====== McArthur, Duncan ====== 
 (died 9 Aug. 1893, aged 74 or 75), farmer. He is described in his obituary as “one of the staunchest Liberals in the county,” and a steady attender at Liberal conventions. His wife’s obituary described him as “a well known contractor in Calgary” (see the following for a comment on this), and said that he was “noted as a learned Gaelic scholar.” Duncan McArthur was a farmer in Lancaster Township. He married a widow, Mrs McLeod, née Christina McCuaig. She died 24 Jan. 1916, aged 97 or 98. Christina McArthur’s obituary states, “Gaelic was her mother tongue, and she used it to the last. She also spoke English and French fluently. She had a wonderful fund of reminiscenses of the old pioneer days in Canada.” Duncan and Christina are buried in St. Andrew’s United Church Cemetery, in the 2nd Concession of Lancaster Township. They were the parents of J. D. McArthur, described in his mother’s obituary as “the millionaire railway contractor of Winnipeg.” If Duncan, relatively late in life, was in any sense a contractor in the Calgary area, we may guess that it was in some way in association with his son.

<tab>Mrs McArthur also had a son by her first marriage, Alexander B. (Sandy) McLeod (d. 1929), who accompanied his half-brother J. D. McArthur to Winnipeg in 1879, and who settled in Brandon, Manitoba. The following two sons of Duncan and Christina were also associated in the West with J. D. McArthur: (1) Duncan F. McArthur (1861-1944). Unmarried. At the time of his brother J.D. McArthur’s death, he was described in one of the obituaries as a “contractor…who has been associated with him in many of his business ventures during the past 25 years.” (2) Donald D. McArthur. He was manager of J. D. McArthur’s paper mill at Birtle, Man., and was fatally shot while cleaning a gun. Arthur McArthur, another son of Duncan and Christina, is believed to have been retarded or mentally disturbed. He was taken to the West by his brothers and died there in an institution.


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<fs small>Obituaries Duncan McArthur and his wife, //Glengarry News// 18 Aug. 1893, 28 Jan. 1916, //Cornwall Freeholder// (ND), repr. in Fraser //Obits.// 99-100; also //Cornwall Standard //27 Jan. 1916 * information kindly supplied from his researches by Mr Joe Pereira * Fraser, //Gravestones//, II, 251 * celebration at the Highland Hotel, North Lancaster, in honour of Donald D. McArthur, railway contractor, of Manitoba, //Glengarrian// 28 Feb. 1890
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