(March 1864-26 Jan. 1940), soldier, public official. (Capt. J. A. B. McLennan; Capt. James A. B. McLennan; as with several other Glengarrians of his time, he was commonly identified by his military title in private life) Born at Williamstown, in GC. Parents: Duncan F. McLennan and his wife Christina Brown. Besides Williamstown schools, he attended a business college at Brockville. McLennan “as a young man engaged in railroad construction work on the CPR. at Port Arthur, in Cape Breton, and in Florida”; and he also did this work in Quebec Province. He was active in the militia, with rank of lieutenant in the 59th Battalion before enlisting as a private in the Boer War, where he served in the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry. In Oct. 1899, Lieut. J. A. B. McLennan and John Angus Macdonald, Glengarrians, were on their way to South Africa as soldiers. (Cornwall Freeholder 27 Oct. 1899) After his Boer War service, McLennan rejoined the local militia (59th Battalion), where he achieved the rank of captain; he left the militia, 1920. On the death of G. H. McGillivray in 1912, he succeeded him as Division Court clerk. Capt. J. A. B. McLennan kept the Division Court clerk position till about three years before his death; he continued to live at Williamstown in retirement. Place of death: Cornwall General Hospital. He was unmarried. During at least one winter, that of 1902-1903, he was employed in the undeveloped regions of Ontario locating land for Fenian Raid veterans, and perhaps other veterans; he returned home in March from New Liskeard. Rose Gourlay Gosse (see entry for Gourlay) remembered hearing one of the primitive, exciting new radios (with ear phones) in his home in the early 1920s, and mentioned he was known (to the children?) as Captain Jab. See the entry for his brother Dr Donald David Randolph (Randy) McLennan for the family background and connections; he was the brother also of Farquhar D. McLennan. He must be distinguished from a near contemporary, Alexander B. McLennan, known by a rather similar name, Capt. A. B. McLennan.
Standard Freeholder 26 Jan. 1940 (QF), Glengarry News 2 Feb. 1940 * J. R. MacNicol, National Liberal-Conservative Convention (1930) 185: biog. notice, with portrait * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 162 * Old Boys 1906 [153], fine portrait * Boss 55, 252 * Rose Gourlay Gosse, I Remember Glengarry (1978) 37 * to business college, Brockville, Cornwall Freeholder 29 Nov. 1889, cited DTL SFH 27 Nov. 1948 * on return from Boer War, welcomed back to GC, entertained at Maxville banquet, GN 8 Nov. &14 Dec. 1900 * veterans’ land: GN 1 Nov. 1902 & 20 Years Ago column Cornwall Freeholder 23 March 1923 * & tug-of-war team, GN 31 July 1903 * as captain in 59th, to organize new company GN 1 April 1904 * secretary, Glengarry Colonization Board, CF 21 March 1931 (advert.)