CCHA Report, 2 (1934-1935),
22-32
ABERCHALDER
BY W. L. SCOTT, K.C.
The existence, from the very
beginning, in the eastern portion of what is now Ontario, of a compact body of
Scottish Catholics, is a fact of major importance in the history of the
Catholic Church in Canada. The impression is very general that this settlement
owed its origin, and the County of Glengarry its name, to the regiment of
Glengarry Fencibles, brought directly from Scotland and settled there, in 1803,
by Bishop Macdonell. This is, however, erroneous. The proclamation dividing the
Province of Upper Canada into counties and naming one of them
"Glengarry," was published in 1792, eleven years before the arrival
of the Fencibles. (1) Incidentally, it may be
mentioned that Glengarry, as established in 1792, was much larger than the
present county, extending from the St. Lawrence to the Ottawa and from the
Provincial boundary to a line connecting the two rivers, drawn a little east of
Cornwall. The original Scottish Catholic settlers, to whom the county owes its
name, came, not from Scotland direct, but as Loyalist refugees, during the
Revolutionary War, from the Mohawk Valley, in the Colony of New York, where
they had been settled under the aegis of Sir William Johnson, Bart. The exact
location of their settlement is unknown, but it must have been quite near
Johnstown, the County Town of Tryon (now Montgomery) County, and in the immediate
vicinity of Johnson Hall, Sir William's baronial residence. They had come out
from Scotland and settled there in 1773, hoping, in the new world, to be
afforded an opportunity of repairing the disasters that had overtaken them in
the old. They had, however, been but two years in New York when, on the
outbreak of the Revolution, they felt bound, for conscience sake, to abandon
their new homes, as they had so recently abandoned their ancestral ones and,
once again, to carve out homes for themselves, this time in the wilderness that
is now Ontario.
Much has been written of Bishop
Macdonell and the Glengarry Fencibles, but very little of this earlier
settlement. Yet an accurate acquaintance with it and particularly with the
personalities and family relationships of the leaders, is fundamental to the
understanding of the whole later history of Glengarry and of the Macdonells in
Canada.
In Lee's History of the
County of Inverness the following passage occurs:
In 1773 a newspaper informs
us that three gentlemen of the name of Macdonell, with their families and 400
Highlanders from Glengarry, Glenmoriston, Glenurquhart and Strathglass,
embarked forAmerica, having obtained a grant of land in Albany. (2)
The three gentlemen referred to were three brothers, John
Macdonell of Leek, Allan Macdonell of Collachie and Alexander Macdonell of
Aberchalder. With them were a brother-in-law, Ranald Macdonell of Ardnabee, (3) and a first cousin, John Macdonell of Scotus, (4) better known as "Spanish John,"
whose memoirs were, some years ago, expanded into a novel, by the late William
McLennan. (5) These five men had all been out in
"the forty-five" and Leek had been wounded at Culloden. All had
distinguished careers, and many hundreds of descendants of each still live in
Canada and elsewhere. It is, however, with the three brothers, organizers of
the expedition, that we are here more particularly concerned. Some of their
descendants have played a not unimportant part in. the history of Canada and I
have therefore thought it worth while to give, in some detail, an account of
the Leek family and of its origin. I have deemed this to be the more desirable
as serious errors regarding their identity and genealogy have heretofore been
current.
It will be recalled that the
Clan Donald, though always theoretically one clan, was in fact, in later times,
divided into five, the Macdonalds of Clanranald, Sleat and Glencoe and the
Macdonells of Glengarry and Keppoch, (6) each
under its own chief and with its own arms and tartan. Included in each of these
clans were cadet families, "gentlemen of the clan," usually more or
less closely related to the chief. Such were the Macdonells of Leek, in the
Glengarry clan, a clan always Catholic to a man. The Leek family are said to
have been well known for generations in the Highlands, for their strength and
warllke disposition. (7) They had held the
property called Leek for more than a century, as tacksmen or leaseholders,
under the successive Glengarry chiefs; and at the date of their emigration, the
tack had still nearly a hundred years to run. The Glengarry Estate, it may be
mentioned, covered more than 100,000 acres. Upon the application of a
descendant of Collachie's the descent of the Leek family from Donald, seventh
Chief of Glengarry, who died in 1645, at the age of 102, was some years ago,
admitted by the Lyon King-at-arms. (8)
Donald's second son, John Og,
received in 1661, from his nephew, Lord Macdonell and Aros, a tack of the lands
of Leek and the property had been in the family ever since. This John Og is
referred to, in 1679, as one of several Catholics in Abertarff, hunted down by
the Episcopal Church, which was then established in Scotland.
