Overton Smith Gildersleeve

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Overton Smith Gildersleeve (January 13, 1825 – March 9, 1864) was a lawyer, businessman, and politician in Canada West. Born and educated in Kingston, he was the son of Henry Gildersleeve and Sarah Finkle. He became a lawyer in 1849 and started practicing in Kingston in 1850. In 1850 he married Louisa Anne Draper; both his wife and her father died in 1851. He took over the family shipping and shipbuilding business, and his brother Charles joined his law practice in 1859. With John Hamilton, he ran steamship service between Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston, and Montreal, and he promoted branch railways around Kingston. He was elected to Kingston council in 1854 and served as mayor in 1855–56 and again in 1861–62. He unsuccessfully ran for the Legislative Council seat of Cataraqui in 1858 and for the Kingston seat in the Legislative Assembly in 1863. Gildersleeve died in Kingston at age 39 from an apoplectic seizure and was buried in Cataraqui Cemetery; his brother Charles took over the family business.