(20 Aug. 1829? -1 June 1910), vagabond, figure of legend. (Allan Gorrach, Allan the Dog, Allan the Dogs, Black Allan, Black Allan the Dogs, Allan na Coin; sp. also Alan, which is the spelling used in Glengarry School Days; in Gaelic, gòrach–silly, coin–dogs) Born probably in Prescott County. Parents: probably Alexander R. McRae and his wife Catherine Morrison.

     The records of the Lochiel Presbyterian Church (St. Columba), Kirk Hill, GC, state that an Allan McRae, born on 20 Aug. 1829, was baptized on the 13th of Sept. of that year, and that he was the son of Alexander R. McRae and Catherine Morrison, who lived on Lot 14 in the 6th Concession of West Hawkesbury Township, Prescott County. (This location is south of Vankleek Hill.) Almost certainly, this was Allan Gorrach. However, a traditional report that he was born in Scotland, and the official report of his age at death as being 65 (which would indicate a birth about 1845), though both are almost certainly incorrect, need not be wholly dismissed– ultimately, we do not have the hard and fast evidence for him that we have for later Glengarrians. Either date of birth, in any case, neatly fits the chronology of his appearance as a character in Glengarry School Days (Chapter 2). Duncan (Darby) MacDonald, who edited the St. Columba records, believes that Catherine, Allan’s mother, also appears under the name Christina in the records. The surname of Allan’s mother has also been recollected to be McCrimmon, but other stories state that after Catherine’s death, the father remarried to a MacCrimmon.

     At any rate, whatever the precise facts about his origins, Allan Gorrach spent his earliest years with his family south of Vankleek Hill, then came with them to their new home on Lots 1 and 2 in the 18th Concession of Indian Lands, near the present village of Maxville. GC. He is probably the same person as the Allan McRae, single, aged 30, resident of Prescott, who appears in the 1861 census for Lochiel, described as an “idiot.” The historic Allan was certainly never an idiot, but the census takers are sometimes censorious rather than strictly just in their designations. At some undateable period Allan retreated to an isolated log cabin of his own on Lot 11 in the 19th Concession of Indian Lands. It is from this period that he appears, under his own name, as a character in Glengarry School Days, the half-wild Allan Gorrach, a frightening eccentric who lives in a shack in the forest, and has a reputation as a killer of dogs, and whose home has to be passed by the boys from the school as they make their way to the swimming pool or “Deep Hole.” This relatively home-based stage of Allan’s life (though Connor describes him even at this period as “an itinerant cooper”) may not have lasted long. Certainly, tradition represents him as being, throughout the years, a homeless wanderer throughout the countryside, finding lodgings wherever the tolerance or charity or indulgence or pity or curiosity of the people offered them. Recollections of him indicate his travels were in GC and eastern Stormont County, and presumably he included his native Prescott County, and there is a report that his circuit took him as far east as Lost River, which is in central Argenteuil County, Quebec (Lost River had, in terms of its population, strong GC connections, so the claim is not wildly implausible). He carried a pack in summer, and in winter he drew his possessions after him on a sleigh. We have record of one of his favourite foods: mashed potatoes with buttermilk poured over them.

     No mere beggar, however, he served the public by his work. He made wooden objects such as butter ladles, potato pounders, mixing bowls and axe handles. Also, using materials from the forest, he repaired the bottoms of wicker chairs–a major part of his activities. Moreover, he made and sold chairs. One of these, a “handmade chair (by Allan the Dog)” was listed in the advertisement for the auction sale to be held 4 Oct. 2008 of the effects of Mr and Mrs Angus MacRae, Maxville. (Glengarry News 24 Sept. 2008) Allan also had the job of disposing of unwanted dogs, and he sold their hides or turned them into leather mitts. In addition, in a day when even vagabonds were valued for their entertainment, he was a good storyteller and brought the news. He was noted to have a good singing voice, and to have been able to sing in both Gaelic and English. Among the traditions, there is the claim that he spoke all three of English, French and Gaelic. Stories about him represent his wit and quick tongue. He belongs to the old tradition of the wise beggar, or wise fool. John Galt, in Annals of the Parish, speaks of the simpleton whose sayings were like “the other side of wisdom,” the comparison being with the seams on a coat turned inside out. A recent history of piping in GC mentions, somewhat skeptically, a claim that Allan played the pipes. He appeared at wakes and weddings, knowing that on these occasions the people could not deny him hospitality.

     Stories report that Allan was dirty, and several sources mention lice. Mrs Hughie Dewar (born Flora MacRae), who lived with her husband on their farm east of Dunvegan, remembered that when they gave Allan a night’s lodgings, he was found to have left lice in his bed. (Mrs Hughie Dewar died in 1974, aged 104.)