(9) In the early part of the eighteenth century the holder
of the tack was John, father of the "three gentlemen" and also of
nine daughters, all of whom married Macdonells. (10)
One was the wife of Ardnabee and came over with her husband, and at least one
other emigrated, then or later, and has left numerous descendants in Canada.
Some account of the places that
gave their names to the three branches of a family so widely known in Canada
cannot be otherwise than interesting. All three properties are situated close
together, at the northerly end of Loch Oich, on what was formerly the Glengarry
Estate, in Invernesshire, and are still known by their ancient designations.
Leek is on the west side of the Caledonian Canal, in the Ardoch District, about
four miles above Fort Augustus. Collachie or Cullochy, as it was originally
spelt, is nearly opposite Leek, on the east side of the Canal, in the District
of Aberchalder. Aberchalder, which has given its name to the, District, is a
little to the south of Collachie, on Loch Oich, at the mouth of a small stream
known as the Calder. The word Leek (from the Gaelic "Leach"), means a
flagstone. Cullochy is made up of "Cul" at the back of, and
"lock," the lake. Aberchalder comes from "Aber" the mouth,
and "chalder" of the calder. Calder is a corruption of Coille Dur;
"Dur" an obsolete Gaelic term for water, and "Coille," of
the wood. The Calder burn runs through a wood for almost its entire length. It
was at Aberchalder that the Highland Army halted for the night of August 28th,
1745, and was joined by 400 of the Glengarry Macdonells.
(11) The chief source of the errors that have been current regarding
the Leek family has been an ambitious work, in three volumes, entitled
"The Clan Donald." (12) The pedigrees
there given for Leek, Collachie and Aberchalder are hopelessly astray. The Leek
tree starts, correctly, with John Og, (13) but
the subsequent links are not reconcilable with the known facts. It is said that
Angus, the holder of the tack, who died before 1750, left seven sons, John,
Allan, Ranald, Archibald, Alexander, Donald and Roderick. It is, however, quite
evident from the context, that five of these seven, namely, Archibald, Allan,
Roderick, Ranald and Alexander, are the sons, not of any Angus of Leek, but of
John of Leek, the oldest of the three brothers. Hence the Rev. Ewan J.
Macdonald's mention of the Rev. Roderick Macdonell as the "seventh son of
Angus of Leek," (14) whereas he was in
fact the third son of John of Leek. This confusion seems to have originated in
"The History of the Macdonalds and Lords of the Isles"
(15) and to have been thence imported into "Glengarry in
Canada" (16) and Chadwick's "Ontario
Families," (17) and finally into "The
Clan Donald." John, said by "The Clan Donald" to have been the
oldest son of Angus and to have been the fifth of Leek, is there identified
with a gallant officer, who was the father of a distinguished son. This John
was an officer in Fraser's Highlanders and was with Wolfe at the taking of
Quebec. His son was Col. George Macdonell, the hero of Chateauguay. John of
Fraser's Highlanders could not, however, have been the head of the family or the
holder of the tack. He had been away from Scotland continuously since 1745 and
was, moreover, a much younger man, as he did not die until 1813, whereas John,
the brother of Allan and Alexander, was born about 1707 and died in 1779.
