From Cavalry Captain to Public Servant
James McFarland McGill, son of Robert McGill and Susan P. Alexander, and grandson of Arthur McGill—the brother of our Patrick McGill—was born in 1843 in Erie, Pennsylvania.
By 1850 and 1860, he was living with his family in Eagle Creek, Indiana, coming of age as the nation edged toward war. At nineteen, he left school in Valparaiso to enlist on August 6, 1862. Serving with the Indiana Cavalry, he rose from Orderly Sergeant to First Lieutenant, and ultimately to Captain.
His service carried him through some of the Civil War’s hardest-fought engagements, including Franklin, Nashville, and Knoxville. His promotions reflect not chance, but the steady recognition of ability and resolve under pressure.
After the war, James returned to Indiana and married Katharine Louise “Kitty” Starr on May 18, 1869. Together they raised five children: Pearl, Phebe Emma, Ruel Starr, Mary Edna—who died in infancy—and Flora Brown.
By 1870, James was established in Valparaiso as a dealer in agricultural implements, building a life rooted in the needs of a growing community. During these years, he also experienced the loss of both parents—his mother in 1871 and his father in 1878. He remained active in civic life, including participation in the Republican Party.
In 1900, James and Kitty were living in Chicago, where he served as County Treasurer of Cook County—an office of public trust and responsibility.
By 1910, at age 67, he had relocated to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a County Crier, delivering public notices in a role that kept him connected to civic life. This move likely brought him closer to his daughter, Phebe Emma McGill Barnard, and her family.
James died on October 23, 1911, at age 68. Just two months later, on Christmas Day, Kitty passed away from pneumonia at their daughter’s home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. They were laid to rest together in Old City Cemetery in Valparaiso, beneath the Starr family monument.
A Contemporary Reflection
In The McGills (1910), Augustus McGill recalled:
“From a school boy of nineteen to a captain of cavalry is a military record of which he and his friends may well be proud… It was no holiday excursion that led through the battle of Franklin… Twenty-one great engagements are placed to the credit of the Valparaiso schoolboy…”