Gamaliel C. Freeman
March 11, 1852
|
Birth
of Gamaliel C. Freeman in Ohio. Father was
Job Tarlton Freeman, a farmer, born June
10, 1810,
in Virginia. His mother was Eveline
Barnes, born 1820 in Ohio. Gamaliel was
eighth of nine children.
[Photo of Barrett Building memorial
tablet, published in Denison Herald,
June 25, 1972] |
1860
|
Living
at age 8 in Roxand, Eaton, Michigan (post
office Charlotte), with a large family,
including
married sister Charlotte E. Freeman and
her husband Lorenzo K. Showman, an
"artist." Father
Job is a farmer. [Census]
Incidental
note:
G. C. Freeman's older sister Charlotte E.
Freeman (born 2 June 1835) married
Lorenzo K. Showman on March 19, 1857.
Lorenzo was born in Maryland in 1829 and
served in the Union Army in the Civil War.
He is listed as a photographer in
Portland, Michigan, in the Michigan
State Gazetteer and Business Directory
in 1875 (p. 636). His studio is at the
corner of James and
Kent. His wife is there, too, listed as a
milliner, located on Bridge. The 1900
Census has Showman,
at age 77, working as a photographer in
Waverly, Humphries County, Tennessee. |
Aug. 22, 1870
|
Living
in Roxand, Eaton, Michigan (post office
Sunfield) at age 18 (listed as 16, with no
occupation)
with father Job (farmer), mother Eveline,
and brother Job, age 14. Many Bosworths
live nearby. [Census] |
1882–1883
|
Partner
with David H. Swartz in Swartz &
Freeman, Columbus, Texas. Swartz sold out
to Freeman
in February 1884. [See Colorado
Citizen (newspaper), 14 Feb 1884,
cited in Haynes (1993), p. 42.] |
| 1884 |
Photographer
in Columbus, Texas. [Colorado
Citizen, February 14, 1884; cited in
Haynes (1993), p. 42] |
February 1884
|
Swartz
sold out his part of the photography
studio to G. C. Freeman. [Source, Mautz,
p. 460]
See Colorado Citizen (newspaper), 14 Feb
1884, cited in Haynes (1993), p. 42. |
Dec. 18, 1888
|
"Swartz
& Freeman, the photographers, have
hung out a large new sign at the First
National Bank
corner." Denison Gazetteer,
Dec. 23, 1888; reprinted in Grayson County
Frontier Village, Sunday
Gazetteer Local Condensations, vol.
2 (Nov. 1888–May 1889), p. 31. |
Feb. 27, 1889
|
"Some
fine specimens of fine photography were on
exhibition today by Messrs. Swartz &
Freeman,
in the show window of Marsh's shoe store
[314 West Main Street], and in front of
the First National Bank." Denison
Gazetteer, March 3, 1889; reprinted
in Grayson County Frontier Village, Sunday
Gazetteer
Local Condensations, vol. 2 (Nov.
1888–May 1889), p. 68. |
Feb. 28, 1889
|
"Messrs.
Swartz & Freeman, with their customary
enterprise, have made photographs of
upwards of
forty of the ladies who took part in the
trades carnival display. These pictures
have been taken in the costumes in which
the ladies appeared, and are mementos
which no doubt many of our citizens,
particularly the business firms
represented, would like to have. These
remembrances of this suspicious [sic]
event have been secured by Messrs. Swartz
& Freeman, at a large cost of time and
money, but it will no doubt prove, as it
deserves to, a large source of revenue in
the end." Denison Gazetteer,
March 3, 1889; reprinted in Grayson County
Frontier Village, Sunday Gazetteer
Local Condensations,
vol. 2 (Nov. 1888–May 1889), p. 69. |
1889-1890
|
Partner with John E.
Swartz in Swartz & Freeman, Denison
[successors to Perry F. Goben].
“Photographers, Copying, and Enlarging
Pictures.” “Leading Photographers. Studio
Over First
National Bank. Entrance, Rear of Bank.”
229 West Main Street, entrance on Rusk
Avenue. Both men board at Thompson House
and room over First National Bank, 231
West Main Street. Thompson House
is located at 400 West Main Street; H.
Thompson is proprietor. Perhaps the same
person, Harve Thompson, is a dealer in
ivory; his residence is at 807 West Main
Street. H. M. Thompson, a mail carrier,
lives at Thompson House, too. [Denison
City Directory; Mautz, Biographies;
Haynes, 1993] |
1891-1892
|
Swartz
& Freeman. Photographers. Gamaliel C.
Freeman and John Swartz, proprietors. Over
229 West
Main Street at the corner of North Rusk
Avenue. The two men room in the same
place. [Denison City Directory] |
1893-1894
|
Swartz & Freeman
is no longer listed in City Directory;
G. C. Freeman is no longer listed as a
photographer in Denison. [City
Directory] A much later news article
indicates Freeman became YMCA secretary
in 1893. |
1896-1897
|
YMCA
Parlors (Gamelia [sic] C. Freeman,
secretary), offer rooms for Christian
young men on
the second floor of 307-309 West Woodard
Street (Munson Block). [City Directory] |
| 1900 |
Gamaliel
C. Freeman not found in the U.S. Census of
1900. |
1901-1902
|
Gamaliel C. Freeman,
general secretary, YMCA, office over 309
West Woodard Street. Rooms at
the same place. [Denison City Directory]
Note: Freeman occupied this position for
18 years until his death in 1911. |
| 1903 |
Gamaliel C. Freeman,
general secretary, YMCA. Rooms at the same
place. [Denison City Directory] |
1907
|
G.
C. Freeman, editor, Association News
(monthly). 309 W. Woodard. Manager, J. V.
Baird. Publication
of Young Men's Christian Association.
Price 25 cents (annum). [Source: Denison
City Directory, p. 17] |
1910
|
Gamaliel
C. Freeman, 58 and single, superintendent
of the Y.M.C.A. He lives at 309 West
Woodard
Street (the Munson Block, formerly the
Y.M.C.A.), just across the alley from
William B. Munson, his
wife Mary, and their children Maude,
William Jr., and Eloise. [U.S. Census] |
August 1, 1911
|
Gamaliel C. Freeman
is murdered by gunshot in southern
Oklahoma at Armstrong, Bryan County,
while surveying for a boys’ camp. His
killers were never caught. Newspapers
called the death “mysterious.” His body
was brought to Denison and then he was
buried in Coffeyville, Kansas. A
funeral was held at the First Presbyterian
Church in Denison. Gamaliel had never
married. In 1913, a memorial plaque was
placed in the sidewalk near the YMCA
building (531 West Main Street, now the
Barrett Building). [Denison Herald,
June 25, 1972] |
August 10, 1911
|
A mass meeting was
held to "make a united effort to apprehend
the murderer of G. C. Freeman."
["To Capture Slayer of G. C. Freeman: Mass
Meeting at YMCA Tonight to Raise Funds for
a Reward," Denison
TX Daily Herald, August 10, 1911] |
1911 or later
|
Estate
was probated in Kansas. It
consisted of hundreds of shares of
mining stock, equity in
some public school lands in Red River
& Bowie counties, Texas; some mining
land in Arkansas;
some land in Michigan (old home in
Roxand Township). [Material posted by a
family member on Ancestry.com] |
July 2, 1913
|
Memorial tablet installed in
sidewalk at the northeast corner of West
Main Street and North Mirick
Avenue, Denison, Texas. ["Freeman
Memorial Tablet," newspaper
article in Denison (Tex.) Daily
Herald, July 2, 1913.] |
 
Herald
Democrat
July 27,
1972
MURDER OF
GAMALIEL C. FREEMAN
Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
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