| <tab>Alexander McDonell was described in obituaries as being of “splendid physique” and “handsome personal appearance,” standing several inches over six feet tall, and of a genial, helpful disposition. He died “at the residence of his brother, east wing Parliament Buildings,” in Toronto, that is to say, at the Ontario legislative buildings. He is described in his obituaries as “an extensive contractor” and “the well-known contractor.” He was evidently not one of the major contractors, but a reliable man, whose services were steadily in use. He was the “Alex. McDonell, one of Canada’s oldest contractors,” who is mentioned casually, in 1886, in the entry for his nephew-in-law, Henry Alfred Gray, civil engineer, in Rose’s biographical dictionary. | <tab>Alexander McDonell was described in obituaries as being of “splendid physique” and “handsome personal appearance,” standing several inches over six feet tall, and of a genial, helpful disposition. He died “at the residence of his brother, east wing Parliament Buildings,” in Toronto, that is to say, at the Ontario legislative buildings. He is described in his obituaries as “an extensive contractor” and “the well-known contractor.” He was evidently not one of the major contractors, but a reliable man, whose services were steadily in use. He was the “Alex. McDonell, one of Canada’s oldest contractors,” who is mentioned casually, in 1886, in the entry for his nephew-in-law, Henry Alfred Gray, civil engineer, in Rose’s biographical dictionary. |
| <tab>It is not clear which of the three other Macdonells listed living at this time in the East Wing, Parliament Buildings, Toronto, was his brother. See also the entry for Donald William Macdonell, sergeant-at-arms. It is tempting to guess that because the sergeant-at-arms was based in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, that he must have been the contractor’s brother, and that the press must have erred in reporting the contractor’s death as being in Toronto, and that the contractor must in fact have died in Ottawa, but the evidence is undisputable that it was in the Toronto legislative buildings, not the Ottawa ones, that the contractor died. | <tab>It is not clear which of the three other Macdonells listed living at this time in the East Wing, Parliament Buildings, Toronto, was his brother. See also the entry for [[macdonell_donald_william|Donald William Macdonell]], sergeant-at-arms. It is tempting to guess that because the sergeant-at-arms was based in the Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, that he must have been the contractor’s brother, and that the press must have erred in reporting the contractor’s death as being in Toronto, and that the contractor must in fact have died in Ottawa, but the evidence is undisputable that it was in the Toronto legislative buildings, not the Ottawa ones, that the contractor died. |