There is a well established
tradition among their descendants in Canada to the effect that both John
Macdonell of Leek and his father, the older John Macdonell of Leek, were
tacksmen of Leek and that the children of the former, even those born before
1745, were born at Leek. This is confirmed by the entry of John Macdonell,
brother of Collachie and Aberchalder, on the various United Empire Loyalist
pension lists as "of Leek." (18) The
entry cannot possibly refer to John Macdonell of Fraser's Highlanders, for the
latter was then on active service with his regiment. (19)
To cite one more proof, it may be mentioned that in the will, dated April 29th,
1761, of Alastair Ruadh Macdonell, Chief of Glengarry from 1754 to 1761, the
following paragraph occurs:
I further recommend my said
sister [his executrix], immediately after my decease, to seal up my cabinet and
take care that the same shall not be opened until the friends of the family
meet, and then I direct Angus Macdonell of Greenfield, John Macdonell of Leek
and Allan Macdonell of Cullachie, or the survivor of them then present, to see
all the political and useless letters among my papers burnt and destroyed, as
the preservation of them can answer no purpose. (20)
As John, of Fraser's Highlanders, was in Canada at the date of the will, and
had been there for the two previous years, (21)
the reference in the will to "John Macdonell of Leek" cannot possibly have
been intended to apply to him. I was told by my aunt, my father's elder sister,
that Col. George Macdonell was a frequent visitor at my grandfather's house and
that he was a cousin of my grandmother's, she being a granddaughter of John of
Leek, the brother of Collachie and Aberchalder, but I have been unable to
ascertain the exact connection between the two. Colonel George's sister married
Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Bart., and her grandson, the late Sir George Armytage,
Bart., with whom I corresponded for some years, told me that his grandmother
always maintained that her father was John Macdonell of Leek and that she had
no doubt whatever that her grandfather was another John Macdonell of Leek. This
statement, if correct, would seem to eliminate definitely and for all purposes,
the "Angus Macdonell of Leek" of The Clan Donald. The latest edition
of Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, in the Radcliffe pedigree, describes the
lady's father as "the third son of Macdonell of Glengarry," (22) but Sir George Armytage never said that. As
the result of our correspondence we both came to the conclusion that, while
Colonel George's father was evidently a Leek, it was no longer possible to
determine his precise relationship to the three brothers.
In the case of the Collachie
and Aberchalder families, "The Clan Donald" gives pedigrees
indicating origins distinct from that of Leek. The earlier portions of these
may be genuine but if so, they have no connection with the Collachie and
Aberchalder families so well known in Canada, for Allan of Collachie and
Alexander of Aberchalder, from whom the latter are respectively descended, were
unquestionably brothers of John of Leek. There is no room for doubt as to this.
Members of the family now living have learned the facts from grandparents and
others who were born in the lifetime of the three brothers, and the descendants
of all three count each other as connections to this day. If further proof be
needed, positive documentary evidence will be found among the Haldimand Papers.
In a letter from Major Gray to Governor Haldimand dated May 12th, 1777, (23) John and Alexander are referred to as
brothers, and in a memorial to Governor Haldimand dated February 23rd, 1780,
Alexander refers to Allan as his brother. (24)
The confusion was, no doubt, due to an attempt to connect former tenants of the
Collachie and Aberchalder properties with the tenants in 1773, the pregenitors
of the Collachie and Aberchalder families of Canada. It was, at that time,
customary in Scotland to attach the name of the place or holding to the name of
the incoming tacksman or tenant, on entry and during tenancy or possession, the
name ceasing to be associated with him upon the termination of his tenancy. A
different custom, however, prevailed among tacksmen, particularly those of the
name of Macdonell, who came to Canada. With them and their descendants to the
present day, the names of their last holdings in Scotland continue to be
associated and serve a useful purpose in distinguishing them from others of
their clan, as well as in perpetuating the remembrance of their last home in
the Highlands.
As regards the Collachie
property, we have proof positive of a break in the tenancy early in the
eighteenth century. In 1738 Glengarry wadsetted the place to his kinsman
Macdonell of Lochgarry, (25) and as the
essential feature of the Scottish wadset or mortgage was that the mortgagee
held the land and took the profits, as interest until the debt was repaid,
Collachie must have been vacant at the time. Moreover, on August 2nd, 1758,
young Glengarry writes to his agent that after the rebellion (1745) "every
tenant took possession of what farm he pleased," and that in 1746
"Mrs. McDonell of Lochgarry, being destitute of all support, having a
numerous family of young children, came from Badenoch, took possession of
Cullachy, and there lived until she followed her husband abroad. . ." and
he adds : -"The lands of Cullachie was only set till lately from year to
year, the tenants were frequently removed. .." (26)
Some years ago I corresponded
with the Rev. Archibald McDonald, one of the joint authors of "The Clan
Donald," with reference to the errors in the pedigrees of the Leek,
Collachie and Aberchalder families given in his book. For some time he stoutly
maintained that he was right. Eventually, however, he wrote me a letter, dated
July 21st, 1909, from which I quote the following paragraph:
I have been for the last two years going
through a Charter Chest belonging to an old family in this district and have
been making transcripts of old documents in some of which there is considerable
light upon the generations in which you are interested. These papers confirm
the genealogy contained in the statements you sent me and which I am now
forwarding to Sir Geo. Armytage at your request. They at the same time shake
the genealogy of the Leek family contained in the "Clan Donald" which
was drawn up on insufficient evidence.
