James Curry Gill was born in Perry County, Illinois, November 3, 1843, to William and Melinda (Curry) Gill.  Mr. Gill attended Bunker Hill Academy and McKendrie College of Illinois, and in 1872 moved to Missouri where he engaged in the sheep and cattle business.  In 1882, for health reasons, he moved to Cass County in Dakota Territory to Gill township, where he started a very successful five thousand acre farm.  In 1883 he was elected a Cass County Commissioner, serving four years as chairman of the board.  Gill was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1891 and 1894, and was chosen speaker in 1895.  In 1897 he became Secretary of the State Senate.

The Gill Collection consists of two scrapbooks.  In the Scrapbook Series, the first scrapbook (green) contains numerous clippings containing obituaries of Mr. Gill and some of his family.  There are also several telegrams concerning his death and letters of condolence to Mrs. Gill from L. B. Hanna, and A. D. Burnham (1897).  In the second scrapbook (gold) are clippings on a variety of subjects including state and county politics and election returns.  Of interest is an 1886 article on the new Cass County Court House, a speech by Mr. Gill at the Tower City Fair, an article on building in Fargo in 1876, an 1895 speech by Althea Briggs-Stryker on Temperance and Women's rights, and a speech by Senator Worst (1892). 
 

Politics and Government