James W. Gillen

As a missionary for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, James traveled with the Thomas E. Ricks Company in 1866.  The company departed in July 1866 from Wyoming, Nebraska.  He joined the company at Fort Laramie.  He traveled as one of three missionaries heading for Utah and California.  One of the missionaries he traveled with was Alexander Hale Smith, the Prophet Joseph Smith’s son.  The companion’s experiences along the trail to the Salt Lake Valley are documented in Vida E. Smith’s “Biography of Alexander Hale Smith.”