On February 18th, 1910, he wrote even more
specifically to Sir George Armytage, saying as follows:
When Mr. Scott's papers were in my hands
I had also the documents to which I have been referring. I remember distinctly
testing Mr. Scott's Genealogy by these Chisholm records and finding his tree
confirmed in every particular where it differed from the pedigree given in the
"Clan Donald."
Leek, the oldest of the three brothers, married Jean
Chisholm, niece of Roderick "The Chisholm," Chief of the Clan, and
great granddaughter of Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel, who played so important a
part in the stirring events of the last half of the seventeenth century. Sir
Ewan, or "Evandhu," as he was called in the Highlands, died in 1719,
at the age of ninety. His fourth daughter, Janet, married, in 1698, John Grant,
6th Laird of Glenmoriston. (27) One of their
daughters married Alexander Chisholm of Muckerach, younger brother of Roderick,
"The Chisholm," and was the mother of Jean, Lady Glenmoriston, Jean's
grandmother, died at the age of eighty, having, at the time of her death, no
fewer than two hundred living descendants. Her coffin was carried by sons,
grandsons, great grandsons and great great grandsons, a circumstance probably
unique. (28)
Connected with Jean's father,
Alexander Chisholm of Muckerach, there is an interesting and well authenticated
story, which his numerous descendants in Canada and elsewhere may recall with
satisfaction and pride. His brother Roderick, chief of the clan and inheritor
of the estates, took part in the rising of 1715. The Chisholms, under their
young chief, distinguished themselves at Sheriffmuir, but the rebellion was
soon put down and Roderick Chisholm was attainted and his estates sequestered.
By the adroit intervention and management of prudent and influential friends
the confiscated estates were conveyed, through several persons, to Alexander.
The latter thus became absolute owner of the properties and there was nothing,
save his integrity and loyalty to his brother, to prevent his keeping and
handing them down to his descendants. He, however, after holding them from 1719
till 1742, conveyed them to his nephew Alexander, the eldest son of Roderick.
It was well that the conveyance was made to Alexander rather than to Roderick
himself, for three years later, on the landing of Prince Charles Edward, the
attachment of Roderick to the Stuarts could not be restrained, and he, with his
clan, took the field and fought at Culloden, where the Chisholms suffered
severely. As Roderick had no estates, he had nothing to forfeit and he was
eventually left undisturbed; but part of the castle of Erchless was destroyed
and the whole of Strathglass was ravaged by the Duke of Cumberland's soldiers.
Alexander Chisholm, the son of Roderick, to whom the estates had been conveyed,
executed, in the year 1777, an entail of them, limited to the heirs male of his
body, whom failing, to the heirs male of his uncle, Alexander Chisholm of
Muckerach; and when, in 1858, the direct line died out, the estates passed
under the entail to James Sutherland Chisholm, then a resident of Montreal, the
great grandson of the latter. Thus was Alexander's probity rewarded in his
descendants. (29)
Allan Macdonell of Collachie
married a daughter of "The MacNab" and Alexander Macdonell of
Aberchalder's wife was a daughter of Alexander Macdonell of Killichoriat.
