Judge John Smith Gill
Judge John Smith Gill was the son of Mason and Harriett (Granger) Gill. He was born May 9, 1842, at Darby Plains, near Milford Center, Union County. Ohio, and died at Columbus, Ohio, December 12, 1906. Andrew Gill, the grandfather of Judge Gill, was a native of Virginia and was of Irish descent. He immigrated to Ohio with his family in the year 1804, floating down the river in a flat boat, and settled near Cincinnati, Ohio. About the year 1812, at the beginning of the war of that time, he settled in that part of Ohio which became Union County, where Mason Gill, the lather of Judge Gill was born. The subject of this sketch was educated in the public schools and worked on his father's farm until the beginning of the Civil War. In the month of August, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army and was assigned to Company 1, One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment, O. V. I., and served with his command until the close of the war. He was severely wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. Georgia. September 20, 1863, and was sent to the hospital and while he never fully recovered he rejoined his regiment and served with his command and was in every engagement in which his regiment fought, and was with General Sherman's command on his famous march to the sea.
After the close of the war, Mr. Gill returned to his native county, where he taught in the public schools and engaged in farming. During this period he was married to Miss Frances Iva Mitchell, a daughter of John Mitchell of Union County, Ohio. One son was born of this union, Mason Mitchell Gill, who resides with his widowed mother in Columbus, Ohio, and where he is engaged in business.
In the year 1874, John S. Gill removed to Delaware, Ohio, where he entered the law office of Messrs. Reid and Powell, as a law student. He was admitted to the Bar in 1876 and he soon afterward entered the firm as the junior member thereof, the style of the firm being Reid, Powell & Gill. After the death of Colonel Reid, he formed a partnership with Mr. Powell, the title of the new firm being Powell & Gill. During the continuance of this partnership Frank A. Kauffman studied with the firm, and when he was admitted he was taken into the firm and the style of the new firm became Powell, Gill & Kauffman.
Judge Gill was an ardent Democrat, and in the summer of the year 1887 he was nominated by his party for the office of Representative, and he was duly elected and served as a member of the Sixty-eighth General Assembly from Delaware County, being one of the few Democratic members elected from Delaware
County since the close of the Civil war. In the summer of the year 1891, Judge Gill was nominated by his party for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, for the first subdivision of the Sixth Judicial District of Ohio, from Delaware County, and in the autumn of that year was elected and took his seat in February, 1892. At the close of his term he declined a renomination and soon removed to Columbus, Ohio, and took up the practice of the law in which he continued to the time of his death.
Judge Gill was an active Grand Army man. He was appointed by Governor James E. Campbell, one of the members of the Ohio Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Commission, under an act of the General Assembly of Ohio, providing for such a commission to mark the sites where the Ohio troops were engaged on those fields of battle. The monuments provided for that purpose were dedicated September 25, 1895. in which services Judge Gill took an active part.
Fraternally Judge Gill was affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and with the Union Veteran Legion.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908