Gillett family

Biography

James Norris Gillett was born in Viroqua, Wisconsin, September 20, 1860 to Cyrus F. Gillett and Sarah Jane Norris. He graduated from high school in Sparta, Wisconsin. He was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1881. He came west, first to Montana, then Washington and in 1884 to California. He opened a law practice in Eureka. He became Eureka City Attorney in 1890. He was later elected State Senator, 1896, Congressman, 1902 and 1904, and Governor of California, 1906. He served as Governor 1907-1911, after which he retired from politics to enter law practice in San Francisco.

As an attorney he handled a wide variety of cases large and small. He spent most of the years 1916 to 1920 in Washington as attorney and lobbyist for the Associated Oil Company and the Oil Industry Association. He was instrumental in securing passage of the Oil Leasing Bill in 1920, which pertained to leases in the naval petroleum reserves. He subsequently represented many oil industry companies and individuals in oil lease matters. In the 1920s he also completed over twenty years' work in obtaining compensation for the owners and crews of sailing vessels seized by the United States government in the Bering Sea between 1886 and 1894. Mr. Gillett retired from law practice in 1929, but began a new practice in 1934 in Oakland in partnership with his son, James, Jr. He died April 20, 1937.

Mr. Gillett married first Adelaide Pratt in 1886. They had three children, Effie, Ethel and Horace. His first wife died in 1896. In 1898 he married Isabella Erzgraber. They had one son, James, Jr., born in 1901.

James N. Gillett, Jr., who was Senior Referee of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in Sacramento, died in 1964. His widow, Gwendolen died in 1971.

From the guide to the James Norris Gillett Collection, 1880-1971, (California State Library)