Gill, Richard T.

Born: 1817-XX-XX Frankfort, Kentucky

Died: 1887-02-XX Atlanta, Illinois

Born in Kentucky, Richard T. Gill arrived in Illinois in 1840, settling in Pekin. He served as sheriff of Tazewell County from 1848 to 1850. He moved to Logan County in 1852 and in 1853 bought the land on which Gill laid out the town of Atlanta. In 1853, he erected the first building in Atlanta, and later built another structure to house his mercantile business. In 1855, Atlanta voters elected Gill as the first president of the newly-incorporated town. He was trustee of the Atlanta Seminary and worshipful master of the Atlanta Masonic Lodge. In 1860, Gill owned $25,000 in real estate and $10,000 in personal property. In 1862, he ran unsuccessfully to represent Logan County in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Gravestone, Atlanta Cemetery, Atlanta, IL; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Tazewell County, Ben C. Allensworth, ed. (Chicago: Munsell, 1905), 2:710; Lawrence B. Stringer, History of Logan County, Illinois (Chicago: Pioneer, 1911), 1:285, 433, 555, 601-602; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Logan County, Atlanta, IL, 9.