Donald McLean

1819 - 1887  (67 years)

• Name	Donald McLean
  Born	19 Dec 1819	, Scotland   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Gender	Male
  Residence	1849	Dumfries Township, Gore District, Ontario   [6]
  Occupation	1851	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Teacher
  Residence	1851	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	Presbyterian
  Occupation	1861	North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Teacher
  Residence	1861	North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [4]
  	Free Church
  Occupation	1871	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	Customs Inspector
  Residence	1871	Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [2]
  	U. Presbyterian
  Occupation	1887	Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada   [5]
  	collector of inland revenue
  Occupation	1887	Guelph Township, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada   [3]
  	Excise Tax Collector
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-158796P
  Died	7 Apr 1887	Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada   [3, 5]
  Buried	Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada
  Person ID	I158796	Generations
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	John McLean,   b. 1779, of, Scotland ,   d. 5 Oct 1848, , Ontario, Canada  (Age 69 years)
  Mother	Isabella McRae,   b. CALC 24 Nov 1799, Black Isle Parish, Knockbain, , Ross and Cromarty, Scotland ,   d. 30 Jul 1868, Ayr, North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  (Age ~ 68 years)
  Family ID	F19178	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Agnes Matilda Keachie,   b. 3 Dec 1821, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 3 Jul 1893, Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 71 years)
  Married	5 Jan 1849	, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [6]
  Children	1. James Keachie McLean,   b. 19 Dec 1851, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 25 Mar 1913, Sarcee Reserve, near Calgary, Alberta  (Age 61 years)   2. Elizabeth McLean,   b. 6 Jun 1854, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 11 Jan 1925, Vancouver, , British Columbia, Canada  (Age 70 years)   3. Isabella McLean,   b. 1856, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 18 Oct 1882, Toronto, York Co., Ontario, Canada  (Age 26 years)   4. William Alexander McLean,   b. 6 Aug 1860, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. 10 Jan 1918  (Age 57 years)   5. John McLean,   b. 13 Jan 1864, Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada ,   d. Yes, date unknown
  Last Modified	26 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F39727	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  AXTELL, NEB., Nov. 24th, 1888. DEAR SIR, From the tenor of your note requesting my early recollections of the township of Beverly, it would seem you infer that I am a Beverlonian. Such is not the fact. My father moved from Copetown co Dumfries and settled on a farm near St. George, in what year I am unable to say. Nevertheless, it was there that on the 25th of November, 1829, I first saw the light, but although not born in Beverly, I was reared within sight of her towering pines and had more friends and relatives within her borders than in Dumfries. I have always been highly pleased with Mr. Cornell s letters to the papers previous to the series he has recently contributed on the Town ship of Beverly, and if I can be of any assistance to him in his laudable enterprise, 1 am happy. Although not personally acquainted with him, I knew his grandfather and have frequently been in his church and heard him tell his hearers the way they should go. So far as the Copes of Copetown go, I probably know less about them than Mr. Cornell. I certainly know more of their early history since reading his letters than before. I was much pleased at Mr. Holcomb s description of that queer old pedagogue, Solomon P. Thayer. He was my first teacher, and the house in which he taught was a log building, perhaps fifteen feet square, with a fireplace that would hold at least half a cord of wood, and was used not only as a school room hut as a kitchen, dining room and sleeping room also. He was what now-a-days would be called a crank. Sometimes he would get off his base altogether. At such times he would adjourn the school, and meander about the country talking to himself, as harmless as a goose and with just about as much sense. On one of these occasions he came to our house and said to mother, " The Lord commanded me to come and tell you to fry me three eggs." Of course an order from such high authority was promptly attended to. And yet withal he was in many respects a good teacher, and numbers of young men who afterward he came quite famous, came long distances to attend his school ; among them were E. B. Wood, late chief justice of Manitoba ; Donald McLean, late revenue collector of Guelph ; Dr. Picton, Brown and others. As I am now speaking of teachers, I cannot stop until I say something about another. When Mr. Holcomb, Sr., was preparing to move to Canada, Mrs. Holcomb, accompanied by her son, preceded him, stopping for a time with Ambrose Clemens, a relative. I cannot tell what year it was, but Mr. Holcomb, jr., " Johnnie " he was then called, will know when I tell him that whenever anybody inquired his age, the inevitable reply was " free years old last auger." The school house was just across the road and the district sadly in need f a teacher. Mrs. Holcomb was persuaded to teach the school, and let me say right here that for all the education I have which has ever been of any practical use to me, I am indebted to Mrs. Holcomb. Cobb s Spelling Book, Dayboll's Arithmetic, and Kirkham's Grammar, come to think of it, perhaps I had better omit the Grammar. She had the most executive ability of any person I ever saw, man or woman. If a boy six feet high transgressed the rules, she would talk to him so that in five minutes he would feel like sinking through a hole in the floor and pulling the hole in after him. After they moved on to the farm called the " Squire Murray place," the people again urged her to continue to teach the " young idea how to shoot." A large room which had been used as a summer kitchen was fitted up and she taught there one or two terms. And this reminds me of an other man, and a Beverly man, too, that ought to revere the memory of Mrs. Holcomb when she taught our school. A boy named Albert Smith, whose father lived on the farm now owned by James Sager, attended. He was a cripple and walked on crutches. After they moved to the farm the distance was too great, and he could not go. Almost everybody in that section knew that Mr. Holcomb always kept a good many horses and many know that he sometimes traded horses also, and Mrs. H. felt so much interested in the crippled boy that she prevailed upon her husband to loan him a pony, so he might ride to school, which he did for the entire summer. He is still living in Beverly, near Troy, if I am not mistaken. I sincerely hope Mr. Cornell may succeed in getting out his hook and reap as rich a reward pecuniarily as I know he will from the gratitude of his fellow-townsmen. Always yours, R. M. COPE.

  
  

• Sources

  [S313] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1851, Pg.27. [S570] Census - ON, Waterloo, Galt - 1871, Div. 2, Pg. 37. [S7] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - Berliner Journal (1859-1917), 14 Apr 1887. 07 Apr 1887 Donald McLean, collector of excise tax, died in Guelph at age of 67 years. [S1778] Census - ON, Waterloo, North Dumfries - 1861, Div 2 Page 20. [S713] Vit - ON - Death Registration, death certificate 13285 (1887), Donald McLean. Donald McLean, d. 7 Apr 1887 Guelph, aged 67y, 3m, 19d, occ. collector of Inland Revenue, b. Scotland, cause: dyspepsia and valvualr disease of the heart [S12] Vit - ON, Gore - Gore District Marriage Register - Waterloo Entries, Revd Strang Presbyterian, Waterloo, Dumfries, Blenheim (pg. 117 - 119). Donald McLean, married Matilda Keachie, both of Dumfries. 5 Jan 1849, by licence, Witnesses: Robert McLean and James Keachie.

  
  

• Event Map

  Born - 19 Dec 1819 - , Scotland Residence - 1849 - Dumfries Township, Gore District, Ontario Married - 5 Jan 1849 - , Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Teacher - 1851 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Presbyterian - 1851 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Teacher - 1861 - North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - Free Church - 1861 - North Dumfries Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - Customs Inspector - 1871 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Residence - U. Presbyterian - 1871 - Galt (Cambridge), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Occupation - collector of inland revenue - 1887 - Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada Occupation - Excise Tax Collector - 1887 - Guelph Township, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada Died - 7 Apr 1887 - Guelph City, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth