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Leslie Gillette

Very little information could be found about Leslie Gillette although he must have been a well-known and respected resident of Cheney in order to be elected Mayor.  A  search of old books and rolls of microfilm at EWU yielded only three items.  With due apologies we offer the following sketch.

J. Leslie Gillette was born November, 1847 in New York.  When 26 years of age he married another native of that state, Melinda (last name unknown).  Five children were born in the early years of their marriage.  Only four survived.

In 1885 the Gillette family came west and located on a farm near the town of Cheney.  A brief item in the September 16, 1898 issue of the Cheney Sentinel noted that Leslie Gillette enjoyed the pleasurable sight  of deer feeding on his place 3 miles from Cheney where he was breaking land at the time.

At some point in time the Gillettes apparently moved into Cheney before he became Mayor in 1893.  No record of that move can be found.

One son, Howard Gillette, died in a Spokane hospital in October of 1926 as the result of an injury sustained in a harvest accident near Lewiston, Idaho which was then his home.  Shortly after his death his parents left Cheney to establish a home on Waha Prairie a short distance from Lewiston.  Three years after leaving here Melinda died.  Her services were held in Lewiston with several close family friends here attending.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics at Boise, Idaho shows J. Leslie Gillette died of pneumonia at his Lewiston home on June 17, 1934 at the age of 86.

Many questions are left unanswered.  Did the family live in the city of Cheney and Leslie travel daily to his farm?  When did he retire?  Perhaps someday we will find a descendant of the family who can share the story of the family life here and of the Mayor in particular.

Contributed by Ellen Proctor, 1988.