John McDonell of Leek (1707 - 1782)

Born 1707 in Leek, Inverness-shire, Scotland

Ancestors

Husband of Jean Chisholm — married 1738 in , Inverness-shire, , Scotland

Descendants

Died 11 Nov 1782 at about age 75 in Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Katie Loewy [send private message]

Biography

John McDonell of Leek served with United Empire Loyalists during the American Revolution.

One of the three sons of John Macdonell of Leek who sailed for New York on the Pearl in 1773, along with many family members and other Scots, totalling about 600 in all. They settled in New York near Albany.

John was one of six hostages taken by the Revolutionary Forces in January 1776. He and two others escaped in 1777 and made their way to Montreal. He was too old to serve in the military and was not attached to any regiments (unlike his brothers) but was still put on the list of Loyalist pensioners.

He had six sons, one (the eldest) who died in Scotland, plus Archibald, Allan, Ranald, Roderick and Alexander (in birth order), and four daughters, including Mary, Isabella, and the eldest daughter, whose married name was McLeod.

Alexander was a young boy at the time of the American Revolution. He could be either Macdonell-100, McDonell-73, or someone else.

John died in Montreal in 1782 and was buried under a church located where Notre Dame Street and Place des Armes are now. The bodies buried there were reinterred in Notre Dame Basilica in 1831 when it was built to replace the earlier church.

Note: This profile originally listed him as Archibald John but the documentation by WL Scott only uses John.

Identity Confusions

This is NOT the same person as John Mcdonell of Aberchalder described in the Dictionary of Canadian biography. ^[1]

The Clan Donald lists him as being the son of Angus, 4th of Leek, but the family in Canada is pretty clear that there were two Johns, father and son, and that this John is the son (and therefore the grandson of Angus, if that part of The Clan Donald is correct).^[2]

Sources

• A United Empire Loyalist Family, by W.L. Scott, K.C. Reprinted from Vol XXXII, Papers and Records, Ontario Historical Society. pdf available from Anemone Cerridwen
• Macdonald, Rev. A. and Macdonald Rev. A. (1904). The Clan Donald: Volume 3. Inverness, Scotland. Northern Counties Publishing Company Ltd., p. 351-53.
• The Macdonells of Leek, Collachie and Aberchalder, by W. L. Scott, K.C. CCHA Report, 2 (1934-1935), 22-32. available online.
• Stuart Lyall Manson, 2021. Sacred Ground: Loyalist Cemeteries of Eastern Ontario, Volume One. Carleton Place, Ontario: Global Heritage Press.

• Source: S-261582023 Repository: #R-848682959 Title: Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Page: Ancestry Family Tree Data: Text: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/63021058/family
• Repository: R-848682959 Name: Ancestry.com

1. ↑ http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mcdonell_john_5E.html
2. ↑ A United Empire Loyalist Family; The Macdonells of Leek, Collachie and Aberchalder

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Katie Loewy for creating WikiTree profile McDonell-70 through the import of Rose Family Tree.ged on Nov 17, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Katie and others.