(1806-?), laird of Williamstown. Born at St. Eustache, Que. His father Duncan McGillis was a brother of Angus and Hugh McGillis, and is said to have been in business at Rigaud, Que. The name of John’s mother may have been Marguerite Bercier. He received a classical education, followed by legal studies, and was admitted to the bar of Quebec. He was prothonotary for many years of St. John’s, Que. (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu). During the 1837 Rebellion he served in a Montreal cavalry corps. On the death of his uncle Hugh McGillis in 1848, he inherited Hugh’s Williamstown property and became thereby laird of Williamstown. About twenty years before his death he settled in Montreal. He was married to Eliza Caldwell. (eight children surviving him) An obituary stated, “Yesterday afternoon the funeral of the late Mr. John McGillis, ‘laird’ of Williamstown, county Glengarry, took place from his late residence, Peel street [Montreal], to the Grand Trunk station, and from thence the remains were taken to Williamstown for interment in the family vault. There was a very large attendance of the oldest and leading citizens present to pay their last respects to one who was lovingly called ‘Uncle John’.” An obituary of his daughter Mrs Harwood remembered him as “so well known in Montreal social circles as ‘Uncle John.’” His widow, the former Eliza Caldwell, died at Los Angeles on 8 Dec. 1893, and her body was taken to Williamstown for burial.

     Their children included (1) Mary Charlotte McGillis (d. 1919, aged 83), married on 7 Oct. 1856 to Robert William de Lotbinière Harwood (1826-1897), who was MP for Vaudreuil 1872-1878. A daughter of this marriage, Marie Harwood, was married in 1890 to the future Major General Sir Samuel B. Steele. (2) Mary Sophia McGillis (d. 1939). She was married to a fellow Glengarrian, Alexander R. Macdonell of the North-West Mounted Police.

     John McGillis had a brother, Dr Donald McGillis, who is said (Wallace) to have died at the house of the laird Hugh McGillis at Williamstown, in 1830. However, a “Donald McGittis, of Williams Town,” attended a meeting of the Upper Canada Medical Board in April 1831(Canniff), and is possibly the same person under a mangled form of his name. For John McGillis’ other relations among the McGillises, see the entry for his grandfather Donald McGillis the U E Loyalist.

     The next laird of Williamstown after John McGillis was Murdoch Farquhar McLennan.

Obituary, undated clipping, ASC ii, 135 * historical note on him, Cornwall Freeholder 25 Nov. 1910 * death notice of his widow, Montreal Gazette 19 Dec. 1893 & (from a separate source) ASC ii, 95, 132 * family history in life of John McGillis, land surveyor, OLS No. 50 (1935) 94-95 * obituaries of Mrs Harwood, Glengarry News 26 Sept. 1919, CF & (from Montreal Gazette) Cornwall Standard both 2 Oct. 1919 * Johnson (1968) under “Harwood” * life of his Harwood grandson, Morgan (1912) 512 * life of Steele in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. XIV * obituaries of his sons Dr W. C. McGillis, who died at Vancouver, Glengarrian 22 April 1898, John C. McGillis, CF 23 Oct. 1908, and Ewen McGillis, who was the eldest son, GN 18 Dec. 1931 * Canniff 59