(31 May 1830-28 March 1916), sheriff. Born on his parents’ farm in Lancaster Township, GC. Parents: Roderick Maclennan or McLennan, a native of Scotland, and his wife Mary Macpherson. After getting his B. A. at Queen’s University in 1855, he was in the hardware business with his brother Donald (1 Jan. 1815-14 or 21 Feb. 1885) at Port Hope, Ont., then was in business on his own from 1861 as a hardware merchant at Lindsay, Ont., where he spent the remainder of his life. At Lindsay, he was a member of the town council and of the school board. He ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate for South Victoria in the federal election of 1874. He was sheriff of Victoria County from 1885 to 1915. Place of death: his home in Lindsay. He was married on 21 Aug. 1862 to to Helen Scott, who was also from GC. (six children surviving him) He was the last surviving of his parents’ ten children. See the entry for his brother, Justice James Maclennan, for the family connections. John Maclennan’s son Roderick James Maclennan, born at Lindsay, Ont., was a Toronto lawyer who had studied under Sir Oliver Mowat, and was the author of A Handy Book on Fire Insurance Law (1897) and The Law of Interpleader (1901). Three other sons of John Maclennan were in the hardware business at Lindsay at the time of their father’s death.

     See also the entry for Duncan McLeod for another GC-born hardware merchant at Port Hope. Also, Alexander Ross (b. GC; d. at Lindsay, 21 Feb. 1938, aged 97), was the “grand old man of Lindsay, ” where he lived for over half a century.

Cornwall Standard 6 April 1916 * mentioned (biographical note), Rose, i, 749 * Queen's University Archives * obituary of his brother Donald, of Port Hope, who “accumulated a goodly portion of this world’s goods,” Toronto Globe 23 Feb. 1885 * Roderick James Maclennan: Morgan (1912) 711; NL catalogue * Alex’r Ross: Glengarry News 25 Feb. 1938 (QF)