(1868-2 May 1914), businessman. (Rhodes Grant says this family of McMartins was known as “The Big Allens,” presumably from the name of Duncan’s father) Born in GC, at a place which has been named as Munroes Mills, and was perhaps Lot 17 in the 8th Concession of Charlottenburgh Township. Parents: Allan McMartin (1819-1887) and his wife Catherine McDonald (1830-1875). Duncan McMartin was married at Sault Ste. Marie in 1902 to Iva Alderson. (three children) Duncan McMartin and his brother John McMartin became extremely wealthy through their share in the ownership of mines in Northern Ontario– principally the silver mine discovered in the Cobalt area by a blacksmith named LaRose in 1903, and the Hollinger gold mines discovered 1909 at Timmins (Hollinger Gold Mines Limited was incorporated 1910; in 1916 it became Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines Limited). John McMartin, on the family monument he erected in St. Andrew’s cemetery, Williamstown, describes Duncan as “one of the discoverers and original owners of the La Rose Mine at Cobalt, Ont., also one of the original owners of the Hollinger and Allied Gold Mines in the Porcupine district.” When LaRose made his discoveries and showed his ore to Duncan McMartin, Duncan was working as manager of construction on a subcontract which John had on the building of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway. Far from being merely the lucky exploiter of the chance discovery of mines, Duncan McMartin was a pressing, active, farsighted businessman who took a large part in getting the mines developed. He also acquired large real estate holdings in Montreal, Alberta, New York and elsewhere. He owned “a palatial apartment house on Riverside Drive, New York, in which he maintained a commodious apartment, retaining however, his office at the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, which he practically made his headquarters.”
In the 1911 general election, Duncan McMartin was the Conservative candidate for the constituency of GC, but was defeated by the incumbent MP, John Angus McMillan, a Liberal. In Duncan’s obituary, the Liberal Glengarry News said that “at the earnest solicitation of the party leaders, he consented to contest Glengarry for the Dominion House, entering the campaign practically at the eleventh hour and while he was not successful he undoubtedly developed considerable strength, in fact succeeded in reducing the Liberal majority. “ The Conservative Cornwall Standard said much the same in its obituary (noting that he “developed marked ability on the platform”), neither paper seeming to assume that there was a realistic chance of a Conservative victory in the constituency. Duncan McMartin died after a short illness in the Wellesley Hospital, Toronto, having reached only his mid-40s. He was a Presbyterian, while his brother John was a Roman Catholic. Duncan’s funeral took place from John’s house in Cornwall, and the burial was at St. Andrew’s cemetery, Williamstown. The widely-attended funeral, which attracted much local attention, was attended by some of the great names of Canadian mining; his brother John’s McDougald connections were prominently represented, suggesting that the McDougald family had already come to include Duncan as well as John.
Evidently Harkness, who must have known the family, and who must have had through his connections as much opportunity as anyone outside their immediate family circle to gauge the extent of their wealth, was right or merely overstated the case excusably in saying that Duncan and his brother John each became “many times a millionaire.” Rhodes Grant, replying in part presumably on his boyhood memories, speaks of the impression Duncan made with the “enormous black McLaughlin Touring Car” (“You could hear it coming from miles away up the Line Road.”) in which he drove through GC almost daily before the election, always stopping in Martintown to talk with old friends.
Cornwall Standard & Cornwall Freeholder both of 7 May 1914, Glengarry News (QF) 8 May 1914; all with portraits; much of the original of Cornwall Freeholder obit. was lost before microfilming; these obits. (esp. that in Glengarry News, repr. Fraser Obits. 243-245) are of great value for the personal knowledge on which they are based * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 104, 127, III, 52 * report (from Montreal Gazette) on his will, Cornwall Standard 23 July 1914 * Harkness 307, 312 * life of Benjamin Hollinger in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. XIV (mentions Duncan and his brother John; this is the only mentioned ref. to the two McMartins up to at least 1930) * George Lonn, The Mine Finders (1966) 30-40 * Philip Smith, A History of Mining in Ontario: Harvest from the Rock (1986) for McMartins, LaRose * son Allan A. McMartin, born in Haileybury (Ont.), biog. sketch, portrait, in George Lonn, Canadian Profiles (1965) 165-166 * Rhodes Grant, ii, 40, 170-171 * Centenary 1912 12 (?) * LaRose’s story of how he found his mine, CF 1 March 1912 * Cobalt mining deal recalled, 20 Years Ago column, CF 11 Nov. 1926 * gives $1000 cheque for building new Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, GN 23 June 1911; Rhodes Grant reports he gave $1100 for rebuilding St. Andrew’s Church, Martintown * son Allan contributes $4000 to SDG Regiment, other benefactions to regiment by McMartin family noted, GN 10 Nov. 1939