Leek's eldest son, Angus, died
unmarried, before the family left Scotland. His second son, Archibald, married
Ann Fraser of Ballindown and, later, emigrated with his family to New York,
where he engaged in business, meeting with great success. In New York, he
formed the acquaintance of Sir William Johnson and, at the latter's suggestion,
made proposals to his father and uncles that ultimately led to their organizing
the emigration referred to in the paragraph quoted earlier in this paper. The
party was composed of the five gentlemen already mentioned, their respective
families, their priest, the Rev. John McKenna, (30)
and more than four hundred Highlanders, making a total of some six hundred Souls. (31) They sailed in the Pearl, a frigate of the
Royal Navy, placed at their disposal for the purpose, and landed at New York,
in the Autumn of 1773. (32)
The arrival of so considerable
a party of Scottish gentry, with their followers, was looked on as somewhat of
an event, and it was celebrated by a banquet tendered to the strangers by the
Mayor and Corporation of New York. The hosts, however, considered that it would
be unbecoming to ask any mere merchant to dine with gentlemen and so Archibald,
the eldest son of the family, at whose suggestion they had come, was not bidden
to the feast! (33)
The party proceeded without
delay to Albany and the leaders at once entered into communication with Sir
William Johnson, with a view to arranging place and terms of settlement. Allan
of Collachie was the spokesman of the party, as appears from the following
letter from him to Sir William:
"Albany, 14 Novr. 1773
Sir:
The Letter
you did me the honour to write me I received this afternoon and in Consequence
thereof my friends & I met this evening & considered of the contents
have accordingly committed our observations to writing & is here enclosed
we hope they will be agreeable to you as we have a great desire of Settling
under your wing and in which we may have a mutual Interest, you have Large estates to
make & we some influence over people tho' at a distance that may be of
consequence in Subsequent years. If the Situation & Quality of the land is
attracting we will settle as to the few hundred acres you are ready to dispose
off if other Matters are agreed upon the farm also.
I
have the honour to be
Sir
Your Most Ob't & most
humbl' Servant
Allan MacDonell"
Endorsed:
"Allan McDonell
Letter & Observation
To The Hon'ble
Sir William Johnson Barn't." (34)
The following is the
enclosed "observation."
"The
lands of Kingsborrow and May fieldsw may be of very great extent I own And
consequently may remove Settlers to a great Distance from Market Saw or Grist
Mills Articles of the greatest Importance to New Beginners and of which Sir
William is so well convinced that it requires no explanation.
Customs
and Carriages was a Nusance in the Mother Country And the cause of removing
thence many of its Inhabitants and the latest of them do not incline to be the
first introducers of it by compact in the New World.
Sir
William will please remember that f6., and not f6.3 was the Conversation And
Offer at Johnson Hall. The 18,000 Acres adjoining to Schoherry appears to be
the Cheapest but as we know nothing of the soil & Situation we will refer
saying anything upon the head.
The
13,000 Acres adjoining to Lord Adam Gordon's we shall be glad to know at what
its Sett in fee simple or if any advantages of saw or Grist Mills fish or Fowl
attend it.
The
lands in the neighborhood of the Sisquehanna in the same way as you have taken
no notice of the fee simple sett of it. What makes it more necessary for us to
know of the Sisquehanna is that four men Vizt. Murdoch MacPherson Hugh Fraser
John Cameron. & Alexr. MacDonell were when at York recommended to some
proprietors in that part in consequence of which they went there and at the
time we did ourselves the honour of waiting on you they returned & reported
to the people the most flattering encouragement, And indeed such as I do not
chuse to commit to paper. And went immediately to York to expede writings as
the most effectual method to Support their Allegations.
The
people here are still in a fluctuating Situation but we believe they will
adhere to us if Sir William gives the encouragement their Sobriety &
Industry will Merit. The principle of which is a years Maintinance to each
family that will Settle upon his estate: for which they would become bound to
pay him. If their endeavours are found worthy of a Cow and Horse or the Value
its Hoped they will be indulged in it upon giving security for Principal &
Interest. We have a double motive for requesting the last the peoples Interest
& Intention of frestering the designs laid of Inveigling them from us. It
would be agreeable to us that there be room or Scouth in our Vicinity in order
that such-of our friends & Countrymen as will incline to follow our fate
may sit, down in our Neighborhood we have reason to hope that severals of them
will appear on this Continent if fortune does not frown upon us or force us to
lay an Interdict on their intentions.
Should
Any of us calling ourselves Gentlemen incline to remove after a few years
expence And toil in clearing lands &c. it is hoped Sir William will agree
to Accept of their Plantation at the Appreciation or estimation of honest men
Mutually chose."
