(died 13 July 1936, aged 79), farmer, and his wife Elizabeth Grant (8 Feb. 1873-6 or 7 March 1950). William D. MacLeod was the son of Donald Norman MacLeod and his wife Margaret Fraser, and his place of birth was presumably his parents’ farm, which was on Lot 6 in the 9th Concession of Kenyon Township, GC. “As a young man he worked on the old Canada Atlantic Railway and went as was customary with all the young men in his time to the Michigan bush for winter-work.” In 1884, before his marriage in 1891, William D. MacLeod bought Lot 38 in the 8th Concession of Lochiel Township, once owned by Alexander MacLeod the surveyor. His wife was born on Lot 12, 7th Concession of Kenyon Township, the daughter of John Grant and his wife Harriet Urquhart.

     The Glengarrian (Alexandria) of 22 April 1898 reported a disastrous event on this couple’s farm: “On Thursday afternoon of last week [14 April], the residence of Mr. W. D. McLeod, McCrimmon, was destroyed by fire. The fire took place by some sparks from the chimney lodging on the roof. Mr. McLeod worked at the fire, and supposing he had it extinguished, went to his plowing in the field. In a short time his wife called him again stating that the fire was still burning. He immediately went to work with water and tried to put it out, but the fire had too much headway, and by the time his neighbours, who had all been busy in their fields arrived, there was no chance of saving the house, wood-shed and granary.” (Also for this fire, Glengarry News 15 April 1898)

     To replace their log house, destroyed thus by fire, William and his wife arranged the building in 1898 of a fine brick house, which has now, for more than one hundred years, been a landmark of northern GC, standing close to the roadway a mile south of McCrimmon village on the way (now Highway 34) to Alexandria. The MacLeod farm was given the name “Bonnie Brier,” and the same name has also, by local custom, been used for the house alone. (The alternative spelling “Briar” is also frequently used.) The name has been said to come from pink roses planted near the house. It may also echo the title of a once immensely popular novel or collection of stories, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (1894) by the Scottish clergyman and author John Watson (1850-1907), who used the pen name of Ian Maclaren. With regard to the literary connection, it may be noted that a teasing joke item in the 1908 Glengarry News claimed that a Lancaster, GC, physician, Dr T. O. McLaren, was a kinsman of Maclaren the novelist, and alleged, correctly or not, that the physician had named his newly occupied residence “Bonnie Briar Lodge.”

     The MacLeods’ Bonnie Brier represented a style of life, as well as being an architectural presence. The advertisement for a lawn social to be held on 11 June 1906 described it as taking place “at ‘Bonnie Brier Farm’ the commodious residence of Mr. Wm. McLeod of McCrimmon, Ont.” The third annual GC-branch plowing match was held at Bonnie Brier Farm. (Glengarry News 28 Oct. 1927) At Christmas, in a ceremony that is said to have been deeply impressive, real candles were lit with live flame on the Christmas tree at Bonnie Brier.

     The Glengarrians were, in general, not much interested in building large and fine houses, unlike, for example, so many of the wealthy farmers of the Western Ontario countryside east of Lake Huron. However, William D.’s brother, Donald D. MacLeod (known as “D. D.”) built a large, striking brick house half a mile west of McCrimmon, on Lot 4 in the 9th Concession of Kenyon Township, in 1889. Their brother John Donald MacLeod built a big frame house at McCrimmon village (see the entry for the scientist Donald John MacLeod).

     A progressive and successful farmer, William D. MacLeod also played the violin, and seems to have been more inclined to wide-ranging and cultural interests than many of the farmers who were his contemporaries. Though his own formal education may be guessed to have been pretty limited, he was a member for some twelve years of the Alexandria High School board, and for a period was its chairman. He was a Presbyterian and a Presbyterian elder. At his funeral, “The cortege of carriages which extended nearly a mile, testified to the high esteem in which the deceased was held by the entire community.”

     William D. MacLeod was the uncle of John Archie McCrimmon the storekeeper, and the brother-in-law of John A. McRae the registrar. William D. MacLeod and Elizabeth Grant had eight children; seven survived him and six survived her. Dr John Grant MacLeod was a son, and so was Donald Norman MacLeod (who is noticed in the entry for A. D. MacMaster). The MacLeod family continued to live at Bonnie Brier till 1978 when Will Roderick MacLeod (son of William D. and Elizabeth of the present entry) and his wife Harriet M. (Hattie), whose birth surname was McLeod, retired to Alexandria.

MacLeods, i, 268-284 (with portraits) but esp. 281, ii, 337-356 (with portraits) but esp. 350-351 * Lochinvar to Skye 165-170 (with portrait), 287-291 * D. K. Dewar, The Urquharts of North Kenyon (Nov. 1993) pp. 5 verso, 6 * personal information * obituaries of William D. MacLeod and of his wife, Glengarry News 17 & 24 July 1936, 10 & 17 March 1950 * obituary of the last surviving of their children, Mrs Elizabeth MacLeod Towne, Glengarry News 11 Sept. 1996 * obituary of Mrs Will Roderick MacLeod, the last chatelaine of Bonnie Brier, Manor Chatter Dec. 1997 * advert. for 1906 social, repr. GN 19 Feb. 1992 * advert. for auction sale at Bonnie Brier of Will Roderick MacLeod’s effects, on his leaving Bonnie Brier, GN 3 May 1978 * John Watson: his life in DNB Supplement 1901-1911 * Lancaster physician: notes to life of T. O. McLaren; GN 23 Oct. 1908; and, for an earlier ref. to the physician’s residence, GN 2 Oct. 1908