Phineas Shepard made his living in various ways. He was a mason but also ran a book-binding business from his home. Shepard also ploughed and mowed fields, collected taxes, bought and sold goods and dealt in land.

Julius Gilman, born in East Hartford, set up a book-bindery in Hartford on Main Street in 1833. His account books for that business are dated to 1857 although it is not listed in the City Directory. His health caused him to shift his principal activity to farming which he pursued profitably on Charter Oak Hill. He also conducted real estate transactions. With his wife, Eliza, he had several children: George Shepard (1825-1886), Charles Barnard (1827-1852), Henry Mason (1840-1910), Julius Sheldon (1833-1917), H. Elizabeth (1835-1905), Frederick Gillette (1840-1910), and Mary (1846-1911). He died at his home at 6 Charter Oak Place.

George Shepard Gilman, born in Hartford, graduated from Trinity College in 1847 with high honors and as salutarian of his class. He later studied law with Lucius F. Robinson and shared an office with Henry C. Robinson. He was judge of the Police Court in 1860 and was several years prosecuting attorney for the city of Hartford. He also served on the Common Council and Board of Alderman. He was for a time clerk of the Board of Education. When George Gilman joined the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., he retired from the bar. He became a director of the company and was associated with it until his death. Gilman invested in lands in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. He also held bonds in several western railroads and mining companies. Locally, Gilman and associates owned and operated the Sage Ammunition Works in Middletown from 1864-1869. He also invested in Connecticut tobacco.

In the community of Hartford George S. Gilman was active in the South Congregational Church and served on the Joint Special Committee for the Farmington River Water Supply in 1878. He helped found the Republican Party in Connecticut. He was chairman for Hartford County and in 1860 was elected president of the Hartford Wide-Awakes Club . As his records and correspondence show, he supervised the town committees and canvassed assiduously for the new party. He remained active in the 1864 and subsequent elections. In 1865 George S. Gilman married Ellen Marie Hills (1841-1919) and with her had two children, George Hills Gilman (1866-1928) and Julia Ellen Gilman (1873-1963).

Julius Sheldon Gilman, fourth child of Julius and Eliza Shepard Gilman, was born in Hartford at the Charter Oak Hill farm. After schooling in Hartford, at the age of 15 he departed to work in New York. When Abraham Lincoln issued a call for volunteers in 1862, Julius S. Gilman responded and enlisted in a-new company, the 22nd Connecticut Volunteers . He was appointed, and after six months was promoted to Brigade Quartermaster. When the nine months required service expired, he returned to Hartford with his regiment. Julius S. Gilman was immediately appointed Assistant Quarter-Master on Governor William Buckingham's staff and later, under Governor Joseph Hawley, was made Quarter-Master General.

After returning to civilian life, Gilman worked for four years in Chicago for the D.D. Mallory Oyster and Packing Company. (His brother, Henry, was also to work for this company in Detroit. In 1864 Julius married Mary Webster Gillette (1837-1901). Their only child, Robert, died at age 3 months in 1870. Julius S. Gilman returned to Hartford and bought out the Worthington and Dustin subscription book business. The firm became Dustin and Gilman. After five years, following the failure of Dustin and Gilman, Gilman changed to the oil stove business, first in Hartford and then in New York.

Julius S. Gilman's personal interests seem to have centered on military and veterans' affairs. He helped found the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) post in Hartford and was a moving force in the Campfield Monument Association and the establishment of that monument in 1900. While living in Hartford in 1865-66, Gilman was secretary of the Choral Union of Hartford.

The Hills family of Hartford is represented in this collection through its connection to the Gilman family with the marriage of Ellen Maria Hills (1841-1919) to George Shepard Gilman. Her father, Isaac Hills (1801-1858) was a partner in the shoe manufacturing company, Isaac Hills and Sons. Her mother, Eliza Hills (1811-1870), was widowed in 1858. Her brother, Horace W. Hills (1834-1890), a bachelor, remained in the business and it is chiefly his and his father's papers which appear here.