(20 Sept. 1843-18 Dec. 1915), contractor. (Donald A. McIntosh) Born at St. Andrew’s, Stormont County. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia says simply that he was born “near Glengarry, Ont., Canada.” Parents: Alexander McIntosh and his wife Janet MacDonald. He was apparently of U E Loyalist descent.

     He grew up on his parents’ farm, and attended the local school. As young men, he and his younger brother James A. McIntosh settled in the United States, though before leaving Canada they probably got some experience of railway construction work on the Grand Trunk. With their base at Milwaukee, they “began taking subsidiary contracts for the building of short lines of railroad.” They advanced to become prominent railway builders, constructing lines in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana and the Dakotas. The division of labour between the brothers was that James handled the office work, while Donald supervised the men in the field, at times having “under his personal direction thousands of workers, mobilized and sent to him by his brother from the home office.” When the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Co. line was built from the Missouri River to Puget Sound, beginning about 1906, the McIntosh brothers were in charge of building the whole section of more than 700 miles between the Missouri River and Butte, Montana. “After finishing this gigantic task the two brothers entered into other contracts covering important changes of line and second-track work, but upon their completion, in 1910, they quietly closed their business affairs and retired.”

     In retirement, Donald A. McIntosh “spent a great deal of time traveling abroad.” Among the places he visited was the home territory of his ancestors in Invernessshire, Scotland. Donald A. McIntosh died in Los Angeles. He was unmarried. The burial was in Milwaukee. He is reported to have bought a large ranch near Los Angeles not long before his death.

     It was reported in 1908 that D. A. and James A. McIntosh, formerly of St. Andrew’s, had received $50 million on the largest contract ever let to a single firm in the United States. (20 Years Ago column, Cornwall Freeholder 15 March 1928 ) Among the works for which the firm, called McIntosh Bros., was noted, were the Schlesinger ore docks, at Escanaba, Mich. The two McIntoshes were Milwaukee residents from 1882. An obituary of the brother James says, “While constructing in Wisconsin they maintained large stables at Cedarburg [Wisc.], which housed hundreds of head of horses and mules, and sheds which contained a vast amount of railroad paraphernalia.” The brothers, by the same source, amassed “what is said to be an immense fortune,” and “invested principally in railroad holdings.” Their construction work was probably limited fairly closely to that related to railways. See also the entry for John Allen McDougall for their business relationship to the McDougall brothers, also distinguished railway contractors from the GC area.

     Shortly after his death, it was announced that Donald A. McIntosh’s $400,000 estate would go, after the death of his surviving brother James of Milwaukee, largely to Canadian heirs, including his sister Mary Fraser (Mrs Evan Fraser of Fraser’s Point, Lancaster Township), and his nephew and niece Alex and Jennie Fraser, also of Lancaster Township. (Cornwall Freeholder & Cornwall Standard 30 Dec. 1915) For these Frasers, see Col. Alexander Fraser of Fraser’s Point.

Milwaukee Journal (portraittrait) and Milwaukee Sentinel, both 20 Dec. 1915 * Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography (Supplementary Edition, ed. L. E. Deirborn): a valuable biog. sketch, with spirited writing, no portrait (QF) * sources for the life of his brother James A. McIntosh * his death remembered, 20 Years Ago column, Standard Freeholder 24 Dec. 1935