Queer Places:
413 S Baldwin St, Madison, WI 53703, USA
Forest Hill Cemetery, 1 Speedway Rd, Madison, WI 53705, United States
Dr. William Wesley Gill (February 16, 1860 - October 3, 1938) was born on February 16, 1860, in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, to parents Thomas Gill and Hannah E. Lantry
Gill (1833–1915). He grew up alongside his siblings: Herman L. (1852–1929), Minnie E. Lantry (1863–1948), and Winifred Gill (1866–1906).
Before establishing himself as one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Madison, Dr. Gill studied law and medicine, attending Rush Medical College, as well as studying in Heidelberg, Germany, and Vienna. Along with James N. Boyd, Dr. Gill founded the first hospital in Madison, located at 413 Baldwin Street. Professionally, he also served as the medical director of the Guardian Life Insurance Company and was one of Madison's early health officers, at a time when the entire health staff consisted solely of the health officer and health inspector. Known for his generosity, he rarely worried about collecting fees for his medical services, driven primarily by the ambition to restore his patients to health.
Deeply embedded in the civic and community life of Madison, Dr. Gill was appointed to the fire and police commission in 1914 by Mayor Adolph H. Kayser, serving on the commission until 1922 alongside members like Jabe Alford, John G. Hyland, Frank L. Gilbert, and John P. Breitenbach. During his tenure, he conducted physical exams for applicants free of charge, inaugurated target practice and military tactics for the police, and even taught boxing in the city hall. He was fiercely protective of the department; during a major 1915 student riot where protesters threw bricks through the police station windows, Dr. Gill famously grabbed a nightstick, rushed outside to help the officers, and confronted the crowd. Beyond his public safety work, he was an avid outdoorsman who spent time at a cottage on Lake Kegonsa, was prominent in boating on Lake Monona, and loved music, singing in a Masonic quartet, joining the Madison Maennerchor, and requesting that members of the Maennerchor sing two songs at his funeral.
His life also intersected with LGBTQ legal history in 1916, when he became involved as a character witness in the Wisconsin Supreme Court appeal of a sodomy conviction. The case centered on W. C. Abaly, a Madison eye, ear, and throat doctor who also maintained a partion office in Richland Center and was charged in Richland County with having performed fellatio on a young man named Frank Kilby. During the legal proceedings, Dr. Gill testified that he had known Abaly for forty years and that Abaly's reputation for morality in Madison was good. Another character witness for Abaly was Harry Sauthoff, the Dane County district attorney who was a bachelor at the time. The legal appeal implicitly raised questions about the credibility of these character witnesses, noting that because they were bachelors, they might potentially be homosexuals themselves, although the sodomy conviction was ultimately temporarily overturned due to technical procedural issues.
Dr. Gill passed away on October 3, 1938, at the age of 78, and was laid to rest at Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, with his pallbearers including six of his closest friends and retired police personnel.
References:
 We’ve Been Here All Along: Wisconsin’s Early Gay History Hardcover – Illustrated, May 7, 2019 by R. Richard Wagner |
Other references:
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