(1728-15 April 1810), soldier, figure of legend. (called Spanish John; John Macdonell of Scotus or Scothouse, spellings Scotas, Scottas, Scottos also found) Born in Scotland. Parents: John Macdonell and his wife, whose name is given as a Miss Macdonell of Leek, and also as Janet Macleod.

     As a child, he was sent by his father to be a student at the Scotch College in Rome. After a few years, he left the college and became a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy. Sympathetic to the Jacobite claims, he went to Scotland to assist the uprising of 1745-1746, but landed there just after the Stuart cause had been lost at the Battle of Culloden. He was himself for a time imprisoned in Scotland. He married in 1747 and settled down to farming in the Highlands. In 1773, he came to North America with the Macdonell emigration group on the Pearl. He was a cousin of the well-remembered three Macdonell brothers who led the expedition (Alexander of Aberchalder, Allan of Collachie, and John of Leek). He has himself also been regarded as one of the leaders, if not necessarily of the same rank as the three brothers. He describes his emigration in self-deprecating terms in his memoirs, “At last my disposition given rather to roving, induced me to leave my native soil, and come to this great Continent of America, where I have resided ever since.”

     In the War of the American Revolution, the old Jacobite fought vigorously for the Crown. In this war, he was a captain in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. He settled in Stormont County as a U E Loyalist. He was granted land in Cornwall Township, and is said to have lived and farmed at St. Andrew’s in that township. However, he also had property in the town of Cornwall, and evidently resided there also. He was one of the contributors to the building of the 1st stone church at St. Andrew’s and commissioned the building of an altar in the church, known as the “Spanish Altar.”

     He died probably at St. Andrew’s. He is thought to have been buried in the old cemetery at St. Andrew’s, but if so, there appears to be no burial record.

     A certificate in the Township Papers in the Ontario Archives states that Capt. John McDonell, who has received 800 acres in Cornwall Township “as a Reduced Captain in the Late King’s Royal Regt of New York,” and is entitled to 2200 acres more, has on 7 Dec. 1790 been assigned Lots 33 to 37 in the 10th and 11th Concession of Lancaster Township. This land, which is now known as Lots 33 to 37 in the 1st and 2nd Concession of Lochiel Township, was patented to him on 24 Aug. 1796 (year 1797 also found for part of this, probably an official’s error in copying). He also received Lot 37 in the 3rd Concession of Lochiel Township (patent 24 Aug. 1796). Spanish John seems never to have resided on any part of his huge eleven-lot, 2200 acre block of GC forest. In time, the block was broken up and dispersed in more-or-less farm-sized lots among various owners, with the eastern part of the town of Alexandria growing up on a portion of the land. Spanish John is thereby connected, though admittedly not in any very direct personal manner, with the rise of Alexandria, GC’s principal town. It is far from impossible that he owned land elsewhere in GC, not easily distinguishable among the other landholders of his exact name.

     While he was not, so far as is known, ever a GC resident, his strange romantic story is indelibly associated with the legendary history of GC. His memoirs, vividly written, of his early life before 1773 as a student, soldier and Jacobite were published in The Canadian Magazine, and Literary Repository (issues April and May 1825). They have been reprinted twice in book form, in 1931 and 1993, under the title Spanish John: Being a Narrative of the Early Life of Colonel John M’Donell of Scottos: Written by Himself. William McLennan used these memoirs as the basis of his novel, Spanish John (1898).

     Spanish John was the half-nephew of Fr Alexander Macdonell of Scotus, the first priest of St. Raphael’s. And Spanish John was the father of John Macdonell (1768-1850), called Le Prêtre, of the NWC, and of Miles Macdonell of the Red River Colony, and was the grandfather of W. J. Macdonell. Spanish John’s descendants included his daughter’s grandson Don. D. Scott, who was a colonel in the American Civil War and died at Watertown, Wisconsin.

Chadwick, Macdonald & Macdonald, for genealogy, biog. outline * memoirs, as cited (portrait) * Harkness: index (portrait) * McLean: index * Fr A. G. Morice, “A Canadian Pioneer: Spanish John,” and “Sidelights on the Careers of Miles Macdonell and His Brothers,” CHR 10 (Sept. & Dec. 1929) 212-235 & 308-332 * Villeneuve 164 * Sinnsearachd 56 * GN supplement 1903 [ 20], with portrait * UE List 221 * Fryer & Smy, 23 * Cruikshank King's Royal Regiment of New York 234 * Reid, L, 196 * Archives of Ontario-TP , Domesday Book, & GC Registry Office records, for GC lots named * see Bibliography of Glengarry for a more detailed listing of sources on Spanish John, and more information on the publishing history of the memoirs * Col. Scott: obituary CF 17 Feb. 1911; information from Duncan (Darby) MacDonald