(1786?-7 Sept. 1860), deputy registrar of GC. Born probably Cape Breton. Parents: John McGillis (called John Go, the Go representing the Gaelic word for blacksmith), a U E Loyalist, the brother of Angus and Hugh McGillis, and his wife Christy McMillan (name Catherine McMillan also found). Donald came to GC as a child. He was on the voyage of the Tonquin 1810-1811 to found Astoria, being one of at least five men of GC connections on this voyage. (See entries for Alexander and Thomas MacKay, Alexander Ross, and Donald McLennan. There is a historical novel on this voyage, Cecil Dryden’s By Sea on the Tonquin, 1956. For this ship, of importance in the Glengarry story, there is much in the fur trade literature.) Afterwards he entered the service of the North West Company. By 1817 he was living on the Ottawa River. At the time of the 1851 census, he was a schoolteacher, listed for Lot 18, 6th Concession Lancaster Township. At dates which are unknown, he served as deputy registrar of deeds for GC, living in Alexandria. Presumably at this time, as later in the century, the deputy registrar was appointed by the registrar. He was married on 28 Dec. 1829 by the Rev. John McLaurin (1794-1833), a Presbyterian minister, to Ruby Rutherford (d. 18 April 1860), of Vermont. Their daughter Julia Ann married Cosmos Kerr. Another daughter Miss Philema (or Phelima) M. McGillis died at Alexandria, 23 Dec. 1917, aged 84, at the home of her nephew Frank Kerr. Her father was stated in her obituary to have settled permanently in Glengarry in 1830. (ten children)

Wallace; the entry in MDict is substantially the same as that in Wallace). W. S. Wallace states that he depended heavily for his information on F. D. McLennan of Cornwall, who was related to this McGillis family * Mary C. Beaton and others, MacMillan: Compiled by Glengarry and District Branch of Clan MacMillan Society, [Part 2] (1979) 85 (this and Wallace are the main sources) * F. D. McLennan as in notes to life of Donald McGillis (1717?-) *obituaries of Philema M. McGillis, Cornwall Freeholder 10 Jan. 1918, Cornwall Standard 10 Jan. 1918, VKHR 18 Jan. 1918 * GC connections with the voyage of the Tonquin: Bibliography of Glengarry 80, 172 * appointment of deputy registrars: E. H. Tiffany, The Law of Registration of Titles in Ontario (1881) 44-45, 406