MSS 1447 AV Gill Family Collection

              MSS 1447 AV
Gill Family Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/Audiovisual Collections
MSS 1447 AV
Gill Family Collection
1700-1932
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number: MSS 1447 AV
Title: Gill Family Collection
Creator: Donald C. Dunham
Dates: 1700-1932
Media: Photographs, manuscripts, correspondence,
diaries, children’s books and ephemera
Quantity: 1.5 cubic feet
Location: The Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
John Loriman Gill was horn in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 14th of February, 1806. His father,
John Gill, was the son of John Gill, of Scarboro, England, a contemporary of John Wesley and a co-worker
with him. His mother, Sarah Tate, a native of Boston, was a highly educated, cultured
woman. Her mother, a woman of large means for the times, was afterward the widow of James
Mackay, a marine merchant.
At the early age of fifteen John L. Gill was left an orphan with six younger brother and sisters. In
1822 he located in Pittsburg and placed two of his sisters in Braddocksfield Seminary. In 1826 he
came to Columbus and with Colonel James A. Greer of Dayton, established the business of handling
stoves and the manufacture of other things. This was probably the first manufactory located in
Columbus. These stoves were made for him at the old Mary Ann furnace, and then located near
Newark, Ohio, about 1827or 1828 he took four six-horse wagon loads of stoves to Athens, and on the
trip saw a blacksmith using coal. Inquiry developed that the coal dug was from the Athens hills. The
blacksmith was induced to dig sufficient coal to lead the wagons on their return trip. On arrival in
this city the coal was sold to W. A. Neil, Sr., at sixty cents per bushel or fifteen dollars per ton, and
used for blacksmithing purposes in connection with the stage coach line. The smithy at that time
stood near the corner of High and Broad streets. This was the first coal brought to Columbus and was
the beginning of the immense coal traffic. Mr. Gill afterward owned many acres of this coal hand. He
was the first president of the Board of Trade, and in 1890 delivered an interesting address before that
body, in which the above facts were given.[p.814]
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