William C. Gilbreath a.k.a. W.C. Gilbreath, was a North Dakota

North Dakota

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 who served as the North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor

North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor

The North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor was an elected official who headed the North Dakota Department of Agriculture and Labor. The office was established with the state's constitution in 1889, and was split into two separate offices—the North Dakota Commissioner of Labor and the...

 from 1905 to 1914. He was born in McMinn County, Tennessee, but his family relocated to Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, where he was educated in the public schools and in Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

. He came to North Dakota and engaged in the newspaper business, and later served as deputy commissioner of insurance of the state before he was elected as Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor in 1904, as a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. He served in that capacity until 1914, and died in Bismarck

Bismarck, North Dakota

Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city's population was 61,272 at the 2010 census, while its metropolitan population was 108,779...

in 1921 at the age of 69.