]. He was born in Manhattan and lived there most of his life[2]. His father was named Willem Gilbert and his mother was named Maria van Zandt; and his wife was named Aeltje Thomas Verdon, who was born in 1722[3]. The two were married on May 25, 1740[4]. On February 18, 1773 there is a deed where William, a baker in New York, sells his water lot to a merchant named Benjamin Underhill. This water lot was granted to William by the mayor and Corporation of New York City February 12, 1750. The water lot was accross the street from William Gilbert's house in the Montgomerie Ward and enclosed by Water Street. This gives a pretty good description of where William Gilbert lived, the lot he sold is now lot number 233 Water Street and number 218 Front Street. William Gilbert was a respected man in his neighborhood. He was elected to the second ward charter official as the collector and I found several articles to show this information[5]. A position to collect money requires that the citizens of his ward to have a great deal of trust in William. Therefore I can see that he was a very good many with good morals and was held in high esteem by the members of his community. Gilbert's obituary states that he died at the age of about 80 years old and he was a well respected citizen of New York[6]. There were many men that were named William Gilbert that I was able to find. The deed I found which stated this William Gilbert was a baker, corresponding to the information given by Lepore, allowed me to eliminate many possible William Gilbert's because the deed shows the transaction was made in 1773 and only this William Gilbert was alive at that time. Gilbert did not leave much of a paper trail however the few articles and scattered information that i could find about him revealed that he was a respected man and lived a long and healthy life. ==References==
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