Hiram S. Gilmore

Hiram Sandford Gilmore (July 22, 1819 - February 11, 1849) was a preacher who established a school for African Americans in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1844 and served as its principal.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86hGAQAAMAAJ&q=Hiram+Sanford+Gilmore&pg=PA625|title=Alumni Record|first=Wesleyan University (Middletown|last=Conn.)|date=April 27, 1911|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=04-fAAAAMAAJ&q=cincinnati+%22h.+S.+gilmore%22|title=Education for Ladies, 1830-1860: Ideas on Education in Magazines for Women|first=Eleanor Wolf|last=Thompson|date=April 27, 1947|publisher=King's Crown Press|via=Google Books}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWQFAAAAQAAJ&q=hiram+gilmore+cincinnati&pg=PA171|title=History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880: 1800-1880|first=George Washington|last=Williams|date=April 27, 1883|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|via=Google Books}} Gurdon R. Gilmore, a prominent Cincinnati banker, was his father. Phoebe Sandford Gilmore was his mother.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpIDAAAAYAAJ&q=Hiram+Sanford+Gilmore&pg=PA252|title=Semi-centennial Historical and Biographical Record|first=Yale University Class|last=of 1841|date=April 27, 1892|via=Google Books}}

Gilmore studied at Yale, Wesleyan University in Connecticut until departing his junior year, and Lane Seminary. He was part of the Wesleyan Church and then a Unitarian. He served as business manager of The Herald, a free soil paper, before his death. Maria Gilmore was his wife.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6pJAQAAMAAJ&q=Hiram+Sanford+Gilmore&pg=PA370|title=Alumni Record of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn|first=Wesleyan University (Middletown|last=Conn.)|date=April 27, 1883|publisher=Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company|via=Google Books}}

Gilmore founded the Colored High School of Cincinnati in 1844. It provided educational opportunities for African Americans in Cincinnati and produced several notable alumni. It became known as Gilmore High School{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95JG_c9-uewC&pg=PA339|title=Time Longer Than Rope: A Century of African American Activism, 1850-1950|first1=Charles M.|last1=Payne|first2=Adam|last2=Green|date=August 27, 2003|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814767030|via=Google Books}} and attracted African American students from across the United States.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_acDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA288|title=The Black Urban Community: From Dusk Till Dawn|first=G.|last=Tate|date=June 12, 2019|publisher=Springer|isbn=9781349735723|via=Google Books}}

Gilmore penned a subscription letter to fundraise for a Cincinnati farmer who harbored a fugitive slave.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc04555|title=[Subscription letter for legal defense of John "Vansandt" (Van Zandt), who helped a fugitive slave] | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History|website=www.gilderlehrman.org}} Gilmore was an abolitionist.

Students from the school toured with Gilmore and their teachers performing concerts to raise money.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orY_BAAAQBAJ&q=cincinnati+%22h.+S.+gilmore%22&pg=PA134|title=Betsy Mix Cowles: Champion of Equality|first=Stacey|last=Robertson|date=November 26, 2013|publisher=Avalon Publishing|isbn=9780813347714|via=Google Books}}

Gilmore met with other communitarian sympathizers and was part of the Cincinnati Brotherhood. He and others purchased land to develop a utopian community but a flood in 1847 caused the collapse of a building being constructed and around 18 deaths. Devastated, Gilmore died two years later.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKTQ6j8LScoC&q=cincinnati+%22hiram+S.+gilmore%22&pg=PA183|title=History of the Schools of Cincinnati: And Other Educational Institutions, Public and Private|date=April 28, 1900|publisher=The compiler|via=Google Books}} A seance was conducted to communicate with him and receive guidance from him after his death.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-sE4MPRLTqkC&q=cincinnati+%22hiram+S.+gilmore%22&pg=PA219|title=God's Government Begun: The Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform, 1842--1846|first=Thomas D.|last=Hamm|date=November 22, 1995|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=0253114713|via=Google Books}}