(35)
Terms were
eventually arranged and the party settled on a portion of Sir William Johnson's
vast estates, in what was then called Tryon County, in the Mohawk Valley, in
the Province of New York, about thirty miles from Albany. The name of the
County was, in 1784, changed to Montgomery, after the American General who was
killed at the siege of Quebec in December, 1775.
The time at my disposal will
not permit of my following the fortunes of the members of the family through
the revolutionary period or describing their ultimate settlement in Canada and
the public services subsequently performed by many of them in the country of
their adoption. It will, however, be of interest to mention, that they and
their Highland tribesmen, without exception, cast in their lot with the British
and that, when in January 1776 General Schuyler selected six hostages to hold
for the good behaviour of Sir John Johnson and his followers, certainly five of
them and probably all six, were members of the family. The five that we are
sure of were Leek, Collachie, Aberchalder, Leek's son Ranald and Aberchalder's
son Hugh. The sixth was almost certainly Leek's son Archibald. They were
confined as prisoners of war in the jail at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In the
following June, General Schuyler, by his attempt to arrest Sir John Johnson,
put an end to the arrangement and the hostages, thus released from their
parole, all eventually escaped and found their way to Canada. The first to
escape were Leek, Aberchalder and the latter's son Hugh, who proceeded at once to
the Mohawk, where they collected about fifty of their own clansmen and fifty
Germans, whom they led to Montreal, arriving there on May 10th, 1777. Major
Gray, in reporting their arrival to the Governor, stated that the men were
anxious to enlist but that the Highlanders "are so attached to their
chiefs (ie. Leek and Aberchalder), that they can't think of parting with
them." (36) They had their desire, for
they were enrollled in the King's Royal Regiment of New York and assigned to a
company of which Aberchalder was put in command. Collachie escaped only two
years later, reaching Quebec in August, 1779. (37)
Archibald, whether or not he was one of the six hostages, was imprisoned and
escaped in the summer of 1779. (38) Ranald, the
last of the six, was confined during threeyears, at various places, escaping
from the jail at Reading, Pennsylvania, and reaching the British army at
Philadelphia, whence he made his way to New York and finally to Canada. (39)
There is another matter to
which I wish to refer, before bringing this paper to a close. John Gilmary Shea
suggests (40) that the attitude of these
Highlanders towards the revolution was due to the effect on them of the bigotry
of their American neighbours, and he adds: "Thus did antiCatholic bigotry
deprive New York of industrious, thrifty settlers and send to swell the ranks
of the British Army, men who longed to avenge the defeat of Culloden." (41) This remark shows, as it appears to me, a
singular lack of appreciation of the character and point of view of these
Highlanders. Doubtless the bigotry of their neighbours and particularly
"the outburst of bigotry in New York excited by the Quebec Act" (42) would not have tended to attract them
towards the cause of the revolting colonies. But bigotry was nothing new to
them. They were quite accustomed to it. For more than two centuries they and
their ancestors had suffered bitter persecution for conscience sake. There can
be little doubt therefore, that it was not the bigotry of the Americans that
determined their stand. Had there been no bigotry the result would have been
the same. They would, it is true, have welcomed an opportunity of avenging
Cullodenl but only in the service of the Stuarts. They were essentially
monarchists and, once the Stuart cause had failed, they were as ready to fight
for King George as they had been to fight for King James. They were, moreover,
proud aristocrats. The remark of the wife of Collachie, in a letter to her son
Alexander, congratulating him on his having, at the age of fifteen, enlisted as
a private in the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment, is characteristic.
"Never forget" she wrote "that every drop of blood in your veins
is that of a Highland gentleman." (43) To
such people a republican revolt against the King could under no conceivable
circumstances have successfully appealed.
1. Documents relating to the Constitutional History of Canada,
1791-1818, edited by Arthur G. Doughty
and Duncan A. McArthur (Ottawa: 1914), p. 78.
2. A History of the County of Inverness (Mainland), by J. Cameron Lee LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. (William Blackwood &
Sons, Edinburgh and London: MDCCCXCVII), p. 249.
3. Ardnabee was an uncle of John Fraser of the Kilbockie
family, who was afterwards Chief Justice of the Montreal District, and a grand
uncle of Simon Fraser, to whom we are indebted for the possession of British
Columbia. Simon Fraser married a grand daughter of John Macdonell of Leek, one
of the three brothers.
