(12 June 1858-14 Feb. 1949), Gaelic singer. (Duncan A. McRae) He was born and died on Lot 2, 7th Concession Charlottenburgh Township, in the St. Raphael’s area, GC, on the family homestead where his whole life was spent except for a few years in Mullan, Idaho. Parents: Angus J. McRae and his wife Eliza MacPherson. He was married on 25 Nov. 1889 to Catherine Kennedy (1866-8 Nov. 1937). (eight children) Their children included the missionary Fr Allan Bernard McRae, of the Scarboro Missions, and John W. MacRae. Duncan A. McRae, termed in his obituary the “Grand Old Man” of St. Raphael’s, is described on his gravestone in the St. Raphael’s cemetery as a “Noted Gaelic Singer.” In 1918, in an action widely noted in the GC-area press, John McMartin, the mining magnate and MP for GC, brought about the recording by the Berliner Co. of Montreal of the singing of 20 Gaelic songs by Duncan A. McRae. (Cornwall Freeholder & Cornwall Standard 14 March 1918, Glengarry News 22 March 1918 ) The recording has been preserved in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Charles W. Dunn, referring evidently to this recording, but dating it too early as “1914 or earlier,” held that McRae had “provided what must be one of the first recordings of Gaelic songs made anywhere in the world.” (p. 199) In 1947 McRae, described in the press as “a popular and widely recognized Gaelic singer,” was honoured on his 89th birthday. (Standard Freeholder 23 June 1947)

     In his article of 1924 on the funeral of Belle John (Isabella McRae), who was McRae’s aunt , the Toronto journalist Gregory Clark wrote, “In the parlor of the McRae house… Duncan Angus McRae sat after the funeral of Belle John, and sang over, in a voice softened by mourning, some of the Gaelic songs which Belle John handed down to him and which he is handing down to his grandsons.” One of the illustrations to the Clark article is a photograph of “Duncan Angus McRae Singer of Old Gaelic Songs.”

Glengarry News 18 Feb. 1949, Standard Freeholder 19 Feb. 1949 * Fraser, Gravestones, III, 43 * obituary of his wife, GN 19 Nov. 1937 * Dumbrille, U, 121 * Charles W. Dunn, “Glengarry’s Gaelic Heritage,” The Dalhousie Review, XLII (1962-1963) 193-201 * note on family: McKenna GN (4 Jan. 2001)