James Robert Gilmour was the oldest child born to Mary Robinette (Taliaferro) and William Whitley Gilmour, who had met as a result of Whit (a frontier guide) helping the Taliaferro's along the Wilderness Trail from their worn-out tobacco plantation in Virginia to new promising land in Illinois near the Mississippi River. His next three siblings died as infants, but the final five (Hedron, Liberty, Mary, Effie and Jessie) lived to adulthood. James helped his father farm and later had a business in Kirkwood, Illinois as a house painter. The frontier continued to beckon, however, and in the early 1870's the family followed some relatives who had gone ahead as far as the railroad at that time went into central Kansas, Ottawa county. It was there, continuing his painting business, that James met his future wife, Flora May Best and married her 27 Dec 1874. James' aunt Mildred had married a man who made boots and shoes and ran a clothing store, Peter Kennedy. Peter also had a restless nature but also seemed to be fortunate at succeeding in many ventures; so when word was received of the finding of gold in the Black Hills a group of men set out to join that gold rush but were turned back by people fleeing South Dakota after "Custer's Last Stand"; instead, they listened to tales of gold being found in the depths of Colorado near a community called Lake City and went that way. They were successful and brought their families to live in Lake City. Slowly, all of James' siblings except Hedron and Liberty made their way to Lake City; James, Flora and their three girls moved there around 1898. James owned a home decor store and sold paint, wallpaper, and the like. As long as the mines were productive, business was good; however, it wasn't long before the town lost a great deal of its businesses as the gold ran out. Over the twenty years that James was in Colorado, he was in and out of Lake City; many residents, including James, chose to go to Canon City to live during the winters. James' health was not good and eventually he just stayed in Canon City, where he died.