| Summary: | Leo and Beulah McCloud Family: Beulah, Leo, Jr., Debbie, Randy, Leo, Sr., and Ricky. Leo was born in Deloraine, Canada, but lived in the Belcourt area. Beulah has lived all her life in the Belcourt area. Leo works in the Commodity Warehouse while Beulah is custodian for the old hospital. Their home is four miles west on Jack Rabbit Road and Vi mile north. The McCloud's have four childern: Debbie, married to Richard Houle; Randy; Leo Jr., married to Karen Delong; and Ricky. They have four grandchildren. HECTOR "STAR" MCGILLIS Hector McGillis was born around 1844, son of Alexander McGillis who seems to have had a permanent home on the strip of land in the vicinity of St. Francois Xavier on the Assiniboine River west of Winnipeg. His mother was Angelique (Jerome) McGillis. Alexander made his living hunting, returning to the land for rest or wintering. His son Hector was raised in this tradition and lived to become one of the few remaining witnesses of this bygone era at the time of his death in 1940. "Star" was born on the prairie during a buffalo hunting trip to Maison du Chien (Dog Den Hill), southeast of Minot. No exact record has been found giving the date but he was thought to be 96 years old at the time of his death in 1940 and this would place the date of his birth around 1844. The hunting trips he remembered from his early days extended from St. Paul to the Missouri River and north, far into Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The last big hunts were along the Milk River in Montana (around 1970) after which the hunters made their way back to form more permanent settlements. Star came back to the Turtle Mountain region about 1882 and lived for almost 60 years on the banks of the McGillis Coulee north of St. John, not far from the St. Claude site. On one of the buffalo hunts in his younger days Star was injured when his horse stumbled and fell on his leg. He recovered from the fall but his leg was stiff and he was obliged to move with a crutch. Star had an unusual relic of frontier times for many years. About 1867 or 1868 Star's mother and a LaRocque family were camped along the Antelope Hills, on a trail west of Harvey, North Dakota. Joe Amlot, a government mail carrier who had the route between Ft. Stevenson on the Missouri and Ft. Totten, Devils Lake, wanted some supplies from the families. Not having any money he paid with a pair of horse hobbles. Not long afterward, Joe Amlot and Bobby McDonnel were killed by the Sioux at the north end of Strawberry Lake. Star McGillis recalled the following scenes from the buffalo hunts. He described the method of hunting indicating that the rider on a swift horse would ride up on the right side of a buffalo and then send a bullet down through the animal's ribs back of the foreleg. On one occasion Star rode into a running herd and was surrounded by a cloud of dust filled with running animals, mixed with hunters shooting and shouting, dogs barking and wounded game bellowing. On November 15, 1870 Star married Elise Baston, daughter of Guillaume Baston and Magdeline Gonneville at the Catholic Church in St. Francois Xavier. Their children are as follows: John, Peter, Fred, William, Solomon, Josepine (Mrs. Joe) Slater, Christine (Mrs. Charles) Ross, Rose (Mrs. Mike) Brien, Melanie (Mrs. Culbert) LaFreniere, Ursula Culbert and Madeline (Mrs. Alex) Brebant. Star died September 21, 1940 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery at St. John. His sons that remained in the St. John area were John, Fred and William. Solomon lived in Sidney, Montana. Gilliam McGillis, John's adopted son, lives in St. John at present. MARY ROSE DAVIS MCGILLIS Mary Rose Davis McGillis, a metis from the Turtle Mountain's celebrated her 106th birthday on September 25th of this year. She is the daughter of Michael Davis and Flavett Allery. Mary Rose married at an early age to Peter McGillis, son of Star McGillis, who resided north of St. John, North Dakota. Four children were born into this union: Mary Elise McGillis (Parisien), deceased; Bill McGillis (long-term - Rolla), living; Delia McGillis (Paul), deceased; and Louis (le- Groo) McGillis, residing in Belcourt. Mrs. Fred Boyer, a sister, of rural Belcourt is her only family member still living. In 1979, Mary Rose proudly posed in a family portrait - depicting six (6) generations. Mary Rose has a very colorful background. Born into a Metis family in the year 1878, Mary Rose recalls what life was like during her period in time. True nomads of the plains, her parents, relatives and friends lived together or apart, as fancy prompted. They roved from the banks of the Red River to the banks along the Missouri - from the hunting grounds of various tribes to encampments of their friends, the Crees, Chippewa, and 463 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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