(26 Feb. 1781?-27 or 28 Dec. 1864, age at death also given, inconsistently with this date of birth, as 84 and 86), surveyor. (Col. Duncan Macdonell, designation Greenfield associated often with name) Born in Inverness-shire, Scotland. Parents: Alexander Macdonell of Greenfield, and his wife Janet Macdonell, who was the daughter of the Alexander Macdonell of Aberchalder who was one of the leaders of the Pearl emigration group of 1773 to New York colony. Duncan came to Charlottenburgh Township, GC, with his father’s immigration party of 1792. He attended the Cornwall school of the future Bishop Strachan.
He served in the GC militia in the War of 1812, when he had the rank of captain, and was present at the capture of Ogdensburg in 1813, and in the suppression of the 1837-1839 Rebellion. He was lt.-col. of the 2nd Battalion of GC militia from 1822. His father had commanded this battalion earlier, and Donald’s son, Archibald John, took over command of it in 1857.
Duncan studied surveying under the guidance of his uncle, Hugh Macdonell of Aberchalder, and was qualified as a surveyor (deputy surveyor in the language of the time) in 1808. In 1809, when he was practising with Jeremiah McCarthy, he surveyed the external boundary lines (but not the internal lines) of Indian Lands. Years later, in connection, it would seem, with this work, as well as his general knowledge of the Eastern District, Macdonell testified on 20 Nov. 1843 before the Legislative Assembly in favour of the residents of Indian Lands being allowed the vote at elections, which up to this time they had been denied. During a professional career of more than four decades, his work included surveys in the following townships: Brock in Ontario County, Georgina in York County, Lochiel, Charlottenburgh and Kenyon in GC, Cambridge in Russell County, Hawkesbury in Prescott County, and Gloucester in Carleton County. Selected it is said because he spoke Gaelic, he was employed in surveying land for the Bathurst Proclamation settlers of 1815 in the Eastern District. The Township of Ops, Victoria County, Ont., he surveyed in 1824-1825, and in 1826 he received the patent for 2833 acres in the township, and he was interested in settling Glengarrians in Ops. A group from GC he led to Ops, however, soon left, disgusted at having contracted malaria in Ops. Dr Ambrose Blacklock was associated with him in the Ops venture. Macdonell surveyed a part of the Madawaska River in 1847. In 1861, in his last government survey, he surveyed some of the St. Regis islands in the St. Lawrence. He was registrar of deeds for GC from 1853 till his death, but while registrar continued to practise as a surveyor. (His brother Donald had been registrar at any earlier date.)
He was married to Harriet Macdonell (d. 2 Sept. 1861, aged 72), the daughter of Archibald Macdonell of Leek. (children)
So far as E. W. Thomson meant any particular person by the reference, Duncan Macdonell of the present entry must be assumed to be the “Tuncan Macdonnell of the Greenfields” (all spelling thus) who stood surety for the hero of E. W. Thomson’s classic short story, “Privilege of the Limits.” Material contributed by Macdonell is printed in Andrew Picken’s The Canadas, As They at Present Commend Themselves to the Enterprize of Emigrants, Colonists, and Capitalists (London, 1832).
Duncan Macdonell died at his home called Greenfield in GC. He was a Roman Catholic. He is buried at St. Raphael’s.
The year after he died, the sale was advertised of “The Farm of Greenfield, Recently occupied by the Late Colonel Duncan Macdonell,” consisting of Lots 5, 6, and E1/2 of 7 in the 9th Concession of Charlottenburgh Township, being in all 500 acres, of which 300 were cleared. The farm had a two-story brick house. The advertisement noted the nearness of Alexandria and Williamstown, and the railway station at Lancaster, and reminded the readers that oil was currently being searched for at Lancaster (see the entry for T. H. McLean) and stated that examples of lead ore had been found on the Greenfield property. (Cornwall Freeholder 17 Nov. 1865)
Four of his brothers have separate entries in the present dictionary. (See the entry for his father, d. 1819, for their names) Also, Duncan Macdonell of the present entry was the father of Archibald John Macdonell (who predeceased him by a short interval) and the grandfather of the historian John A. Macdonell (Greenfield). And Duncan Macdonell of the present entry was succeeded as registrar for GC by Alexander M. McKenzie, who was probably his son-in-law, though this family connection must be considered likely rather than proven.
His biog. in OLS, No. 37 (1922 ) 102-104, with portrait; has some useful, but not always reliable genealogical information * death notice, Witness 1 Feb. 1865 * Fraser, Gravestones, III, 60 * MacMillan diary, under date of death * McLean: index * Harkness 434 * MacGillivray & Ross 38 * Macdonell, Sketches, 131-133, 184 * Boss 33, 37, 243 * Ladell 110, 291 * testified: Debates of the Legislative Assembly of United Canada, Vol. III:1843, ed. Elizabeth Nish (1972) 919-920 * Ops Township: Mrs Ross N. Carr, Land of Plenty (1968), a history of Ops Township; N. S. Forkey on Ops Township in CHR 79:1 (March 1998); also Archives of Ontario has folder of “Documents Relating to Duncan McDonell’s (Greenfield) Proposed Settlement of Glengarry Highlanders in Twp. of Ops.” * Chadwick, Macdonald & Macdonald, for genealogy: these do not mention the daughter Janet, but she makes a shadowy appearance in the surveyor biography., 1922