Jewett C. (Jewett Castello) Gilson

Jewett Castello Gilson was an American educator and writer born in Vermont in 1844. Sources available here identify him as a longtime teacher and school leader who later became closely associated with Oakland, California.

He is remembered in Oakland history as the first director of Chabot Observatory, and as someone who worked to make astronomy more accessible to local students and the public. A local history source also notes that he later owned Hamilton Hall and wrote newspaper columns in addition to his educational work.

For readers, Gilson is best known as the author of Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania, published in 1913. He died in 1926, leaving behind a career that blended education, public outreach, and wide-ranging curiosity about geography and science.