James Lisle Gillis

Who was James Lisle Gillis?

James Lisle Gillis was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

James L. Gillis was born in Hebron, New York. He attended the public schools and became a tanner. He served in the War of 1812. He moved to Ridgway, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and was appointed associate judge of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, by Governor David R. Porter. He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1840 and 1851. He was one of the judges of Jefferson County in 1842, and a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1845. Gillis also served as a mail agent in San Francisco, California.

Gillis was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1858. He was appointed agent for the Pawnee Tribe of Indians. He died in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1881. Interment in Forest Home Cemetery.