| (1823-2 Feb. 1911), surveyor. (date of birth 1828 also found) (Rory the mason ) Born in the 4th Concession of Lancaster Township, GC. Parents: Donald McLennan (known as Donald Mason) and his wife Annabella. He was educated at Williamstown and Montreal, taught school at Williamstown, qualified as a land surveyor in 1846, and worked as a surveyor on railway projects in Georgia. Imprisoned in the American Civil War in a fort in the Dry Tortugas, off the Florida coast, he was released through the intervention of the British Minister at Washington. Having returned to Canada, he joined the work force of the Intercolonial Railway. Thereafter, he did railway exploration work 1872 to 1875 in the Rocky Mountains, was an engineer on CPR construction work, Lake Superior Division, from 1875 to 1885, and was in private practice as a surveyor in Toronto from 1885 till his retirement in 1900. He died at his home in Toronto. At one stage he worked on plans to divert water from the St. Lawrence at Hoople’s Creek, west of Cornwall, into the River Raisin. He was married (1) in Georgia, to Harriet McArthur (one child), and (2) to Helen McLennan, daughter of John (Squire) McLennan and sister of another GC-born surveyor, Christopher McLennan. (seven children) He was the father, by the first marriage, of John Donald Maclennan the engineer. See also John McDonell (d. 1895), surveyor. | (1823-2 Feb. 1911), surveyor. (date of birth 1828 also found) (Rory the mason ) Born in the 4th Concession of Lancaster Township, GC. Parents: Donald McLennan (known as Donald Mason) and his wife Annabella. He was educated at Williamstown and Montreal, taught school at Williamstown, qualified as a land surveyor in 1846, and worked as a surveyor on railway projects in Georgia. Imprisoned in the American Civil War in a fort in the Dry Tortugas, off the Florida coast, he was released through the intervention of the British Minister at Washington. Having returned to Canada, he joined the work force of the Intercolonial Railway. Thereafter, he did railway exploration work 1872 to 1875 in the Rocky Mountains, was an engineer on CPR construction work, Lake Superior Division, from 1875 to 1885, and was in private practice as a surveyor in Toronto from 1885 till his retirement in 1900. He died at his home in Toronto. At one stage he worked on plans to divert water from the St. Lawrence at Hoople’s Creek, west of Cornwall, into the River Raisin. He was married (1) in Georgia, to Harriet McArthur (one child), and (2) to Helen McLennan, daughter of John (Squire) McLennan and sister of another GC-born surveyor, Christopher McLennan. (seven children) He was the father, by the first marriage, of John Donald Maclennan the engineer. See also [[mcdonell_john|John McDonell]] (d. 1895), surveyor. |
