California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


WILLIAM GILL. An intelligent, prosperous and enterprising stockman, William Gill, of 
Tulare county, enjoys a wide popularity both for his business ability and his personality. He 
is a native of Ringgold county, Iowa, where he was born May 14, 1870, a son of Samuel Gill. 
The family history will be found more at length in the biographical sketch of L. L. Gill, on an- 
other page of this volume. William Gill received his education in the common schools of 
Iowa and California, whither his father removed when he was a lad. He engaged in the stock 
business with his father until 1893. when he entered upon independent operations. Later he 
located in the foothills back of Portersville, Tulare county, and engaged in the buying, selling 
and raising of stock. In 1899 he began buying land in partnership with his brother and they 
now own thirty thousand acres, all given over to the raising of stock. His home, which is eleven 
miles east of Portersville, is presided over by his wife, formerly Josephine Adeline McKiear- 
nan, a native of the state, to whom he was united in marriage in Visalia. She is a daughter of John 
M. and Nancy (Dunn) McKiearnan, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Arkansas, who 
came overland to California. Mr. and Mrs. Gill are the parents of three children, all of whom 
are at home, namely : Effie Inez, Ralph and Ernest. 

In his political convictions Mr. Gill is an adherent of the principles advocated in the plat- 
form of the Republican party. He is a man of energy and unusual ability, inheriting the talent 
which has been demonstrated in his work as a stockman. Broad-minded and liberal, he is also 
a citizen who ranks with those upon whom the honor of the public may safely rest, and to whom 
much credit is due for the force he exerts for the moral welfare of the community.