Jack,

My great grandfather's cousin was Alex Gilmer from Jasper County Georgia.In 1854, Alex Gilmer's first boat was a small river steamer to use on the Chattahoochie River. One of the Gilmer relatives told me the names of my Gilmer ancestors were Scotish settlers named "Gilmore" when they first settled in Georgia in the late 1700s and in 1830, the census taker must have entered their name as Gilmer by mistake. There were a lot of Gilmers in that area.

You are correct, it was not Port Arthur but Orange, Texas where Alex Gilmer settled in Texas. In 1856, he moved from Georgia to Orange Texas and promptly built coastal steamer he later used for blockade running and Gilmer was piloting the "G.H. Bell" during the battle of Sabine Pass. In the 1870s Gilmer began operating sawmills in Orange and Beaumont,Texas and expanded his lumber business into the "Golden Triangle" cities Orange-Port Arthur-Beaumont and northward into east Texas.

I think there are some Gilmer Lumber Yards in that area today.