====== McMillan, Duncan ====== (died 6 Dec. 1896, aged 76 or 77), figure of legend. He was commonly known as Duncan the Hook, from a hook he wore to replace a hand he had lost. Forms of his name include Duncan (the Hook) McMillan, Duncan the Hook McMillan, Duncan “the Hook” McMillan, Duncan McMillan (Hook). Born in Lochiel Township. GC. Parents: Mr and Mrs Duncan McMillan. The //Glengarry News// obituary stated, “About 50 years ago Mr. McMillan through a threshing mill accident lost his right hand, in place of which he wore an iron hook, and so expert had he become in using this, that he could plow, mow, chop, or drive with as much ease as any person, in fact, he was considered one of the best teamsters in the county. For upwards of fifty years he had worked at railroading and other public works as well as shantying. Last winter deciding to remain at home [i. e., presumably instead of going to shanty], he secured the mail contract from here [Alexandria] to Kirk Hill. He was well known and well liked… He was a kind father and a good neighbour.” Men sometimes went to shanty beyond middle age. The implication here that a man in his mid-70s might still be a shantygoer seems remarkable, though it may be suspected that indeed some men of that age were. And in any event, if they remained on the farm hard work would be expected of them till they could manage it no longer. Along with the employments mentioned, Duncan McMillan presumably farmed. He was buried at the West Church cemetery, Kirk Hill. (seven children) Presbyterian. The funeral was noticed to be exceptionally well attended. His home, where he died, was on Lot 25 in the 6th Concession of Lochiel Township, on the road that leads south from the Kirk Hill churches. Dorothy Dumbrille notes that “Duncan (the Hook) McMillan’s hill” on this road was known locally as “Bochdan Hill.” (from the Gaelic //bòchdan//, hobgoblin) It was remembered–or at least reported to posterity–that in the days of bodysnatching to supply medical students with cadavers for dissection, thieves who had taken bodies from the Kirk Hill cemeteries would discard the coffins at Bochdan Hill. The hook on his hand may have given Duncan a sinister appearance in the eyes of his contemporaries, thus reinforcing these stories. There was also the story that a man called Alexander MacLeod (b. 1841; d. 19 or 20 Aug. 1875) died from an infection a few days after being struck by Duncan’s hook in a brawl at the tavern at Quigley’s Corners (the place now known as Lochiel). There is said to have been no official enquiry into the death. John D. McMillan (d. 4 Jan. 1941, aged 77), the son of Duncan the Hook and his wife Helen (or Ellen) MacLeod (d. 12 June 1907), was known as Johnny the Hook and John D. McMillan (Hook). Except for “a few years in Montana and other Western States” he spent much of his life at Kirk Hill, where he presumably was a farmer, but in his later years he lived in Montreal. John D. was married to Winifred Isabel (or Isabella) Cameron (1878-1946), who was the sister of Margaret Cameron the missionary. (one child) In 1915 the Cornwall newspapers announced that mysterious fires which had been occurring at the old and new manse of the West Church, Kirk Hill had been set by their 12 year-old-daughter. If the press reported accurately, there had been stories, locally, of German plots, and a vigilance committee of 100 or more had been set up, and a police inspector, John Miller, had also been called in. No doubt, in any case, people found their reactions shaped, not surprisingly, by the tensions of WWI. The girl in question died, long long after, in 1988. The West Church minister at the time of the fires was Allan Morrison. No one in the GC area at the time, it is perhaps worth mentioning, seems to have seen this incident as in any way involving the supernatural. With regard to the historical context of the fires and their relationship to the public concern over the war, it may be noted that some Canadians blamed the fire which destroyed the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa early in 1916 on German sabotage. Thus it may be argued that the local response to a small GC set of events anticipated the wider public’s response to the major national event which so tragically followed. ---- //Cornwall Freeholder// & //Glengarry News// both 11 Dec. 1896 * Lochinvar diary 5, 49: deaths of Duncan, John * obituary of John D. McMillan, //GN// 17 Jan. 1941 (QF) * gravestone of John, Kirk Hill West Church cemetery * //Butternuts and Maple Sugar// 173, 178-179, 195, 220, 269, 363 (portrait of John) * Dumbrille, //U// 122-123 & //B// 99 * Alexander MacLeod: private information; //MacLeods//, i, 177, 217, ii, 205, 286; & MacMillan diary for 20 Aug. 1875 * David Craig, //On the Crofters’ Trail// (1990) 216 * fires: //Vankleek Hill Review// 13 Aug. 1915, //CF //& //Cornwall Standard //both 19 Aug. 1915; private information; the editor of the //GN// seems to have ignored the story * spy scares and Parliament Buildings: cf. Rhodes Grant, ii, 116 [<6>]