(1817 or earlier-8 May 1912), farmer, brickyard proprietor. Born on the 14th Concession of Indian Lands, GC, or, as has been claimed, in Scotland. Parents: Finlay Sinclair and Mary McLaren, both natives of Scotland, who came to GC from Perthshire, Scotland, in 1816. They were settlers first in the 14th Concession of Indian Lands and afterwards in the 21st Concession Donald Sinclair married Ellen Robertson. They lived at St. Elmo East, GC, on Lot 34 in the 7th of Kenyon. Their four children included Charles R. Sinclair and Finlay D. Sinclair. Donald Sinclair accumulated a considerable amount of land in this area (perhaps as much as 600 acres). Besides farming, he operated brickyards, probably from about 1861, using local clay. The larger brickyard was on Lot 34, 7th of Kenyon, and the other was on Lot 35, 8th of Kenyon, with the Scotch River between them. Until recent years at least, visible evidence of the excavations still survived. The Gordon Church at St. Elmo was built with Sinclair bricks. Charles R. remembered adding his own name to some of the bricks and states one of these can be seen near the front door of the Gordon Church. Also, many houses of the Maxville area were built with bricks from the Sinclair brickyards. Donald Sinclair had his own brick farmhouse built in 1865 by the Alexandria contractors John R. Chisholm and son. At least in his earlier years, Donald Sinclair was a lumberman, being at one stage in the lumbering business with a John McKerracher. Sinclair’s wife died on 1 Dec. 1902. An article about him in the Glengarry News of 16 March 1906 says that he had been living on his present farm continuously for some 60 years. He moved to the West when he was in his early 90s, probably in the year 1909, and became a homesteader (see the lives of his sons Charles R. and Finlay D.). His death was probably in Alberta. His wife’s brother, Duncan Robertson (d. 1907?), a schoolteacher for many years , is said to have been also the editor of the Bytown Daily News. Donald Sinclair’s daughter was married to Donald Alexander McRae.

Sources on Sinclair family, as in notes to life of Charles R. Sinclair *Whyte i, 273 & 389 (includes parents) * private information * mother dies, Witness 13 April 1870 * Duncan Robertson: Sinclair 10, 30 (twice); no other substantial information on him has come to light