     Falling ill during his travels, perhaps at St. Raphael’s, he was admitted on 12 Nov. 1909 to St. Paul’s Home in Cornwall, a Roman Catholic institution which, before the building of the SDG House of Refuge, served as a non-denominational refuge for the destitute elderly. At St. Paul’s Home, he was cared for by the nuns, the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, till he died on 1 June 1910. His age at admission, and at death, is given as 65, but this probably was a guess. Information for the death certificate was provided by “Mother Chisholm,” that is to say, Sister Mary Chisholm.

     There are various traditions regarding what became of Allan’s body, but it appears pretty certain the correct one is that, the body being unclaimed, it was sent, in accordance with the laws that provided dissection subjects for medical students, to the medical school at Queen’s University. Finally, therefore, though probably some years later, he must have been buried in a plot that Queen’s University maintained for dissection subjects in Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston. There is moreover a tradition that he was buried at the Kirk Hill West cemetery by the Rev. Allan Morrison. St. Columba cemetery, Kirk Hill, has also been mentioned.

     There are at least five photographs of Allan, one of them by Duncan McMillan the Maxville photographer. In every one of these five, he is an impressive looking man, uncouth but not without pride–sometimes he looks like a fallen king. Copies of most of these photographs are common in private ownership, and at least four have been printed. The fact that so many portraits were taken of him–five, in the circumstances, is a lot!–shows that he was regarded as a legend even in his own days. It would be interesting to know how many of these–if any–were taken before he appeared in the pages of Glengarry School Days (1902) just past the beginning of the last decade of his life. Dorothy Dumbrille did a painting (owned by Mrs and Mrs Ewan Ross) of Allan from one of these photographs.

     In the Dec. 1973 stage show by the Orpheus Operatic Society, of Ottawa, based on the Connor novels, Allan was omitted; however, he did later make a stage appearance (Glengarry News 4 Nov. 1992 ) at a concert of the Glengarry Highland Society. Stories about him abounded, and until recent years there were still old people about who could proudly report that they remembered seeing him. Once important in the social and emotional life of the people, if not in the economy, the tramps of old Ontario are still occasionally commemorated. For example, in Nov. 1989 the well-known and much-admired Joseph Schneider Haus museum in Kitchener, Ont., had an exhibition based on tramp art and folklore called “A Great Many Tramps We Had Overnight.”

Province of Ontario record of death (Registration No. 1910-05-028415) * transcripts from Register of St. Paul’s Home, Cornwall, kindly made available to the present author in 1981 by Sister Rosalia Cobey * private information, gathering of traditional lore * information kindly made available by many valued informants, including Sister Cobey, Sister Mary Clair Macdonald, Keith MacRae, Mrs Velma Franklin, Malcolm (“Scotch Mac”) MacRae, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Blair * “Well-Known Local Character of ‘Glengarry School Days’,” Vankleek Hill Review 10 Jan. 1935, with information from Rory Chisholm of Vankleek Hill (probably Roderick John Chisholm of the present dictionary) * Dumbrille, U, 103-104 * Fraser (1959) 225, 231 (eyewitness recollections) * Butternuts and Maple Sugar 33-34, 196, 316-317: eye-witness recollections, three portraits * MacMillan, Kirk, 452 * MacGillivray & Ross 595-596 (with photograph, identified by C. H. (Herb) McKillican as by Duncan McMillan of Maxville) * Maxville (1967) 37 * Maxville (1991) 22-24, 744, portrait, valuable article by Angus MacRae, trapper, of Maxville, who also usefully identifies the location of the swimming hole or “Deep Hole” of Glengarry School Days; this was Angus MacRae (d. 27 Sept. 2008) of the abovementioned auction sale of 4 Oct. 2008 * article by Keith MacRae, Glengarry Life (1990) * record of birth and baptism: transcript sent by Mr Keith MacRae of Dalkeith to present author, 1981; also St. Columba CR 39 * 1861 Census, Lochiel Township, District No. 7, p. 90 * St. Paul’s Home, Mother Chisholm: see Sister Dolores Kane, Caring People Helping People: the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph of Cornwall 1897-1997 (1997) 8-12, 15, 17 * MacPhee 9 * letter of Royce MacGillivray, Glengarry News & Vankleek Hill Review 11 March 1981, outlining some of the existing information on Allan Gorrach and seeking more * disposal of body: after many enquiries, the present author was forced to conclude that no documentary material whatsoever on the disposal survives. But tradition, with reasonable consistency in this case, speaks of the Queen’s medical school.