(20 or 24 Jan. 1840-19 Jan. 1924), merchant. (John R. McLaurin) Born at Breadalbane, GC. Parents: John Roy McLaurin and his wife Mary Cameron. An obituary in the Cornwall Freeholder, headed “Glengarry Pioneer Dead,” described the subject of the present entry as “one of the last of the second generation of the sturdy folk who made Glengarry famous.” In 1860, he followed the lure of the California gold rush to California, and for two years kept a tollgate on Mission Street, San Francisco; it was also said in a Montreal press obituary that he started his future Vankleek Hill store “from his pick-earnings.” Having returned to Canada, he worked in cattle-dealing and in 1864 or 1865 began business as a general merchant at Vankleek Hill. In 1893, his store was destroyed in a fire, but he rebuilt it on a generous scale. “His stock of goods is large, and embraces every variety.” (Thomas, in 1896) McLaurin retired from storekeeping in 1902, and after retirement he tended to his real estate interests at Vankleek Hill and in Manitoba. He was married (1) to Caroline McCann (1851-1883) (four children), and (2) in Montreal, on 27 Nov. 1884, to Margaret Chisholm (1867-1948), of Skye, Ont., the sister of Roderick John (Rory) Chisholm (six children). John Roy McLaurin’s sons Howard and Douglas were killed in action in WWI. At the time of the father’s death, another son, William, also a victim of the war, was in hospital suffering from wounds and poison gas injuries. (These sons were by the second wife) His daughter Lois Margaret McLaurin (also by the second wife) taught at Acadia and McMaster universities. She obtained her Ph. D. in English from the University of Chicago in 1927, and was married to H. F. Scott Thomas (H. F. Scott-Thomas).

     John R. McLaurin was a Baptist, and active in the work of the Baptist church at Vankleek Hill. In politics he was a Liberal, and is described as a personal friend of Laurier, and as having entertained Laurier at his home in Vankleek Hill. He was active over many years in Vankleek Hill civic affairs, two of his concerns being the promotion of education (in the interests of which he put in many years of school board service) and the securing of adequate railway services for the town. His concern for education was shown also in his own family, for at the time of his death, six of his children “were either graduates of McMaster or McGill Universities, or were in course.”

     The following may be taken as a note not just on McLaurin’s associations, but on the remarkable interest so many GC-area businessmen of his generation took in the business opportunities of Manitoba:

     Nehemiah MacCallum (22 Dec. 1843-14 June 1929), born in East Hawkesbury Township, Prescott County, and not at any time a GC resident so far as is known, served 1882-1887 in the legislature of Arizona Territory, before returning to Canada and settling near Vankleek Hill in 1887. We may assume that the following passage from MacCallum’s obituary refers to the McLaurin of the present article, “For the past twenty years the late John R. MacLaurin [sp. thus] and Mr. MacCallum were engaged in business together in and about Winnipeg, Man.”

The Montreal Daily Star, 21 Jan. 1924, Cornwall Freeholder (QF-1) 24 Jan. 1924 * geneal. and other information: Quarterly of Clan McLaren Society U.S.A.,Vol. II No. 8 (Dec. 1970) and Vol. III No. 12 (Dec. 1971) * Cochrane, IV, 267 (with portrait) * Thomas 567, 573 *MacKinnon: index * second marriage: CF 28 Nov. 1884, cited DTL Standard Freeholder 30 Nov. 1946; Lochinvar to Skye 335 * Lois McLaurin: information from McMaster University Archives; CF 30 April 1930 * unfortunately, the papers of Sir Wilfrid Laurier in NAC have only one (insignificant) letter from McLaurin, with a copy of the reply from Laurier’s secretary; these papers, however, are not a complete collection of Laurier’s correspondence * obituaries of Nehemiah MacCallum, VKHR (ND) (QF-2), CF 6 July 1929