(23 Nov. 1867-17 April 1921), lawyer. (Daniel Danis) Born at Ste-Justine-de-Newton, Que., not far east of GC. Parents: Alexandre Danis, a hotel man, and his wife Mélitime McDonald. Daniel Danis studied at Bourget College (Rigaud, Que.), Laval University, and Osgoode Hall. He was called to the bar in 1893 or 1894, and settled at that time in Cornwall. Harkness says that he was the first French-Canadian lawyer in Cornwall. Daniel Danis was police magistrate of Cornwall from 1898, when he succeeded Angus Bethune (see entry for James Bethune), till he resigned the year before his death. He was a member of the organizing committee of the first congress of Franco-Ontarians, held Jan. 1910, and was one of the administrators of the Association canadienne-française d’éducation de l’Ontario (ACFEO). He was married to Joséphine Primeau in 1896. He died at his home in Cornwall, at the early age of 53, after a year’s illness. (five sons) Roman Catholic.
It is not clear whether he was ever a GC resident. Harkness, however, meticulous in recording the lives of the Cornwall lawyers, includes him in the 1896 group photograph of Glengarrians in Cornwall. His father Alexandre may have been in business in Alexandria, and Alexandre or his son of the same name was doubtless the Alex Danis of Alexandria who in 1907 received a license for the sale of liquor. (Glengarry News 26 April 1907). Daniel Danis was one of the lawyers who defended the Francophone parents in the Green Valley School Case. (Choquette 82) He was also a Liberal party organizer for Stormont and GC. When Daniel Danis died, he had two brothers and a sister living in Alexandria, and another sister living in Lancaster. It is uncertain whether at this time his widowed mother was living in Montreal or Alexandria, but when she died 5 Aug. 1929 in Alexandria, eight years after her son, she was described by the Alexandria Times as one of Alexandria’s “old and esteemed residents,” and by the Glengarry News as having been “for many years… a highly esteemed resident of this place.”
Daniel Danis’ sons Rodolph and René-Alexandre (29 Sept. 1899-27 May 1960) were Cornwall lawyers, members of the firm Danis & Danis. René-Alexandre was appointed judge of the district court, Cochrane, in 1939, and of the Superior Court of Ontario in 1952. In 1958 he was made president of the federal commission on naturalization. Another of Daniel Danis’ sons, Elzéar, was ordained to the priesthood in June 1932 (Glengarry News 1 July 1932)
Cornwall Standard 21 April 1921, Glengarry News 22 April 1921 * Harkness, Senior, Choquette: all index * Jean Yves Pelletier, Nos magistrats (1989) 47 (portrait), 90-92 * obituary of mother, GN 16 Aug. 1929, Cornwall Freeholder 17 Aug. 1929 (repr. from Alexandria Times)