of Leek (fl. 1770s-early 19th-century; was dead by Feb. 1816), U E Loyalist. (titles Capt. and Col. commonly used) Born in Scotland. His father, John Macdonell of Leek, was one of the leaders of the emigration of the settlers on the Pearl to New York colony in 1773. Archibald probably came to New York province with the other members of his family on the Pearl. During the American Revolution, Archibald, who was a merchant in New York province, took the Crown side and served in the King's Royal Regiment of New York, achieving the rank of captain-lieutenant and afterwards of captain. He settled as a U E Loyalist in Osnabruck Township, Stormont County, and had a farm there at the Long Sault Rapids. Harkness cites some notices of him from the travels of Patrick Campbell in 1791, of Mrs Simcoe in 1792, and of Lord Selkirk in 1804. Selkirk reported that in 1804 his farm at the Long Sault was poorly managed and that he had not been living there for some years. Archibald was made lieutenant of Stormont County in 1796, in the short-lived scheme for county lieutenancies. He was also a lt.-col. in the Stormont County militia. In the War of 1812 he served as assistant adjutant general for the Upper Canada militia.

     He had land grants in the 1st and 2nd Concession of Osnabruck Township, and a little farther east in the Hawkesbury area, and perhaps elsewhere. His wife’s Christian name was Anne. He was the brother of Allan Macdonell of Leek, Ranald Macdonell of Leek, and Fr Roderick Macdonell the priest at St. Regis.

     His sister Mary was married to Thomas Fraser, the U E Loyalist. Also, Archibald’s daughter Ann was married to Col. Alexander Fraser of Fraserfield in GC, while another daughter, Isabella, was married to the surveyor William Chewett, and was the mother thereby of James Grant Chewett; also among Archibald’s children, Mary was married to Donald Aeneas Macdonell,who is remembered as the warden of the penitentiary at Kingston, and Harriet was married to Duncan Macdonell of Greenfield.

     Archibald Macdonell was not a Glengarrian or a GC settler, and as far as has been discovered not even a GC landholder, but he is closely connected with the history of GC through his family connections.

Harkness: index * McLean: index * UE List 220 * Cruikshank King's Royal Regiment of New York 232 * Reid, L, 191, 193 * Pringle 408 * Senior 99 * Scott, “M” (corrects previous genealogies) * Scott, “U” * Boss 2