Daniel McMillan

Daniel McMillan Born: September 14, 1802 Johnston, New YorkMarried: January 24, 1828 New York Occupation:Farmer Died:March 06,1895, York, New York Father: John McMillan b.1753 Mother: MargaretMcGregor? b.1759 Wife: Margaret McNaughton b.1806 Children JohnD. McMillan c.1828-July 2, 1854 Malcolm McMillan b.1830 Anna F.McMillan b.c.1833. m. Alexander F. McKean. d.1871 Margaret McMillanb.1834 Mary Jane McMillan Angus F. McMillan James W. McMillanDuncan McMillan b.c.1840 Mary Kittie McMillan b.c.1841 Daniel H.McMillan b.1846 His Obituary read as follows: "Like a River ofWater in a dry place, Like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land"No other words could more fitly describe the life and character ofDaniel McMillan in the community where he resided. Scotland bredhis father in a time when Covenanters and Puritans were made, men ofiron-conscious hammered out upon the anvil of adversity. The noblecharacteristics of a sterling ancestry were transmitted and indeliblystamped upon the son. He was a man of deep religious conviction, andexacting conscious, stern probity and indomitable will. No one couldjustly say of him that he ever countenanced or did an unjust act. Heloved truth and disdained wrong. The stricken-hearted found in him afriend. and the needy a helping hand. His heart, when moved bysimpathy, was as tender as a woman's, but when duty called him he wasfearless. He had an eye and an iron nerve which few men couldwithstand whenever he was moved to auction in any matter.Large-hearted and fearless, he was foremost amoung the few men whofirst openly stood up against the field of opposition to the freedomof the slaves. He organized the anti-slavery movement in the GeneseeValley in the face of an opposition that burned the buildings in whichthey met above his head. Smooth-Shaven until Sumter was fired upon, hepermitted no razor to touch his face until every slave was free, andever after he wore his beard as the white badge of freedom. Hisfather, John McMillan, came from Perthshire, Scotland, during thelatter part of the last century and settled in the Mohawk Valley atJohnstown. He had three sons, Duncan, Hugh, and Daniel; and as the twoeldest came to manhood they chafed within the narrow limits of theirfirst home and longed for the freedom of the wider range. The fame ofthe Valley of the Genesee had reached them, and in 1812 the familymoved into their forest home and settled at York, on the western slopeof this (to them) most beautiful of all the fertile valleys of this orany other country. The first journey from Johnstown to York took 11days Ten years later the trip was made by carriage over the new stateroad in five days. The last visit by Daniel to his birthplace wasduring his 90th year, when the run was made from Buffalo to Fonda, adistance of 254 miles by the Empire Express in five hours. Danielwas the youngest son. He attended school at Caledonia, and at one timeplanned to take up the study of medicine, but in 1828 he marriedMargaret, daughter of Malcolm McNaughton and settled upon a portion ofthe tract taken up by his father. In this same year, he associatedwith others and founded the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation ofYork, of which more than 60 years he was a ruling elder. He was activein the Presbyteries and as late as his ninetieth year he was adelegate to the synods of the Reformed Church. Born two years afterthe death of Washington, he lacked less than 7 years of spanning theentire century. His first vote was cast for General Andrew Jackson in1824, and he lived under every President save two. He knew Red Jacketand sat with him and talked with him about the camp fired 70 years agoin the forests both east and west of the Genesee. He was fond ofsocial companionship and had marked conversational powers. A sincerelover of nature, and of wide range in travel, he had put some ofEurope and much of our own country under his feet. Although hisphysical strength was depleted, his intellectual vigor continued withhim to the end. His life was grand, his death was peaceful--Godtouched him as he sat at the table dining with his children andgrandchildren and the wing of death spread over him and he passed torest. As he sleeps in the quiet old churchyard at York thebeautiful words his namesake and kinsman seem most appropriate:"The wind amoung the gravestones softly creeping, Breathes in lowsighs the grief it fears to tell. The clouds in sable garb bend o'erhim weeping, sent by the hand of Him he loved so well." Of his tenchildren, seven lived to maturity, but none survive him save his son,the Honorable Daniel H. McMillan of Buffalo, and Mrs. John AckroydWest of Peoria, Illinois. His sons, the Hon. Malcolm M. McMillan, andDuncan McMillan died in Boonville, MO. in 1880; John D. died in earlymanhood in 1854; Anna F. wife of A.F. McKean of York, died in 1871,and Mary C. wifeof the Hon. John H. Hamilton of Rush, died in 1876.-His House in York was still standing at least as late as 1927.-McMillan family gravestone is 8 feet highat the Scotch Covenanter'sCemetery -"Our Country and it's people: a descriptive work on eriecounty, ny", 1899 entry for Daniel H. Mcmillan says he is a linealdescent of Alexander Mcmillan, whose monumental cross still stands inthe family burial ground at Kilmory, scotland. His grandfather wascalled "john the upright" arbiter of the hollanders in the MowhawkValley. "There is a richly sculptured cross in the church yard atKilmory Knapdale, twelve feet high, on one side of which is a Highlandchief hunting a deer and an inscription in Latin in old Saxon letters"Here is the cross of Alexander McMillan." The McMillans obtained mostof their possessions in Knapdale by marriage with the heiress of thechief of the McNeils in the sixteenth century. -Daniel's birthdatewas 9-14-1802 although his obit says that it was 10-23-02, and hisgravestone says 1801. 9-14-1802 comes directly from the church recordsin Johnstown. Sources: -Birth Source: References Above, AmericanCompendium of genealogy -Marriage Source: -Death Source: WillProbate documents. -1880 US Census : Listed as "retired farmer" in1880 census, having Irish servant Martha Simpson -1870 US Census :YOrk, NY with wife, the Hamiltons, and Moses Boyd -1860 US Census :York, NY -1850 US Census : York, NY