George E. Gilmore, lawyer, and one of the leading real estate and loan dealers of Independence, Kan., has in his veins that mixture of Scotch and Irish blood that has given this country so many successful and sterling business men. He was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, Nov. 7, 1801, the son of Daniel and Jane (Brown) Gilmore. His paternal grandparents, John and Janet Gilmore, were born and reared in Scotland, but located in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, after coming to America, where Daniel Gilmore was born and reared. Jane Brown was born in County Fermanagh, Ireland, and accompanied her parents to the United States when only three years of age. The family located in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where Jane grew to womanhood and married Daniel Gilmore. They spent their lives in the Keystone State and were laid to rest there, aged seventy-six and fifty-six years, respectively. There were nine children in the Gilmore family, five daughters and four sons, all living but one, who died in infancy.

George E. was the youngest of the family, and his boyhood years were spent in his native county, where he attended the public schools, he then attended the Grove City College, and later was graduated from the Iron City Commercial College, at Pittsburgh, where he received an excellent business training. After leaving the college Mr. Gilmore taught school in Pennsylvania until 1886, when he became imbued with the western spirit and came to Kansas. For some time the ambition had been growing with him to enter one of the learned professions and he chose law. As a preliminary step he began to teach soon after coming to Independence, but gave up that calling within six months and entered Judge Brown's office, where he began reading law. He was elected justice of the peace of Independence and for eleven years held that office, with dignity and marked credit to himself. During this time he also engaged in the insurance business with gratifying success. He was admitted to the state bar in 1898, after passing a severe examination, and was admitted to practice before the supreme court of the state in 1901. For years Mr. Gilmore had taken an active part in political circles, and soon after his admission to practice he was elected city attorney on the Republican ticket, which position he filled with great satisfaction to his constituents. He has a remarkable knowledge of the law and was markedly successful as prosecuting attorney. When the commission form of government went into effect at Independence, Mr. Gilmore was elected commissioner of finance, and is now serving his second year in that office. Although one of the younger men of Independence, Mr. Gilmore has taken an interest in all commercial enterprises that would tend to building up the city, and though devoted to his profession, has considerable commercial interests, among them being his stock in the Franklin Gas & Oil Company, of Independence, of which he is secretary. He is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is secretary of the organization; he is also a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, and is Financier of the Independence Lodge.

Mr. Gilmore has been twice married. His first wife was Emma Sherrard, and one child was born to this union, Rex S. After the death of Mrs. Gilmore he married her sister, Grace M. Sherrard, who is the mother of four children: Anna L., Margaret J., James and George. The family is well known in Independence, where they enjoy a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.