of Collachie (16 April 1762-18 March 1842), leader in settlement, political figure. (often called, simply, Collachie) Born at Fort Augustus, Scotland. Parents: Allan Macdonell of Collachie, one of the leaders of the Pearl emigrants of 1773, and his wife Helen MacNab. He emigrated with his family to New York colony in 1773, presumably with the group on the Pearl. During the American Revolution he served the Crown in the Royal Highland Emigrants and in Butler’s Rangers. He came to Canada as a U E Loyalist. Capable and well connected, he had a long and successful career as an office holder and public figure.

     In the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, he represented the combined constituency of GC and Prescott 1800-1808, and the single-county constituency of GC, 1808-1812. W. L. Scott states in his history of GC’s representation in the Legislative Assembly, and in this is supported by Forman, that in the Assembly of 1812-1816, Alexander was not an originally elected member, but that he succeeded John Macdonell of Greenfield as MLA for GC after Greenfield’s death at Queenston Heights, and that Alexander was unable to take the seat, being himself a prisoner of the Americans. Again, by Scott’s narrative, Alexander was MLA for GC 1820-1828. The claims that Alexander’s near namesake, Alexander Macdonell of Greenfield (d. 1835), represented GC in the Legislative Assembly for a period (dates vary) in the 1820s are almost certainly erroneous, though their presence remains disconcerting. We may guess at least, in dealing with these perplexities, that W. L. Scott, given his own family background, can be trusted to have been as sure-footed as anyone in dealing with the duplications of GC Highland names.

     Alexander served as speaker of the Legislative Assembly 1805-1807. He was also a member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada 1831-1841. He was sheriff of the Home District (from 1792), supervisor of Lord Selkirk’s Baldoon settlement (from 1804), assistant secretary of the Indian Department (from 1816), inspector of licenses for the Home District (from 1828), and a director of the Bank of Upper Canada (from 1835). In the War of 1812, he was deputy paymaster general, and had the rank of colonel. Captured by the Americans in 1813, he was imprisoned in Pennsylvania in the same prison which his father had been held in decades before. Alexander acquired some 10,000 acres of land in Upper Canada. He has been seen as a member of the Family Compact.

     His home during his Canadian years was normally in Toronto or at the Baldoon settlement. Any home he may have had in GC was only temporary. However, in the years immediately following the end of the War of 1812, he was in charge of the settlement, in Lochiel Township, GC, of emigrants who had come to Canada in 1815 under the Bathurst Proclamation. He was presumably also in charge of the settlement which took place there at the same time of a number of disbanded soldiers from the 2nd Glengarry Fencibles.

     He died in Toronto. Roman Catholic. He was married to Anne Smith. (seven children)

     He is said to have been fluent in English, Gaelic and French, and to have had some knowledge of Indian languages. He appears briefly in a novel by Ralph Connor (C. W. Gordon) about the War of 1812, The Runner: a Romance of the Niagaras (1929).

     He was the brother of Angus Macdonell, of Collachie (d. 1804), and was the father of Allan Macdonell (1808-1888), and was the grandfather of the two generals Archibald Hayes Macdonell and Sir Archibald Cameron Macdonell, and of Angus Claude Macdonell.

     For another man of GC connections who was a top administrator in Lord Selkirk’s ill-fated settlement projects, see Miles Macdonell.

Life by J. M. Bumsted, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, VII, 554-556 * Scott, i * MDict 499, 500 * Forman, I, 38, 40 &c. * Harkness: index * Johnson 207 * Armstrong 54, 113, 96-97 * Dale 34-40 (with colour portrait) * McLean: index * Scott, “M” * Scott, “U” * Chadwick, * Macdonald & Macdonald, for genealogy