James "Edward" Gage was born at Seneca, NY, April 7, 1849, and moved with his parents John Gage (nee Eleanor Probasco) to Minneiska, Minnesota, in 1856. At 22 years of age, he entered the grain business in the employ of Miller and Ellsworth of Winona, Minnesota. In the same year he married Elizabeth Collier. In 1882, with influence from his brother Charles Gage and sister Mrs. Frank Towne Sr. (nee Hattie Gage), previously homesteading in Ellsbury and Minnie Lake Townships of Barnes County,
Edward moved to Dakota Territory in the employ of the Northern Elevator Company, and during 1882 through 1891 was identified with that firm in Wheatland, Valley City, and Fargo,
During 1891, he moved to Minneapolis and two years later entered partnership with Arthur C. Andrews, with whom he was thereafter associated until his death on January 29, 1908. The Minneapolis newspaper listed his cause of death as ptomaine poisoning followed by neuritis.
Edward Gage was one of the most prominent figures upon the floor of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. Identified with one of the largest grain firms in the Northwest (Upper Midwest), "Andrews and Gage" was the major grain firm reaching west of Fargo into Cass, Barnes, and Stutsman Counties.
One of his two surviving sons, John "Charles" Gage, moved to Winnipeg, becoming president of the Consolidated Elevator Company and other major grain firms, a member of the Board of Grain Supervisors, and a former President of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 76