James D. Gill  

JAMES D. GILL, one of the oldest business men of Meadville, was born September 17, 1822, on the west bank of French Creek, Hayfield Township, this county, son of Robert and Harriet (Dunn) Gill, the latter of whom was a daughter of James Dunn, a Captain in the Revolutionary war. Robert Gill was born in Scotland, and was the eldest son of William Gill, a carpenter by trade, who came from Glasgow in 1786, settling in Pittsburgh, Penn. In 1793 he came to Crawford County and after raising a crop returned to Pittsburgh, and in 1794 moved with his family to what is now Hayfield Township, this county, where he followed farming the balance of his life. His eldest son, the father of our subject, acquired his education in the subscription schools of Hayfield Township, and followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1828. Our subject, after attending the schools of his native township, Meadville Academy and Allegheny College, clerked in a store at Meadville for six years. In 1844 he started a general store on his own account and continued in this business until 1857, when he embarked in the hardware trade,

which he conducted till 1873. In 1874 be was elected President of the Crawford Mutual Insurance Company, and in 1877 President of the Meadville Water Company, and is filling both these positions at the present time. Mr. Gill has been twice married: on the first occasion in 1847 to Elizabeth, daughter of Gen. Daniel Shryock, who bore him one child—William R. (now deceased). Mr. Gill lost his wife by death in 1851, and in 1853 was remarried to her sister—Susan E. Shryock, by whom he has three children: Harriet E.; D. A., who is now managing the hardware business, and Elizabeth. In politics Mr. Gill is a Democrat. In 1857 he was elected to the Borough Council; in 1865 was appointed Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, a post he filled with honor, and in 1873 served as Mayor of Meadville.

History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania: containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, page 740

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