====== Macdonald, Angus S. ====== (died 25 April 1880, aged 59 years two months), merchant, postmaster. **(**A. S. Macdonald, Angus Shoemaker, Angus Macdonald, Angus Macdonald (Shoemaker), A. S. McDonald, Esq. Spelling also McDonald**)** He came to Alexandria about the same time as Donald A. (Sandfield) Macdonald, became a merchant in that rising town, and was remembered in 1903 as having been among “the leading merchants” not only of Alexandria but of GC. He was an employer, and later a partner of George Harrison. From 10 May 1864-15 Nov. 1872 he was the postmaster of Alexandria, resigning about 8 years before his death. No doubt after the manner of the time the post office was run as a kind of department of the store. In 1871, A. S. Macdonald was on a delegation to Montreal sent from Alexandria and adjacent areas in connection with the project of building a railway from Coteau to Ottawa. (//Witness// 6 March 1871) //The True Witness//, the Roman Catholic Newspaper, 12 & 19 April 1872, reported the death of the schoolboy son of A. S. Macdonald, postmaster of Alexandria, and published a poem in memory and tribute. Angus S. Macdonald’s wife Catherine McMillan died in Alexandria 22 May 1876, aged 44. At the time of his own death, just four years later, “Angus Macdonald (Shoemaker) of Alexandria,” was seen as a man of property and influential in Kenyon and Lochiel Tps, and was a JP. He may have been the Angus S. McDonald who from 1850 to 1856 was clerk of the District and County Court. Roman Catholic. Angus S. Macdonald remains a shadowy figure, and anyone tracing his career must be wary of the duplication of names among the Glengarrians of his time. It is not clear what the S. in his name stood for. Christian names beginning with S. were unusual among the Glengarrians. Normally, and especially in Alexandria, one would suspect S. stood for Sandfield, yet it seems not to have been the case here. People with a trained ear for GC naming systems will resist the conclusion that it stood for Shoemaker. But perhaps it did all the same. Archibald D. McPhee married the daughter of Angus S. Macdonald. See also [[macarthur_donald_alexander|Donald Alexander MacArthur]] and the [[daprato_depratto_depratto|DaPrato family]] entry. Angus S. Macdonald’s predecessor as postmaster of Alexandria was Alexander Macdonell, also a Roman Catholic, who was described in an 1857 directory as having, besides the postmastership, a general store and ashery. Alexander, postmaster by 1853, held the office till his death, aged only 45, on 30 April 1864. And Angus S. Macdonald’s successor as postmaster of Alexandria, holding the office for almost half a century, was Duncan A. Macdonald (Curly). ---- //Cornwall Freeholder// 30 April 1880 * St. Finnan’s //CRNI//, II, 313 * //Lovell 1857// 361, 364 * //GN supplement 1903// [3-5], for both Angus S. and Alexander, portraits * Ostrom 287 * NAC, Post Office history cards (RG3D3): list of postmasters * Pringle 315 * Alexander Macdonell: death, St. Finnan’s //CRNI//, II, 287, //True Witness// 13 May 1864; statute 29 Vict. cap. 113 of United Canada, 1865, deals with the settlement of his estate; see also James Macdonell of Athol and Donald Aeneas Macdonell this dictionary * Mrs Angus S. Macdonald: death, St. Finnan’s //CRNI//, III, 636, //True Witness// 9 June 1876 *. [<6>]