Key Facts

Snapshot:	farmer
Parents:	332Angus Gillis His mother's identity is unknown.
Born:	13 January 1817 South Carolina
Died:	3 November 1897 presumably Montgomery County, Georgia
Buried:	Red Bluff Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Treutlen County, Georgia Coordinates: N32.391917 W82.687611

166Neill C. Gillis was born 13 January 18171 in South Carolina.2-4 His father is 332Angus Gillis.5

166Neill married 167Penelope Davis in Montgomery County, Georgia on 30 May 1844.6

1844: 166Neill's and 167Penelope Davis' marriage certificate. Full page.6

In addition to his family's census entries shown below, you may also be interested in 166Neill's farm schedule entries: 18507: 1, 2, template; 18608: 1, 2, template, transcription.

1850: 166Neill's family in militia district 51, Montgomery County, Georgia. Full page: 1, 2.2

1860: 166Neill's family in Montgomery County, Georgia. Full page.3

By 1862 166Neill had relocated to militia district 1221 (map), according to a local militia roster. The roster also lists his height as 5'10".9

In 1867 the U.S. Congress passed several Reconstruction Acts. These Acts divided the former Confederacy into several military occupation zones, which were ruled by Union military commanders. The Acts also directed the commanding officers to register Southerners who wanted to vote in upcoming elections. One registration requirement was to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States; the obvious intent was to disfranchise any lingering Confederate resistance. 166Neill signed his oath on 5 August 1867.10

166Neil's Reconstruction-era voter registration oath10

166Neill's 18704 and 188011 census entries are below. You may also be interested in his 1870 farm schedule entry: 1, 2, template.12

1870: 166Neill's family in Montgomery County, Georgia. Full page.4

1880: 166Neill's family in militia district 1221, Montgomery County, Georgia. Full page.11

On 29 April 1883 a "cyclone" struck the area. 166Neill is mentioned in a description of the damage.14

1883: A "cyclone" destroys 166Neill's fences. Full page.14

166Neill died on 3 November 1897. He's buried in Red Bluff Baptist Church Cemetery, Treutlen County, Georgia at coordinates N32.391917 W82.687611. Below are photos of his tombstone.1

Problem: Unresolved Was 166Neill a Confederate soldier? Despite the Confederate tomb marker, I'm not at all convinced that "N. C. Gillis" of company B, 1 Florida Battalion Special Cavalry is the same person as my ancestor 166Neill Gillis. As N. C. Gillis' service record shows, he enlisted relatively late in the war in Madison, Florida (~142 miles from Montgomery County, Georgia, where 166Neill Gillis seems to have spent his entire life) and later went absent without leave.13 I know of no evidence to explain why 166Neill Gillis would've traveled so far from home—to a city he seems to have no other connection to—in order to enlist for a cause he (or, rather, N. C. Gillis) seemingly cared little about. Even if he were conscripted, one expects that he would've enlisted closer to home.

Sources Cited:

1: Tombstone of N. C. Gillis, Red Bluff Baptist Church Cemetery, Treutlen County, Georgia at coordinates N32.391917 W82.687611. Photographs taken by 1Bryant Knight, circa 2010.

2: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Pages 199 and 200, family 77, Neill Gillis household. NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 78. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6FF7-XY4?i=34&cc=1401638> and <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6FF7-XLK?i=35&cc=1401638>.

3: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Page 869, dwelling 81, family 81, Neill Gillis household. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 131. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBF-SS4C?i=12&cc=1473181>.

4: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Page 65, dwelling 329, family 329, Neill Gillis household. NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 166. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-XKP3-RTR?cc=1438024&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMC3N-Q6X>.

5: 332Angus Gillis' will. Montgomery County, Georgia. Wills Book A (1812-1902), page 46. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93G-VR8J?i=121&cc=1999178&cat=202224>, accessed 25 August 2019.

6: Montgomery County, Georgia. Marriage book A (1810-1908), page 67, marriage of Neil Gillis and Penelope Davis. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BZ3-DNN?i=68&cc=1927197&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKXJV-G6C>, accessed 25 August 2019.

7: 1850 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Pages 527-528, entry 23, Neill Gillis farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 3. The NARA provides a helpful template, and I have transcribed the record.

8: 1860 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Page 3 and 4, entry 35, Neill Gillis farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 5. The NARA provides a helpful template, and I have transcribed the numbers.

9: Major Farquhar's 4 March 1862 roster of Montgomery County, Georgia militia submitted to Georgia Adjustant General Henry C. Wayne. Cited in: Robert Scott Davis, History of Montgomery County, Georgia to 1918 (WH Wolfe Associates, 1992), page 175.

10: Georgia's 1867-1868 Voter Registration Oath Books. Volume 86 (Montgomery County Book A), page 226, entry 106, Neill Gillis. Ancestry.com ("Georgia, Returns of Qualified Voters and Reconstruction Oath Books, 1867-1869"). Although I copied the image from Ancestry.com, the corresponding microfilm at the Georgia Archives is microfilm 296/35.

11: 1880 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 1221, Montgomery County, Georgia. Enumeration district 78, page 54, dwelling 11, family 11, Neil C. Gillis household. NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 159. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBM-98DL?i=10&cc=1417683&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM8GJ-49V>.

12: 1870 U.S. Federal Census (Agriculture Schedule). Montgomery County, Georgia. Pages 13 and 14, entry 36, Neill Gillis farm. NARA microfilm publication T1137, roll 8. The NARA provides a helpful template.

13: Compiled Confederate service record of Private N. C. Gillis of Company B, 1 Florida Battallion Special Cavalry. NARA microfilm publication M251, roll 5.

14: [Article title/subtitle appears to be missing], The Eastman Times (Eastman, Georgia), 3 May 1883, page 1, column 3 near the bottom of the page. Georgia Historic Newspapers, <https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn85034047/1883-05-03/ed-1/seq-1/> et seq., accessed 19 September 2023.