(12 Oct. 1830-29 April 1918), lumberman, businessman. (Hughie R. Macdonald) Born in Alexandria, GC. Parents: Ranald Macdonald and his wife Helen (Ellen) Macdonald, both born in Knoydart, Scotland. He is described in his obituaries as having been involved in lumbering at London, Ont., and in GC, and in “lumbering and mercantile operations” at Mongenais, Que., and at South La Graisse, Lochiel Township, GC. (South la Graisse, now gone from the maps, was at the extreme northeast corner of the 3rd Concession of Lochiel; it had a post office 1869-1879.) While living in Lochiel Township, he represented his township on the SDG Council, and is said to have been instrumental in getting a high school established in Alexandria, in opposition to the project of making Alexandria a part of the Williamstown high school area.

     In the federal election of July-Sept. 1872 (the last in which the voting was spread over weeks instead of being concentrated into one day), Hugh R. Macdonald stood for Parliament against the powerful Donald A. Macdonald of the Sandfield brothers, but he did not succeed in getting elected. This outcome was predicted by a writer in the Montreal Witness of 16 Aug. 1872, who, in his report on the nomination meeting in Alexandria, stated, “Mr. Hugh R. McDonald is a very respectable gentleman, and if elected would give the [Conservative] Government a hearty support, but his election is not by any means probable. Mr. D. A. McDonald is a determined oppositionist to the Government, and said he was in the confidence of Blake and McKenzie, and with those gentlemen heart and hand. He will certainly be elected by a large majority.” For this election, see also Rev. A. Langcake and Rev. Kenneth Mcdonald.

     He was, presumably, the Hugh McDonald, merchant, whom the future Senator McMillan recommended, unsuccessfully, in Dec. 1872 as one of several suitable candidates, all politically safe for the Conservatives, for the position of postmaster of Alexandria (for this, see Duncan A. Macdonald, postmaster). In 1874 Hugh R. Macdonald moved to Alexandria. A directory of 1876 lists him for Alexandria as “McDonald H R, general store.” From about 1884 to about 1896, he operated the Queen’s Hotel on Main Street in Alexandria. It included a hall used for various public functions. And he was for some years beginning in 1898 clerk of the Division Court in Alexandria.

     He died at his home in Alexandria. (six children surviving him) Roman Catholic. He was married on 15 or 16 Feb. 1863 to Catherine Ann Macdonald (25 Sept. 1837-8 Jan. 1932), who was a great-grandniece of Bishop Macdonell of Upper Canada. They were the parents of Mgr Donald Ranald Macdonald, who was the founder of Maryvale Abbey. It was at the clergyman’s home that Mrs Hugh R. Macdonald died.

     It is not clear whether he was the man described by the Lancaster columnist in the following item from The Cornwall Reporter of 4 Dec. 1880: “Mr. Hugh Ranald Macdonald is almost ready to leave for Manitoba with a carload of horses which he has purchased in the county.” (This was a year or two before Alexandria got its railway–hence the carload would go from Lancaster.) Even given the duplication of GC Macdonald names at this time, he was presumably the Hugh R. McDonald who in the notorious election of 1887 canvassed for Patrick Purcell and entertained Purcell’s supporters at his [Macdonald’s] hotel in Alexandria. There is no problem here with regard to Macdonald being a former Conservative candidate. Purcell’s own political identification before 1887 was as much Conservative as Liberal.

     A fire, which aroused the people of Alexandria from their beds early Sunday morning, 1 Oct. 1916, less than two years before Macdonald’s death, destroyed the Queen’s Hotel, which was by then unoccupied but still “the property of Mr. H. R. Macdonald…When the alarm was given the place was in a blaze at every window and being built entirely of wood the flames soon ascended to a great height, illuminating the town…. The fire removes one of the oldest buildings in town.” (Glengarry News 6 Oct. 1916)

Glengarry News 3 May 1918 & (from Alexandria Times) Cornwall Standard 9 May 1918 * Ostrom 153, 263 * Harkness 273 (in group portrait) * wife, marriage: St. Finnan’s CRNI, II, 320 , 395 * MacGillivray & Ross 334, 337, on South la Graisse, 172-173, 689 on election * Woodburn [189] * Purcell 1887 51, 98-99, 134-135 * GN supplement 1903 [20] * obituary of his wife, GN 15 Jan. 1932