(20 Jan. 1852-5 Dec. 1904), contractor. (Lewis A. Grant, L.A. Grant) (year of birth 1853 also found) Born at Williamstown GC. Parents: Archibald Grant and his wife Ann McDonald. Education: public schools. Lewis A. Grant worked till 1870 on his father’s farm which was near Williamstown, then worked from 1870 to 1880 for McPherson Bros., general merchants, at Lancaster, GC. In 1880 he went to the United States to join his brother Angus A. Grant in railway and bridge construction in Kansas. In the next few years, the brothers did construction work for the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In 1882 the brothers formed the firm Grant Bros. Their brother John R. Grant joined the partnership in 1885.
It appears that John D. Mcdonald, later of Pueblo, Colo., was at one stage also a partner of Angus A. Grant. McDonald, a native of GC, was a cousin of the Grants. Under the heading “Successful Glengarry Men,” the Glengarrian (Alexandria) of 20 May 1887 noted, “It will be gratifying to our readers to learn that the firm of contractors known as Grant, M’Donald & Co., who are now engaged on railway contraction in Kansas, are getting on well, and that the men from this county now in their employ are in good health and enjoying life. In a Colorado paper sent to us by a subscriber we notice that the firm is advertising for additional teams and men. At the present time they have over a hundred and fifty teams at work on that portion of the work which they are doing themselves, while the sub-contractors have also a full complement of men and teams. Mr. John D. M’Donald, it will be remembered, is a partner in the firm known as M’Donald and Kendall [millers, of Alexandria], of this place, who at the solicitation of Mr. A.A. Grant joined him in the extensive contract work in Colorado and Kansas [.] Glengarry men themselves, they have now in their employ a very large number of men from this county, whose peculiar adaptability for railway work has made the name of their native Glengarry famous throughout the continent.” McDonald was also associated about this time with John R. Grant. (See the biog. of Mcdonald) However, McDonald was probably never a partner of the firm Grant Bros. as such, never a partner of the historic firm Grant Bros., the firm which was one of the great GC achievements, but rather a member of another more short-lived firm with a different title but involving one or more of the Grants. It appears to have been a practice, in any case, in contracting to form firms exclusively and temporarily for just one or a few contracts.
The headquarters of the firm Grant Bros. were in San Bernardino, Calif., in 1885, and in Los Angeles in 1886. The Los Angeles city directory, 1888, has an entry for “Grant Brothers (A.A., L.A. and John R.) railroad construction contractors,” and entries for each of the brothers separately, with “Grant Bros.” in brackets after each of their names. The firm Grant Bros. was reorganized in 1900 with the slightly altered name of the Grant Bros. Construction Co. Lewis A. Grant was its president for the remainder of his life. The brothers were involved in extensive railway-building projects for railways including the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific. They were active especially as railway builders in California and Arizona. Also, they were involved in street work and building irrigation systems. They built a railway terminal for Los Angeles. They also had substantial property interests in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and they managed public utilities there. Lewis A. Grant and A. A. Grant were partners (1889) in the Moraga Land Association. (see life of A.A. Grant for this Association)
Lewis A. Grant was president from 1902 to 1903 of The Tidings Publishing Co. This Los Angeles firm had been established in 1900 to publish The Tidings, a Catholic newspaper. Grant was a director from 1901 till his death of the Los Angeles National Bank. From 1899 to 1903 he was a member of the commission which managed the Los Angeles waterworks for the city. When this commission was succeeded in 1903 by the Board of Water Commissioners, he became a member of the Board and remained a member till his death. In Los Angeles he belonged to the Board of Trade and the Chamber of Commerce. He maintained a stable of thoroughbred horses, and was interested in farming, horseback riding and golf. He owned a ranch near Downey, Calif. He died at Los Angeles. Roman Catholic. Member of Knights of Columbus. Lewis A. Gant was married on 23 June 1891, at Lancaster, in GC, to Harriet Mary McPherson, of Lancaster. (two daughters) Her father, William McPherson, was almost certainly one of the merchants the young Lewis A. Grant had worked for at Lancaster. (See Donald A. McPherson for a note on the McPherson merchants of Lancaster.)
Lewis A. Grant, who was a relatively young man (not quite 53) when he died, was one of the most prominent and successful of the Glengarrians who prospered as railway contractors in the United States. His brother Angus A. Grant had died 3 1/2 years before, so in a short time the firm lost two of its three brothers.
Detailed life (the best source) with fine portrait and much information on his business career in National Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1892–), Vol. XLII 517-518 * sources as for life of his brother A.A. Grant * Glengarry News 9 Dec. 1904, 6 Jan. 1905 * death of his mother-in-law Mrs William McPherson, GN 13 Jan. 1922, repr. Fraser Obits. 276 * Isidore D. Dockweiler, “Lewis Alexander Grant–The Man: Address Delivered at the Memorial Meeting of the Newman Club,” The Tidings, 30 Dec. 1904: biog. sketch, tribute * obituary of John R. McDonell, 84, former reeve of Charlottenburgh Township, former employee of Grant construction co., Standard Freeholder 11 Jan. 1944 * a search in 1997 of the R. G. Dun & Co. credit ledgers for Grant Bros. (Construction Co.) produced no results