(30 Aug. 1860-30 April 1946), contractor, entrepreneur, sheriff. (Duncan J. McGillis, D. J. McGillis) Born in Lochiel Township, GC, probably on Lot 31, Concession 4. Parents: Alexander McGillis and his wife Henrietta or Harriet (Henny) MacLean, both of them born in Canada. He attended primary school and a business college. He went to Burleigh County, North Dakota, in 1881, or by another account in 1878. McGillis “as a young man took up the contracting and building business,” and followed it “in various sections of the [U. S.] Northwest.” (Crawford) In his early years, before or after coming to Burleigh County, he worked at railway contracting in Montana. Also, he was involved in road building, farming and cattle-raising. Early in his Bismarck years, he was active with his brother William J. McGillis in the transportation business.

     In Bismarck, the Burleigh County city which is the capital of North Dakota, Duncan J. McGillis was chief of police for three years, custodian of the State Capitol for ten years, and alderman for four years, and for ten years was a hotel manager. He was elected sheriff of Burleigh County in 1906 and served for two terms. Noting his progress, the Cornwall Freeholder of 25 Dec. 1908 reported the news from Bismarck that D. J. McGillis, a native of GC, had been re-elected sheriff, and added that he had gone west over 20 years ago, and that he had a brother in the 4th of Lochiel, and another prospering in Portland, Oregon. At one time, probably in his earlier years, Duncan John had an 800-acre ranch, probably in Montana. In 1910 he was described as “the owner of a good deal of city and ranch property.” (Hennessy) At Bismarck on 30 Oct. 1887 he was married to Elizabeth Flora Willcox or Wilcox (13 March 1866 or 1868-7 Oct. 1944), who was born in Quebec province. Into his 80s, Duncan J. McGillis was working as a bailiff in the Burleigh County courthouse. He died in a Bismarck hospital. (three children, two surviving him) Roman Catholic. In politics, he was a Republican. A grandson was killed in action serving with the U. S. Navy in the South Pacific in the Second World War.

     There was another Sheriff McGillis, John J. McGillis, who was sheriff of Marinette, Wisc., and who in 1883 was reported to be revisiting the family home in the 8th Concession of Cornwall Township after an absence of 22 years, but he was presumably not a Glengarrian.

The Bismarck Capital, 3 May 1946 (with portrait) * W. B. Hennessy, History of North Dakota… Including the Biographies of the Builders of the Commonwealth (1910) 49 (biog.) * Lewis F. Crawford, History of North Dakota [with] North Dakota Biography By a Separate Staff of Special Writers, III (1931), 172-173 (biog.) * information kindly supplied by State Historical Society of North Dakota * Butternuts and Maple Sugar 266-267 (with family portraits) * John J. McGillis: Cornwall Freeholder 28 Dec. 1883, cited DTL Standard Freeholder 24 Dec. 1949