4. Also spelt "Scottos" and "Scothouse."
5. Spanish John, by
William McLennan (Harper Brothers, New York and London; 1898). See also a
personal narrative of the stirring events in which he had taken part, written
by Spanish John, and published in the Canadian Magazine in 1825. A
copy is preserved in the Library of the Department of Education, Toronto. This
has recently been republished. See Spanish John, Being a Narrative of the
Early Life of Colonel John McDonell of Scottos written by himself: Printed
for The Royal Celtic Society (William Blackwood & Sons, Ltd., Edinborough
and London; 1931). See also an account of Spanish John and his family by Rev.
A. G. Morice, O.M.I., in the September and December numbers of The Canadian
Historical Review for 1929. Spanish John was the Father of Miles
Macdonell, the founder (under Lord Selkirk) and first governor of what is now
Manitoba. Miles married a daughter of Allan Macdonell of Collachie, his second
cousin, having first obtained from the ecclesiastical authorities the necessary
dispensation. Rev. A. G. Morice quotes a letter from Spanish John to his eldest
son John, dated February 27th, 1802, in which he refers to Rev. Roderick
Macdonell as "your granduncle, which" Father Morice naturally adds
"settles the degree of relationship of the two old men, clerical and
lay." It is not possible, however, to see how Father Roderick could have been
the uncle of Spanish John. The priest was unquestionably a brother of Allan
Macdonell of Collachie and therefore an uncle (but not a grand uncle) of Miles'
wife. Spanish John was a first cousin of Collachie, and therefore of Father
Roderick. He could not possibly have been his nephew, for all of the children
of Father Roderick's brothers and sisters are well known. The only explanation
that the present writer can suggest is that the priest was, in the family,
given the title "grand uncle" instead of "cousin," just as
the children of a first cousin of the present writer have always called him
"uncle."
6. The Clan Donald, by
the Rev. A. Macdonald, Minister of Killcarnow, and the Rev. A. Macdonald,
Minister of Killarity, in three volumes; (Inverness, The Northern Counties
Publishing Co., Ltd.; 1800-1904) Vol. II, passim; The Clans of the
Scottish Highlands, by James Logan, F.S.A. Scot.: in two volumes
(London, Ackerman & Co.: 1845) Parts I, II, XI, XII and XVI; A History
of the Highlands and of the Highland Clans, by James Brown, LL.P.
(Glasgow, A. Fullerton & Co.: 1838), pp. LXXI and 8, 10, 11, 18; The
Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands, by Frank Adams,
F.R.S.S., F.S.A. Scot. (Edinborough and London, W. & A. K. Johnston, Ltd.:
1908) pp. 62-70, 364-366, 400; plates 42-48.
7. A History of the Macdonalds and Lords of the Isles, by Alexander Mackenzie, F.S.A. Scot. (Inverness,
A. and W. MacKenzie: 1881).
8. Extract of Matriculation of the Arms of James Arthur Edward
Macdonell, Esq. (Collachie), on 20th August, 1912, by Lyon King-at-Arms.
9. The Clan Donald, Vol.
III, p. 847.
10. In a memorandum found among the private papers of the late
William McLennan, it is stated that John Macdonell of Crowlin, Spanish John's
father, was married to "a daughter of John Macdonell of Leek." This
lady must have been an aunt of the three brothers, a fact confirming the
statement that Spanish John was their first cousin. If the name of the lady's
father is given correctly as "John" there must have been three generations
of John Macdonells of Leek. The reason why Spanish John's father was of Crowlin
and not of Scotus, was that he was a younger son and did not, therefore,
inherit the Scotus property, but obtained a tack of the property called
Crowlin.
11. Place Names in Glengarry
and Glenquoich and their Origin, by Edward C. EM (London, Swann
Sonnenschein & Co., Ltd.: 1898), pp. 57, 60, 75, 104 and map.
12. The Clan Donald. See
note ante.
13. The Clan Donald, Vol.
III, pp. 311, 347.
14. "Father Roderick Macdonell, Missionary at St. Regis
and the Glengarry Catholics." by Ewan J. Macdonald. Paper read at the
Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association, Dec.
