San Joaquin County
Biographies
JAMES GILLIS
JAMES GILLIS, President of
the California Navigation and Improvement Company, is a native of New York
State, born in Franklin County, June 10, 1828, his parents being Duncan and
Margaret (McIntyre) Gillis. Both parents were natives of Scotland, were reared
and married there years before coming to America. The father was on board a
British man-of-war when young, and followed the sea to a greater or less extent
until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, when he settled down in his
native country for a time. The fifth child was born on the ocean while he was
removing his family to America. He settled in Canada, on the upper bank of the
St. Lawrence river. He afterward moved upon an Indian strip which was then
unsurveyed; it was found that this land was a portion of the United States and
Canada, and divided as such to the respective countries. He died there in 1857;
his wife preceded him, her death having occurred in 1850. The town of Fort
Covington stands where they lived, and three of their sons are now citizens
there.
James Gillis, with whose name this sketch
commences, was the eleventh in order of age of his parents’ thirteen children.
He was reared at his native place, and received his schooling there. He
remained on the home farm until 1848, when he left to make his own way in the
world. He went to New York city, and after remaining there awhile went down to
Massachusetts, and traveled considerably through that State. While there he got
word that his mother’s health was failing, and returned home. Her death
occurred while he was there. In 1851 he sailed from New York on the steamer
United States, on his way to California. From Aspinwall he proceeded by a small
skiff to Gorgona, thence afoot to Panama, reaching there about 9 o’clock on the
second night, having walked all the way through the mud, and in a heavy rain.
He was detained on the Pacific side while the steamer made one trip to San
Francisco and back, in all about three weeks, then boarded the Winfield Scott,
and landed in San Francisco in July, 1851. After two or three weeks in the city
he proceeded to Stockton, and from there to Columbia, Tuolumne County. There
was no water and very little mining; he obtained work wheeling sawdust out of a
saw-mill. He was next “promoted” to cleaning lamps in the office, and finally
became engineer, which position he held during the latter part of his eight or
nine months’ experience in the mill. When the rains came he went to mining, and
fared pretty well while mining was plentiful, clearing from $5 to $100 per day.
He mined steadily about a year, and then engaged in the manufacture of soda
water, in connection with a company who had brought their machinery out with
them from the East. He was so engaged about four or five years, and then he and
a partner established a similar business in Sonora. He had been meantime
engaged in quartz mining; and in 1865 sold out his soda water business and
embarked altogether in quartz mining, in company with three others, about
sixteen miles from Sonora, in Sugar Pine District. About three years later they
sold out the business, and Mr. Gillis came to San Joaquin County. He looked
around for a year before investing and loaned some money out.
Six months later he rented some houses,
and commenced storing grain, he having many friends who desired to store with
him. He stored grain for Donald Davidson among others, and looked after mining
for him as well. He followed warehousing one year, and in 1865 embarked in
general farming on his present home ranch, which is situated three miles from
Stockton, on Copperopolis road. This tract now consists of 360 acres, he having
sold 700 acres adjoining it in 1887. He also has 100 acres lying south of the
tract aforementioned. In 1888 Mr. Gillis was elected to the presidency of the
California Navigation and Improvement Company. He claims no experience in this
line, bringing to the position solely the experience of a successful man of
business.
Mr. Gillis has been an active man all his
life, and has been connected with many enterprises out of his regular line of
business. In 1862 he and a partner brought a band of fine horses to this county
from the East, overland, among which were two stallions for which they paid
$1,000 a piece. One of them died shortly after arriving here. They also shipped
a lot of buggies, fifty in number, from the East around Cape Horn, but on
arriving here they found they were not what they had ordered. They were not
what the miners wanted either, and they disposed of them at a loss, the last
ones being sold at auction in San Francisco. Mr. Gillis, while taking at all
times a proper interest in public affairs, has never been, in any sense, a
politician, and has never held a political office in his life. He made his
start in this State, and is a thorough Californian.
Mr. Gillis was married in 1863 to Miss
Mary Taggert, a native of Michigan, who died in this county. There are two
children by that marriage living, viz: Jessie and Edna. His present wife’s
maiden name was S. A. Hayes, a native of Ohio. They have three children, viz:
Jeanette, Merren and James McIntyre.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 276-277. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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