author
James David Gillilan
A Methodist minister and missionary in the American West, he wrote with the warmth of someone who had lived close to the landscapes and people he described. His best-known book, Trail Tales, mixes frontier history, travel writing, and personal reflection in an easy, vivid style.
1 Audiobook
Trail Tales
by James David Gillilan
About the author
Born in Jackson, Ohio, in 1858, James David Gillilan largely educated himself before entering the Methodist Episcopal Church. Archival records describe him as a minister, missionary in Utah, principal, and presiding elder, and note that he married Alice Wiseman in 1880 and joined the Pittsburgh Conference in 1883.
Gillilan is best remembered as the author of Trail Tales (1915), a book about pioneer life and the Northwestern states. The Library of Congress records the book as a travel and frontier-life work, and the text itself shows a writer deeply interested in the landscapes, communities, and histories of the West.
He died in 1935. For listeners coming to his work today, Gillilan stands out as a writer who brought together a preacher’s voice, a traveler’s eye, and a strong affection for the places he knew.