An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company,
Spokane, WA. 1905, pages 258-259.

JAMES H. GILLMORE, an eminently successful business man of Wamic, Wasco county,
is engaged in the blacksmith and wagonmaking enterprise, and general
woodworking. He was born near Marion, Linn county, Iowa, December 24, 1858, the
son of James and Emily (Pardee) Gillmore, the former a native of New York, the
latter of Vermont. The parents of James Gillmore were, also, natives of the
Empire State, their ancestors coming from Ireland. They were farmers for many
generations. The father of our subject was a cooper. He died in Clackamas
county, Oregon, in 1895. The mother passed from earth in 1868.      

It was in 1876 that our subject, accompanied by his father, came to Oregon,
arriving July 3. When he was five years of age his family had removed from Iowa
to Missouri, where he received a fairly good practical education in the public
schools. James Gillmore, the father, purchased land in Clackamas county, and
with him our subject remained until he was twenty-three years of age. He then
came to the vicinity of Wamic, remaining one summer, and going thence to
Ellensburg. A year later he came to the neighborhood of Wamic, where he has
since continuously resided. He conducted a saw mill near Kingsley, where he was
burned out. One winter he worked in a cooper shop, and at different periods for
ten years herded sheep. Accumulating one thousand three hundred sheep of his own
he disposed of them to a firm which failed, and could not pay for them. For the
second time our subject found himself "broke," but he energetically went to
work, and purchased a ranch on credit, near the town of Wamic, and engaged
successfully in farming two years. This he sold and bought a blacksmith shop at
Tygh, which he conducted thirteen months, disposing of the same and purchasing a
ranch on the hill overlooking Wamic, and this property he still owns. In April,
1900, he purchased a shop in Wamic where he at present carries on a successful
blacksmith business. Mr. Gillmore is an expert mechanic, and although he never
served a day at his trade, he can shoe a horse, build a wagon or house or barn,
and, in fact, can efficiently turn his hand to almost every thing in the
mechanical line. With the exception of the fire which consumed his first sawmill
venture and the loss of his sheep, our subject has prospered greatly, and is at
present recognized as one of the most substantial and progressive citizens of
Wasco county. He has four sisters; Effie, wife of John Churchill, of Clackamas
county; Ida, married to S.E. Phillips, a farmer of Cresswell, Lane county,
Oregon; Emily, wife of S.L. Dart, of Mollala, Clackamas county; and Elsie, wife
of William White, of San Francisco, California.      

August 3, 1897, at The Dalles, Mr. Gillmore was married to Mrs. Minerva A.
Chamberlain, daughter of R.B. and Nancy B. (Corum) Sanford. She has one brother
and one sister, Alfred C., and Mary, wife of Eugene Pratt, of Wamic. Mrs.
Gillmore has one child by her first marriage, Burrell S., Chamberlain, residing
at Wamic.      

Mr. Gillmore is a member of Assembly No. 122, United Artisans, being Master
Artisan. Politically, he is a member of none of the parties, being independent.
In 1876, accompanied by his father, our subject came to San Francisco, in March,
and thence coasted up from Point Arena to Humboldt Bay. They returned to Point
Arena and took passage on the steamer Great Republic for Portland.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. 
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.