(1856-20 Jan. 1941), merchant and registrar. Born at Glen Sandfield, GC. Parents: Alexander McRae and his wife Catherine Morrison. His education was in the local school system. In the 1880s and 1890s, he was in business at McCrimmon, on the GC-Prescott boundary, as a general merchant and sawmill proprietor. There is an impressively detailed narrative of the surprisingly-numerous and ever-changing businesses of McCrimmon at this time, and the complicated relationships among them, in the history abbreviated Lochinvar to Skye in the notes to the present dictionary. See that volume for his various businesses at McCrimmon, with dates and partnerships. He was married on 30 Nov. 1886 at McCrimmon to Sarah MacLeod (1860-1937), who was the sister of William D. MacLeod of Bonnie Brier and the aunt of John Archie McCrimmon, who was to be throughout much of the first half of the 20th century the well-known merchant of McCrimmon.

     John A. McRae moved to Alexandria in 1897 a year after his sawmill at McCrimmon was destroyed June1896 in a fire. (Glengarry News 26 June 1896, 4 June 1897) He was a hay and grain merchant in Alexandria. Early in the Boer War, late in 1899, he had a contract to ship 300 tons of hay (which went via Boston) to the British Army in South Africa. (Glengarry News 17 Nov. 1899) He was mayor of Alexandria in 1906 and 1907. He was active in the affairs of the Conservative Party. In 1915, he was appointed registrar of deeds for GC, in succession to the late John Simpson. (GN 5 March 1915) Clarence Ostrom saw J. A. Macdonell (Jack Greenfield) and John A. McRae as the two chief activists in promoting the building of the Glengarry war memorial in Alexandria in the years immediately after the First World War. As a consequence of the victory of Mitch Hepburn’s Liberals in the Ontario provincial election of June 1934, Stephen O’Connor, a Liberal, was appointed registrar of deeds for GC in the fall of 1934, replacing the Conservative McRae. (Standard Freeholder 24 Oct. 1934, GN 2 Nov. 1934) O’Connor remained registrar till his death in Jan. 1952, following which J.A. McRae’s son, Dan N. McRae, became registrar (GN 28 March 1952) and remained registrar till 1959. After losing his position as registrar, John A. McRae operated as a conveyancer, and worked in the hay and grain business. Over many years he was active in the board of managers of the Alexandria Presbyterian Church, continuing after it became a United Church, and was on the Alexandria public school board, sometimes as chairman. Mrs McRae died not many weeks after this couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. J.A. McRae died at his home in Alexandria. (six children) He and his wife are buried in the Protestant cemetery, Alexandria.

     J.A. McRae’s son, Dan N. McRae (d. 5 June 1974, aged 85), who was born at McCrimmon, spent most of his life in Alexandria, and was in the hay and grain business there and active in Alexandria community affairs. He was a Mason and a United Church elder. Like his father, he had his summer cottage at South Lancaster. He was married to Abbie Gross (d. 1971). He died in Cornwall General Hospital.

Glengarry News 24 Jan. 1941 * Lochinvar to Skye 252-255, 501 * MacLeods, i, 272, 282; ii, 352 * his gravestone, Alexandria Protestant cemetery * golden wedding anniversary, GN 4 Dec. 1936 * obituary of his wife, GN 15 Jan. 1937 * advert. for “J. A. McRae, Conveyancer,” Alexandria, executes wills, deeds, mortgages, GN 5 April 1935 * Ostrom 298, 303 * Dumbrille, U, 121 * is secretary, GC Conservative Association, GN 30 May 1913 * cottage at South Lancaster, GN 15 May 1914 * former home sold, GN 9 Sept. 1954 * obituary of his daughter Evelyn, GN 23 Sept. 1981 * Dan N. McRae: obituary GN 6 & 13 June 1974 * ref. to J. A. McRae’s “shanty” (local?) in McCrimmon, Ont., column, Glengarrian 24 Jan. 1890