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JAMES S. GILLAM, a member of the mercantile firm of J. S. 
Gillam & Co., of Tyrone, is one of the survivors of the 
famous 149th Pennsylvania Bucktail regiment, which was in 
the first corps, Army of the Potomac. He is a son of James 
and Elizabeth (Stewart) Gillam, and was born at McAlevy's 
Fort, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, December 16, 1841. 
The Gillam family is of Scotch-Irish lineage, while the 
Stewarts are of Irish descent. James Gillam, the father of 
the subject of this sketch, was born in Maryland during the 
first year of the present century, and at eight years of age 
was brought by his father to Mill creek, Huntingdon county. 
From there he went, in 1820, to McAlevy's Fort, and thirty 
years later removed to the county seat, where he died in 
1875. He was a farmer until 1846, when he engaged at 
Saulsberg, that county, in the general mercantile business, 
which he followed during the remaining years of his life. He 
was an old-line whig and republican in politics, and served 
for half a century as a class leader of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, in which he was an earnest, active and 
enthusiastic worker. In 1825 he married Elizabeth Stewart, 
who died in 1879, at seventy-six years of age. They reared a 
family a seven children: Sarah J., who died at twenty years 
of age; Louisa Foster, now dead; Mary Hieter, deceased; 
William F., of Mapleton, this State, who enlisted in the 
182nd Pennsylvania infantry, was badly wounded in the right 
arm and lost his right forefinger by a shrapnel shell, at 
Cold Harbor, and was discharged on account of disability, at 
Findley hospital, Washington city, in September, 1864; 
Elizabeth Hess; and James S. James S. Gillam received his 
education in the common schools and Martinsburg academy, 
which educational institution he left in 1862 to enlist as a 
private, Co. I, 149th Pennsylvania infantry, that was known 
as one of the famous Bucktail regiments. He served in the 
Army of the Potomac, participated in fifteen battles and 
numerous skirmishes, and was honorably discharged at Elmira, 
New York, in June, 1865. He was in the thickest of the fight 
at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Spottsylvania Courthouse, 
Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, and the two contests at 
Hatcher's Run. After returning from the army, Mr. Gillam was 
employed in the internal revenue service in Huntingdon 
county, and then embarked in the general mercantile business 
in Clearfield county, where he remained until 1880, in which 
year he came to Tyrone. After remaining there for two years 
as a partner in the grocery business with J. C. Hoover & 
Co., he went to Bellefonte, this State, where he conducted a 
shoe store until 1891, when he returned to Tyrone, and since 
then has given his time to his wholesale grocery, grain and 
flour business. He is the senior member of the present firm 
of J. S. Gillam & Co., whose establishment is located on K 
street. They have a large and remunerative wholesale grocery 
trade, and handle all kinds of grain and many leading brands 
of flour. On February 2, 1871, Mr. Gillam married Gertrude 
E. Gettys, of Mapleton, Pennsylvania, and they have four 
children; Roy D., Charles M., Alwilda G., and Mary L. James 
S. Gillam is a republican, a well respected citizen, and a 
consistent member of the Presbyterian church of Bellefonte. 
He is a member, at Bellefonte, of Gregg Post, No. 195, Grand 
Army of the Republic; Camp No. 95, Union Veteran Legion; and 
Bellefonte Council, No. 1055, Royal Arcanum. He is also a 
member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 300, Free and Accepted 
Masons, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Transcribed and 
submitted to the Blair County, PA, USGenWeb Archives by 
Linda M. Shillinger  LindasTree@AOL.COM