James D. Gage was born on March 22, 1856, in Michigan to Dewitt Clinton and Catherine Glover. His father was a lawyer who owned $2,000 of real estate and $250 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Saginaw, Michigan, and by 1880, he was working as a clerk for the city treasurer. By 1900, he was working as a “sewing machine agent.” He died of “generalized arteriosclerosis” in Traverse City, Michigan, on December 21, 1928.