Pueblo County, Colorado
John Gill

Contributed by Jean Griesan.

John Gill, one of the successful stockmen and farmers of Pueblo County , is the owner of a ranch of several hundred acres, where he has a large number of cattle and horses, and also engages in the raising of fruit. He came to the United States from Bavaria, Germany, where he was born in the little town of Neistadt, April 8, 1831, a son of John and M. Catherine Gill, owners of a farm in that section. He was the youngest of a family of two sons and three daughters, all of whom remain in Germany excepting himself. One of his step-brothers, Tobias, came to America and settled in Michigan in 1847; his own brother, Anton, has engaged in farming in Bavaria.

When seven years of age our subject was put out to work, and afterward he was self-supporting. During the summer months he was employed on a farm, and in winter engaged in sawing wood. For the entire year's work he received $7 and his board. His mother died when he was thirteen, and the old home was then broken up. At twenty-two years of age he crossed the ocean, joining his step-brother in Michigan, and securing employment in a sawmill above Detroit, at Marine City, St. Clair County, on the St. Clair River. When not engaged in the mill he worked at chopping cord wood. Soon he went to Chicago, and from there to St. Joseph, Mo., later to St. Louis and New Orleans, and for one year was employed on a steamboat, after which he went to Leavenworth, Kan. In the spring of 1858 he crossed the plains with an ox-team to Salt Lake City, where he arrived in the summer, and remained during the winter that followed. In 1859 he reached the mining camp at Denver, then the headquarters for miners, but containing only a few houses. Food was so scarce that flour sold for seventy-five cents a pound, and, as his purse was almost empty, he could get little to eat. He went back to Leavenworth, St. Louis and New Orleans and again engaged in the steamboat business.

In the spring of 1860 Mr. Gill went to Arkansas, where he hired to the government as a teamster and drove six mules from Sumter to Fort Arbuckle. When the troops were sent after the Kiowa Indians, he accompanied the expedition, which was composed of three hundred and twenty wagons and a large number of soldiers. He traveled as far as the old Santa Fe crossing on the Arkansas River, from which point, in the fall of the same year, he came to Pueblo County, securing employment with "Hickey" Rogers, owner of the ranch which Mr. Gill afterward bought. In 1864 he went to Montana, where he remained for four years. In 1869 he returned to the place and has since engaged in its cultivation. Wishing to stock it with cattle, he went to Texas and bought a large number of head, which he drove to Colorado, this forming the nucleus of his present extensive business. Politically he votes the Democratic ticket. He was reared in the Catholic faith. His wife, who was born in Kentucky, accompanied her father to Colorado in 1863 and has since made her home in Pueblo County, where she has a host of warm personal friends.

Extracted from "Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado," published by Chapman Publishing Company in Chicago in 1899.


Contributed by Jean Griesan.

Gill, John (arrived in Colorado in 1859)

John Gill was born in the little town of Neistadt [Germany], April 8, 1831, a son of John and M. Catherine Gill, owners of a farm in that section. He was the youngest of a family of two sons and three daughters, all of whom remained in Germany, excepting himself.

One of his step-brothers, Tobias, came to America and settled in Michigan in 1847. His own brother, Anton, engaged in farming in Bavaria.

When 7 years of age John was put out to work and afterward he was self supporting. During the summer months he was employed on a farm and in winter engaged in sawing wood. For the entire year's work he received $7 and his board.

His mother died when he was 13 and the old home was broken up. At 22 years of age he crossed the ocean joining his brother in Michigan and secured employment in a saw mill above Detroit at Marine City, St. Clair County. When not engaged in the mill he worked at chopping cord wood. Soon he went to Chicago, from there to St. Joseph, Missouri, later to St. Louis, and New Orleans, and for one year he went to Leavenworth, Kansas.

In the spring of 1858, he crossed the plains with an ox team to Salt Lake City, where he arrived in the summer and remained during the winter that followed. In 1859 he reached the mining camp at Denver, then the headquarters for miners, but containing only a few houses. Food was so scarce that flour sold for 75 cents a pound and, as his purse was almost empty, he could get little to eat. He went back to Leavenworth, St. Louis, and New Orleans, and again engaged in the steamboat business. In the spring of 1860, Mr. Gill went to Arkansas where he hired to the government as a teamster and drove six mules from Sumpter to Fort Arbuckle.

When the troops were sent after the Kiowa Indians, he accompanied the expedition, which was composed of 320 wagons and a large number of soldiers. He traveled as far as the old Santa Fe [trail?], crossing the Arkansas River from which point in the fall of the same year he came to Pueblo County. He secured employment with “Hickey” Rogers, owner of the ranch that Mr. Gill afterward bought.

In 1864 he went to Montana where he remained for 4 years. In 1869 he returned to the place and has since engaged in its cultivation. Wishing to stock it with cattle, he went to Texas and bought a large number of head, which he drove to Colorado, thus forming the nucleus of his extensive business.

His wife, who was born in Kentucky, accompanied her father to Colorado in 1863, and has since made her home in Pueblo County.

Extracted from "The Real Pioneers of Colorado," by Maria Davies McGrath, published in 1934 by The Denver Museum, retyped with added notes by Jane P. Ohl, in October 2001.



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