Gillis Hill Farm

Hard Work and Perseverance

The Gillis Family has lived and worked this farm for over 200 years. Our ancestors emigrated from Scotland in the late 1700s. They were part of the emigration from Scotland to America that began as a trickle in 1739 that ended up with the largest concentration of Highland Scots on the North American Continent. 

The story we have to share here is not one of any particular national or regional interest. We do not have any notable political or military leaders in the family. However, our story is one that is much more common and representative of the majority of American farm families in the history of this nation. It is one of ordinary people who through hard work, perseverance, and faith were able to move from being immigrants to becoming solid pillars in the communities that they helped build. As a new nation grew, it grew out of immigrant communities such as ours and has slowly been molded into what we now know as the United States of America.

Yes, our family was and is a part of the political, military, and social struggles of this country in small ways, but that is not the story here. Our story begins with the arrival of Malcolm Gillis. He, like most immigrants receiving a land grant, found himself with a piece of property covered with trees which naturally led him into the timber business. Sawmills and the turpentine business were soon thriving. Over the generations, as land was cleared, the families farming interest increased. The family has moved from timber, to timber and farming, to predominantly farming today.