29th, 1982: The Catholic Historical Review, October 1983, p. 271.
15. Mackenzie, op. cit.
16. Sketches Illustrating the Early Settlement and History of
Glen parry in Canada, by J. A. Macdonell
of Greenfield (Montreal, Wm. Foster Brown & Co.: 1895), p. 179.
17. Ontario Families, Genealogies of United Empire Loyalists
and other Pioneer Families of Upper Canada, by Edward Marion Chadwick, Barrister-at-Law (Toronto. Ralph
Smith & Co.: 1894), Vol. I, p. 10. The author states that Isabella,
daughter of the John of Leek of Fraser's Highlanders (the only daughter he
mentions), married Lieut. (afterwards Col. the Hon.) Neil McLean and was the
mother of Chief Justice Archibald McLean. But the Isabella who married Nell
McLean was unquestionably a daughter of John Macdonell of Leek, the brother of
Collachie and Aberchalder. The author, in correspondence with the present
writer, accepted without reserve the pedigrees set forth in this paper.
18. See, for instance. Public Archives of Canada: Haldimand
Papers-Series B, Vol. 188, p. 70, and Vol. 65, p. 1.
19. The Clan Donald, Vol.
III, p. 348.
20. Antiquarian Notes, Second
Series, by Charles Fraser MacKintosh (Inverness, A. & W. MacKenzie;
1897), p. 120.
21. The Clan Donald, Vol.
III, p. 348.
22. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage for 1935. Burke refers to him as "General Eneas John
Macdonell of Leek." John Macdonell of Fraser's Highlanders was certainly
never any more than a Captain. When he died In 1813 he was a Captain of
Invalids at Berwick. He is nowhere else referred to as "Eneas."
Possibly the compilers of Burke may have confused him with some totally
different person.
23. Haldimand Papers - Series B., Vol. 158, p. 82. (24) Ibid.,
p. 351.
24. Ibid., p. 351.
25. MacKintosh, op. cit., p. 128.
26. MacKintosh, op. cit., p. 123.
27. The Grants of Glenmoriston formed a Clan separate from the
Grants of Grant. They usually acted with the Macdonells of Glengarry, rather
than with their namesakes of Grant. The chieftainship and the estates had been
in the same family for four centuries. until about twenty-five years ago, when
the chief emigrated to British Columbia.
28. See obituary in the Scotts Magazine for
1759.
29. The Genealogy of Jacob Farran Pringle, and his wife
Isabella Fraser Pringle (Standard Print,
Cornwall: 1892), p. 34.
30. "The Reverend
John McKenna, Loyalist Chaplain," by the Rev. Edward Kelly: The
Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Report 1933-84, p. 81.
31. Family tradition, confirmed by A Memoir of
Lieutenant-Colonel John MacDonell, of Glengarry House, the First Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, by Brig: General E. A. Cruikshank.
LL.D.. F.R.S.C., F.R.H.S. (Reprinted from the Ontario Historical Society's "Papers
and Records," Vol. XXII, 1925
32. Do. do.
33. Family tradition.
34. N.Y. State Archives. Sir William Johnson Mss., Vol. XXII,
No. 153.
35. Ibid. It should be remembered that the mother tongue of
these people was, not English, but Gaelic.
36. Public Archives of Canada: Haldimand Papers-Series B. Vol.
158, p. 32; Ibid., Vol. 181, p. 67; State Papers, Series Q., Vol. 13, p. 164; Journals
of the Provincial Congress etc. of the State of New York, 1775 to 1777,
Vol. 2, p. 474.
37. Haldimand Papers, Vol. 214-1, p. 199.
38. Haldimand Papers, Vol. 158, pp. 72-73; Vol. 159, p. 22.
39. Public Record Office, London: Audit Office Claims, American
Loyalists, Vol. 27, p. 210; Vol. 100, No. 1573; and Vol. 27, p. 311.
40. John Gilmary Shea, History of the Catholic Church in
the United States, Vol. II, p. 142, quoted by Rev. Ewan J.
Macdonald, op. cit., p. 115.
41. Shea, op. cit.
42. Shea, op. cit.
43. J. A. Macdonell, op. cit., p. 115.