(29 April 1838-13 Nov. 1906), contractor. Born in the 6th Concession of Lancaster Township, GC. Parents: Angus McGillis, who was born in Canada, and his wife Janet McRae, who was born in Scotland. “Mr. McGillis grew to manhood upon a farm but began railroading at an early age.” He was employed as a youth on the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada. Having gone to Michigan in 1859, he was a railway contractor there, and afterwards a railway contractor in Indiana. He settled in 1882 in Kankakee, Illinois, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. “Since coming to Kankakee he has been largely interested and engaged in the business of drainage. He has the honor of having placed in successful operation the first steam dredge for the purpose of drainage in this state. This machine, manufactured by the Bucyrus Steam Drainage Company, has revolutionized and made comparatively simple the drainage and reclamation of large areas of hitherto worthless swamp land. One of our subject’s largest contracts was for the drainage of an area of 6500 acres of State land in the southwestern part of Illinois. This gigantic undertaking involved the construction of a ditch eighteen miles in length, ten feet in depth and sixty feet in width. At present Mr. McGillis is engaged in a Government contract on the Calumet River south of Chicago.” He was married in Indiana to Miss Mary Nolan, a native of Canada. With other local businessmen he was involved in deveoping new land in Kankakee and promoting the growth of factories in the town. When the Kankakee Investment and Loan Association was founded in 1892, he was its vice-president. Roman Catholic. Directories describe him as a contractor, but at least one (1896) mentions him as being in insurance. He died in Kankakee.

Cornwall Standard (7 or 14) Dec. 1906 * obituary recapitulated, 20 Years Ago column, Cornwall Freeholder 9 Dec. 1926 (has detail Cornwall Standard lacks) * his life in Portrait and Biographical Record of Kankakee County, Illinois. Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens… (Chicago, 1893) (QF) * Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Kankakee County, Vol. II (1906, 1973) 782 * Kankakee city directories (various), 1896-1907