(died 4 July 1823), physician. (He is also reported to have died 5 Aug. 1823, in his 31st year, but in this case the month at least is surely wrong) Born on the isle of Skye, Scotland. Parents: Capt. William McLeod (who served with the British Army in Canada during the War of 1812, being stationed at Terrebonne, Que.), and his wife Flora McLeod. Alexander Mackenzie in his clan history of the Macleods describes Roderick as “a Doctor of Medicine,” and Roderick is given the title of “Dr.” on his gravestone in St. Andrew’s cemetery, Williamstown, GC. He is said to have been educated at the University of Edinburgh, but he certainly did not have a medical degree from that university. However, he may have studied there without taking a degree, but if so, there is no way of distinguishing him from certain other recorded University of Edinburgh students of the same name and approximate generation, and of course he may have had a degree from some other university. Also, he has been termed H. P., meaning presumably half-pay officer. But if he was a half-pay officer, he cannot be clearly identified as such in the official printed Army List.

     Roderick’s sister Margaret McLeod married the retired Nor’Wester Duncan Cameron of Williamstown in 1820, and Dr Roderick emigrated with her when she came to Canada at this time. The connection with Cameron would have given him immediate entrance to the social circle of Cameron’s fellow Nor’Westers and other elite families. As a resident of GC, Dr Roderick was the teacher of William Stewart, the future MLA. Robert Sellar mentions that in pioneer times a “Dr. McLeod of Williamstown” (presumably Dr Roderick) was sometimes summoned across Lake St. Francis to provide medical services to the settlers in the Dundee area of Huntingdon County. No doubt, both as a teacher and as a physician his services were in demand; but in any event, his life as a settler in Canada lasted only a few years. Dr Roderick McLeod died at Williamstown. His mother survived him to die at Summerstown, GC, on 15 June 1837. His sister Catherine, a native of the Isle of Skye, died at Summerstown on 30 May 1865, and is described in her obituary as “a sister of the well known Dr. McLeod who died many years ago in Glengarry.” (her obituary, Cornwall Freeholder 2 June 1865 ) Dr Roderick McLeod was the uncle (through Catherine’s marriage to William MacLeod) of Flora MacLeod who was married to James Craig the GC MLA. Dr Roderick McLeod was the uncle also of Sir Roderick Cameron, who is said to have been named after him, and who in turn had a son called Roderick MacLeod Cameron (d. 1914). David Thompson’s daughter Fanny (1801-1884) is reported to have married a Dr Roderick McLeod of Montreal, who was a surgeon with the British Army during the War of 1812, perhaps this Dr McLeod. There were no children to the marriage.

     The Nova Scotia Gaelic weekly, Mac-Talla, published in 1894 a witty story about a fun-loving Dr McLeod (“liked as a man and a doctor”) who had lived about 70 years earlier at Williamstown, GC–presumably the very Dr McLeod of the present biography. An English translation of the story was printed in Am Bràighe 11:1 (Spring 2003).

Reid, DN, 28, 37 * MacLeods, ii, 482-483 * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 153 * Alexander Mackenzie, History of the Camerons (Inverness, Scotland, 1884) 409-412 * Alexander Mackenzie, History of the Macleods (Inverness, Scotland, 1889) 262-264 * Dictionary of Canadian Biography, VIII, 839 (mentioned) * information, University of Edinburgh Archives, Oct. 2001 * Sellar (1963) 198 * David G Anderson, “The Family of David Thompson, Mapmaker,” Glengarry Life 1994 * Royce MacGillivray, “A Cosmopolitan and his Age: Sir Roderick Cameron,” The Loyalist Gazette 24:2 Dec. 1986) * Roderick MacLeod Cameron: see notes to Sir Roderick’s biog.