(20 April 1826-4 June 1913), personality. (John C. McMillan, called Iain Bain) Born in GC. When he was baptized on 11 June 1826, his parents’ home was stated to be on Lot 8 in the 6th Concession of Kenyon, and it was there probably that he was born. His baptismal name was John McMillan. Parents: Duncan McMillan and his wife Catherine McDonald (spelling McDonell also found). After the death of Duncan, Catherine became, in 1832, the first wife of Donald Cattanach. John McMillan thus became, as a child, a member of the Cattanach household, and his middle name of Cattanach derives from his stepfather, Donald Cattanach. In 1839, John’s mother having died, Donald Cattanach married a second time, and the young John now lived with two step-parents. He went to Toronto about 1854. He was a purser for some 20 years on the City of Toronto and other vessels travelling between Toronto and Niagara. Later, he was the manager of the Milloy Station [or Steamer] Wharf in Toronto.

     He was a member of the St. Andrew’s Society and the Gaelic Society, both of Toronto, and was among the founders of the 48th Regiment of Toronto, of which Col. D. M. Robertson was later colonel. John C. McMillan died probably in Toronto. Place of burial: Mount Pleasant cemetery, Toronto. He seems not to have been married. At Laggan, GC, he seems to have kept a family property till late in his life. An article of 1907 praised his “purity of mind and guilelessness.” His stepmother Mrs Flora Cattanach (née McKenzie), the second wife of Donald Cattanach, lived in John’s household in Toronto after the death of Donald Cattanach in Winnipeg. Also, John’s half-sister, Mrs Katherine (or Catherine) Campbell, who was the widow of the Rev. Hugh Campbell, minister of Knox Church, Cornwall, was John’s housekeeper in Toronto. She was the daughter of Donald Cattanach by John’s mother. Mrs Campbell outlived John, and at the time of her death John was remembered as having been “one of the best known Scotsmen of Toronto.” (her obituary, Cornwall Standard 17 March 1921)

     An eight-page pencilled manuscript by him in the Ontario Archives, called “A Short History of the Settlement of Glengarry Ont. May 1889,” preserved in the papers of Alexander Fraser, formerly provincial archivist, contains interesting material. There also survive in private collections copies of an untitled manuscript (typed in 21 pages foolscap) on the pioneer history of GC. From internal evidence, its composition can be dated to the period 1901 to 1905. The late Ewan Ross was almost certainly correct in suggesting that its author was John Cattanach McMillan. It is written in a good, concise English, with many untranslated passages in Gaelic. It was clearly originally the text of an address to some society. There was a copy in the papers of the late Clarence Ostrom and another in the papers of Dr D. D. Mcdonald of Alexandria. The belief that it was written by Dr MacDonald is inconsistent with the internal dating. The author quotes from other historians of GC, adds recollections of his own, and without adding remarkable new conclusions, is unfailingly interesting.

Glengarry News 13 June 1913 * Baptismal records, Lochiel Parish Church (Presbyterian); extract supplied by Mrs Mary C. Beaton, also St. Columba CR 22 * list of occupants of Donald Cattanach’s household, 1851 census * Kim Beattie, 48th Highlanders of Canada 1891-1928 (1932) 2 * A. W. McDougald’s hist. of GC, GN 23 June 1933 * 8-page MS: Archives of Ontario-Fraser; see also Bibliography of Glengarry 28-29, 99 * 21-page MS (copy in present author’s collection); see also MacGillivray & Ross 680 * Butternuts and Maple Sugar 200, 261 * McMillan described in article on historic GC, printed Cornwall Freeholder 1907 from Scottish-Canadian and repr. (undated clipping) about 1927