(11 Sept. 1825-6 Sept. 1910), contractor. (his name is almost invariably found in the form D. D. McDonald; it is unusual to find the 1st D. spelled out; the second was perhaps a patronymic from his father; the notation “Glen,” or “of the Glen,” was often added after D. D. McDonald’s name for better identification) He was born at the Glen, Williamstown, GC. Parents: Donald McDonald and his wife Flora McDonald. Flora was the sister of Fr John Mcdonald of Alexandria, one of the two legendary “Father John”s of pioneer GC.

     His father died before D. D. was born. The family being in straitened circumstances, the future Fr John left college to assist his widowed sister for some years. “Young D. D. commenced work early, and at the age of fifteen was scoring timber in a shanty. When railroad construction commenced in this country, he was among the first to enter upon the work, and he became one of the best known men in the business in Canada.” (obituary, Cornwall Standard)

     He was a contractor or otherwise involved in railway construction throughout most of his working life, till retirement at an advanced age. At the same time, he conducted a farming operation at the Glen. When a young man he worked on railway construction in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He was also involved in the construction of the Intercolonial in the Maritimes (as superintendent and afterwards as contractor), and on the Grand Trunk, Canada Atlantic, and Toronto, Grey and Bruce line. For 9 years he worked as an overseer for Frank Shanley (1820-1882), the celebrated engineer. McDonald was a superintendent in the building of the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts. “He handled many contracts on the C. P. R., the last of which, on the Labelle section, he finished in 1904.” (obit, Cornwall Freeholder) R. R. (Big Rory) McLennan was his partner in railway building in Nova Scotia. In his later years, D. D. was associated with his son Donald R. Mcdonald in railway contracts on the CPR and the Parry Sound Railway.

     He was married on 28 May (29 May also found) 1855 to Ann Cameron (30 Nov. 1832-5 April 1911), who was the daughter of Col. John Cameron of the South Branch and Cornwall. D. D. and Ann were the parents of Allan P. Mcdonald and James D. D. Mcdonald, and of the contractors Donald R. and John Angus Mcdonald, and the grandparents of General Donald John Macdonald, all of whom are in the present dictionary.

     In 1905, he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. (Cornwall Standard 2 June 1905) He died at the Glen, Williamstown, on the homestead where he was born. Roman Catholic. The burial was at St. Mary’s cemetery, Williamstown. (six children surviving him)

     We get a glimpse of the local impact in GC of his contracting from the Williamstown columnist in the Glengarrian (Alexandria newspaper) of 29 Nov. 1889, who wrote, “There has been quite a stir here for a week or so, Messrs. D. D. and D. R. McDonald having secured a large railway contract in Quebec, have been busy in getting ready for their departure. They have fitted up their carts, &c., and have engaged a number of men, and all have gone to the scene of action.” A news item the next year about a man who had gone to St. Jerome, Que., said that “He is working on the new railroad which is being built by Mr. D. D. McDonald, Glen.” (Glengarrian 20 June 1890) Among the major 19th-century GC-born railway contractors, D. D. was one of the few to maintain a base in GC while exercising his profession over many years.

Cornwall Freeholder 9 & 16 Sept. 1910, Cornwall Standard 16 Sept. 1910 (issue 9 Sept. missing on microfilm) with portrait 23 Sept. also undated clipping * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 22, 81 * St. Andrew’s CR, Part II, p. 308 (marriage) * death of widow, Glengarry News 7 April 1911