Henry Coykendall Giltner (1808 - 1883)

Born 7 Aug 1808 in Tompkins Co, NY

Ancestors

Died 25 Apr 1883 at age 74 in Martinsburg, Renville Co, MN

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Biography

Married Adeline Taylor in 1833.

Henry Coykendall Giltner was one of the earliest pioneers of the town of Forest, Wisconsin, in 1845. He was elected town chairman. In 1847, he also became the first postmaster in the neighborhood.(1)

Tobias’s son Henry C. learned the trade of a millwright and later moved to Forest Township, Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, and then to Sumter Township, McLeod County, Minnesota. In Wisconsin he became the postmaster of the local post office, was elected Township Chairman, and was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshall. In Minnesota, he was admitted to the bar, allowed to practice law, and was elected McLeod County Attorney. He was considered the richest man in Sumter. However, in spite of his achievements, he fell victim to a fraudulent report perpetrated by a “Dr. G.E. Gifford” of Fonda, New York, that his great grandmother, Anna Catharina (Weber) Güldner, had been the rightful heiress to a fortune in Holland and a vast estate in Harlem, New York City."(2)

In September 1877, he wrote to the police chief in Denver Colorado in an attempt to find his brother Amos so that they could pursue the mysterious fortune together.(3)

The Glenco Register of September 13, 1877, reported that he was planning a trip to Holland in pursuit of the alleged Wolford Webber fortune. In 1880, he moved to Martinsburg, Minnesota. Had six children.

Henry was a prominent Whig; however, on one notable occasion he was the only person in antebellum Marshfield who voted Republican.(4)

Son Henry P Giltner was drafted into 4th Minnesota Infantry Regiment, Company A, and died at Louisville on June 20, 1865.(5) He married Lucy Coffeen (spelling uncertain) on 30 March 1858 and had two sons.

Sources

• “Güldner/Giltner Line of Johann Christian Güldner” by Millard F. Arnold, revised November 25, 2004, Ancestry
• DAR application of Sheila Wharton Jacobsen June 19, 1976
• Minnesota, Territorial and State Censuses, 1849-1905
• 1870 United States Federal Census

References

• (1) Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, Past and Present, Maurice McKenna editor (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1912), 274
• (2) “Güldner/Giltner Line of Johann Christian Güldner” by Millard F. Arnold, revised November 25, 2004, Ancestry
• (3) Public Ledger (Memphis, TN), 5 Sep 1877, p. 1
• (4) History of Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical Company (1880), 501
• (5) Record of Minnesota Volunteers During the Rebellion, p. 179