BIOGRAPHY: James Gillis; Argyle, Washington co., NY
surname: Gillis

submitted by Ken Smith (ksmith22 at mn.rr.com) 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.org/ny/nyfiles.htm

Submitted Date: September 28, 2005
This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/nyfiles/
File size: 1.8 Kb
************************************************
Author: Ken Smith

BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES GILLIS 
1762 - March 26, 1831

James Gillis was born about 1762 in Kakiate, Orange County, which is 
now in Rockland County, New York. He was the son of James A. Gillis 
and Nancy Campbell. His family moved to Argyle in Charlotte County 
about 1764, when his father received a grant of land in the Argyle Patent. 
The family worshiped at the United Presbeterian Church of Argyle. Both 
James and his father were members of the Charlotte County Militia during 
the Revolutionary War (Charlotte was re-named Washington County soon 
after the Revolution ended). James married Eleanor Gilchrist about 1786 
in Argyle, probably at the Presbeterian Church, to which they both 
belonged. James & Eleanor became the parents of eight children. In 
1790, James was the tax collector for Argyle. Eleanor died on February 7, 
1829 in Argyle. James must have married again, for in his will, written in 
1831, he mentions a wife Peggy (Margaret). Nothing more is known of the 
second wife. James died in Argyle on March 26, 1831, and he is buried in 
the Scotch Cemetery there. His gravestone reads “In memory of JAMES 
GILLIS who departed this life March 26, 1831 in the 69th year of his age” (I 
have a photograph of the gravestone)

Information for this biography from records of the Scotch Cemetery in 
Argyle, Washington County, New York; the will of James Gillis.