| (1818-13 April 1913), businessman. **(**Alexander F. Macdonald (Sandfield), A. F. Macdonald, Alexander Sandfield Macdonald, Alexander F. Macdonald**)** Born at St. Raphael’s, GC. Parents: Alexander Macdonald and his wife Nancy Macdonald. He was the youngest of the “Sandfield” brothers, brother of John Sandfield, Donald A. and Ranald S. Macdonald. His mother died when he was about two years old. He was educated at St. Raphael’s and at the grammar school in Cornwall. When a youngster, he was a clerk in the Cline store in Cornwall. “His first venture on his own was the mercantile business he carried on at Athol [in GC], preceding by a very short interval the career of George MacDonell (Atholl [sp. sic]), late postmaster of Cornwall, in the same business in the same place.” (see entry for George Macdonell) He was also, for some years, a contractor in the United States and Canada, some of the work being railway contracting. Not much information seems to survive about his contracting career. However, it was remembered that at St. Paul, Minnesota, he “made improvements prior to its incorporation as a city in 1857.” | (1818-13 April 1913), businessman. **(**Alexander F. Macdonald (Sandfield), A. F. Macdonald, Alexander Sandfield Macdonald, Alexander F. Macdonald**)** Born at St. Raphael’s, GC. Parents: Alexander Macdonald and his wife Nancy Macdonald. He was the youngest of the “Sandfield” brothers, brother of John Sandfield, Donald A. and Ranald S. Macdonald. His mother died when he was about two years old. He was educated at St. Raphael’s and at the grammar school in Cornwall. When a youngster, he was a clerk in the Cline store in Cornwall. “His first venture on his own was the mercantile business he carried on at Athol [in GC], preceding by a very short interval the career of [[macdonell_george|George MacDonell]] (Atholl [sp. sic]), late postmaster of Cornwall, in the same business in the same place.” (see entry for George Macdonell) He was also, for some years, a contractor in the United States and Canada, some of the work being railway contracting. Not much information seems to survive about his contracting career. However, it was remembered that at St. Paul, Minnesota, he “made improvements prior to its incorporation as a city in 1857.” |
| <tab>The Glengarrian Ranald Campbell, writing in 1868 at Potsdam, N. Y., to his brother Angus Campbell in New Zealand, said “I have been for about 10 years from home up till last May, at which time I came to this place, I went first to Minnesota, and with Uncle John and Dan worked on a Railroad for nearly two years, John having a sub-contract from Alex Sandfield McDonald, and all came out of it worse off than we started in, the State refusing to pay her bond. The cause I don’t know.” From another passage in the letter, the Minnesota period can be dated as ending about two years before the American Civil War began in 1861. | <tab>The Glengarrian Ranald Campbell, writing in 1868 at Potsdam, N. Y., to his brother Angus Campbell in New Zealand, said “I have been for about 10 years from home up till last May, at which time I came to this place, I went first to Minnesota, and with Uncle John and Dan worked on a Railroad for nearly two years, John having a sub-contract from Alex Sandfield McDonald, and all came out of it worse off than we started in, the State refusing to pay her bond. The cause I don’t know.” From another passage in the letter, the Minnesota period can be dated as ending about two years before the American Civil War began in 1861. |
