(1845-13 Aug.1913), farmer, public figure. (Alex the Widow) Born in Kenyon Township, GC, presumably on his parents’ farm near what was later to be the village of Maxville. Parents: Donald McRae and his wife Margaret McLennan. In his younger years, he was involved in the wood and lumber business, first in Nevada and afterwards in British Columbia, before returning to GC to resettle in 1878. He was married in 1879 to Harriet Bennett, the daughter of Thomas Bennett. She died five years later on 27 Oct. 1884, aged 38, and Alexander seems not to have remarried. He was by occupation a farmer on his Maxville-area farm. When Maxville was incorporated as a village, McRae became its first reeve,1892. In 1901, he was warden of SDG. Also, he was active in the affairs of the local Conservative organization. Retiring from farming, he sold the larger part of his farm to Robert Hunter, and lived in Maxville. He was a Presbyterian. T. W. (Tom) Munro describes him as a plain but highly effective public speaker. In 1907, when there was a movement to have GC secede from its old association with the United Counties, McRae wrote and published a 12-page pro-separation booklet called Can Glengarry Manage Its Own Affairs? Facts and Figures Relating to Separation, one of the few political pamphlets ever published on GC affairs. (a child surviving him)

Glengarry News 15 & 22 Aug. 1913 * his gravestone, Maxville Cemetery * Munro GN 12 Aug. 1938 * Harkness 478,480 (portrait), 484-487 (separation movement) * Maxville (1991) 295, 302, 583, 744 * Bibliography of Glengarry 25 (note on McRae’s booklet) * David G. Anderson, “The Glengarry Separatist Movement,” GHS Newsletter, Nov. 1996 (with portrait) * Dane Lanken, “Glengarry Separation,” Glengarry Life (1997) repr. from GN 13 Nov. 1996: report on lecture by David G. Anderson; includes full page reproduction of title page of McRae’s booklet * for separation issue, see also entry for George H. MacGillivray * named warden, GN 1 Feb. 1901