Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/130

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MACDONELL
MACDONOUGH

government. Commissioners were appointed by the latter to arrange the difficulty, but, owing to their incompetence, no understanding was arrived at, and Anally the Indians regained possession of their property by force, in which they were sup- ported by Mr. Macdonell. Soon afterward a mili- tary expedition was sent to the mines, and he and two Indian chiefs were arrested and taken to To- ronto, but wei-e released on a writ of habeas corpus. The question of the Indian title to the land was finally settled in 1850, when by treaty the Indians received payment. In 1850 Mr. Macdonell pro- jected the construction of a canal ai'ound the Sault Ste. Marie on the Canadian side ; but the govern- ment refusing to grant a charter, the scheme proved abortive. In his explorations of the country west of Lake Superior he had acquired a good knowledge of the country and its capabilities, and at an early date had published a series of articles in the To- ronto newspapers advocating the scheme of a Pacific railway. He applied to parliament for a charter for its construction, the road to extend from the head of Lake Superior to the Pacific ocean, but was refused on the ground that such an under- taking was premature. He continued to interest himself in the work of opening communication with the northwest, and in 1858 secured from par- liament the charter for the Northwest transit com- pany, of which Sir Allan N. MacNab was afterward president, and Sir John Beverley Robinson secre- tary. Mr. Macdonell afterward removed to To- ronto, where he afterward resided.


MACDONELL, Miles, governor of Assiniboia, b. in Inverness. Scotland, in 1767; d. at Point Fortune, on Ottawa river, in 1828. ' His father. Col. John Macdonell, of Seothouse, Inverness-shire, at the invitation of Sir William Johnson, came to this country in 1773, with several of his friends, and settled at Caughnawaga, on Mohawk river, in New York. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, Col. Macdonell migrated with his family to Canada, and took up his residence at St. Andrews, near Cornwall, where he died in 1810. The son Miles, who showed military tendencies at an early age, was appointed ensign in the king's royal regi- ment of New York in 1792, lieutenant in the royal Canadian volunteers in 1794, and captain in the same corps in 1796. At the request of Lord Selkirk he visited London in 1803. and was in- duced by that nobleman to assume the post of gov- ernor of his projected colony on Red river. North- west territory. He arrived there with the first body of colonists, composed principally of evicted Scottish Highlanders from the Sutherland estates, in 1812, and was at once met with opposition from the agents of the Northwest company, whose head- quarters were at Montreal. On 11 June, 1815, the Northwest company's servants attacked and fired upon the colonists, and demanded the surrender of Gov. Macdonell, who, to save the effusion of blood, gave himself up voluntarily. He was taken to Montreal as a prisoner, and charges preferred against him by his enemies, but his case was not tried. During his ten or twelve years' connection with Lord Selkirk's Red river settlement he was its leading spirit and took an active and decided part in the feuds of the Hudson bay and North- west trading companies. His latter years were spent at his farm at Osnaburg, Upper Canada, but he died at the residence of his brother, John.


MACDONNELL, Daniel James, Canadian clergyman, b. in Bathurst, New Brunswick, 15 Jan., 1843. His father, the Rev. George Macdonnell, a native of Scotland, had for many years been pastor of the Church of Scotland congregation at Bathurst, but in 1850 resigned his charge and re- turned with his family to Scotland, where the son received his preparatory education. He was gradu- ated at Queen's college, Kingston, Canada, at fif- teen years of age, and studied theology at Glas- gow, Heidelberg, and Edinburgh, where he was graduated in divinity in 1865, and ordained by the presbytery in 1866. He then returned to Can- ada and was minister of St. Andrew's church, Peterborough, until 1870, when he was appointed pastor of St. Andrew's church, Toronto, where one of the finest churches in the city was built for him. He had expressed doubts as to the correct- ness of some of the doctrines of his church, and was prosecuted for heresy, but the case was finally dismissed upon his promise not to introduce his doubts into the pulpit. He was one of the most active promoters of the union of the various branches of the Presbyterian church in Canada, which was consummated in 1875. He was ap- pointed by the Ontario government as one of its representatives in the senate of Toronto univer- sity, and is one of the most eloquent and learned of Canadian clergymen.


McDONOGH, John, philanthropist, b. in Baltimore, Md., 29 Dec, 1779 ; d. in McDonogh, La., 26 Oct., 1850. His father, John, was in the Braddock expedition in 1755, and afterward served in the Revolution. The son received an academic education, and at seventeen entered mercantile life in Baltimore, but removed in 1800 to New Orleans, w'here he rapidly accumulated wealth in the commission and shipping business. During the war of 1812 he participated in the battle of New Orleans. In 1818 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the U. S. senate, and about this time founded the town of McDonoghville. In 1822 he prepared to liberate his slaves, but, disapproving of manumission, required each one to buy himself at a moderate sum. To enable him to accumulate this, Mr, McDonogh paid each slave for his services at fair rates, gave an education to those th^at desired it, and, when freedom had been purchased, sent shiploads of his negroes to Africa at his own expense for a period of seventeen years. He became a vice- president of the American colonization society in 1830, and contributed largely to its support. At his death he left the bulk of his fortune, which was estimated at more than $2,000,000, to the cities of New Orleans and Baltimore, for the purpose of establishing free schools. After many years of litigation and much loss of value by the civil war, an estate of 800 acres was purchased on the Western Maryland railroad near Baltimore in 1873, and the McDonogh labor-schools were established, at which seventy boys annually are received to learn practical and scientific farming, and the rudiments of an English education. In New Orleans the principal of the fund is invested in the McDonogh schools, which are conducted in connection with the public schools of that city. He also left bequests to the American colonization society and to the New Orleans boys' orphan asylum. See "Life and Work of John McDonogh,"' by William Allan (Baltimore, 1886).


MACDONOUGH, Thomas, naval officer, b. in New Castle county, Del., 23 Dec, 1783 ; d. at sea, 16 Nov.. 1825. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1800, and in 1803 was attached to the frigate " Philadelphia," which was one of the squadron emploved against Tripoli, under the command of Coin. Edward H. Preble. On 26 Aug., 1803, the " Philadelphia " captured the Moorish frigate " Meshboa," of the Cape de Gatte, on the Spanish coast, and Macdonough escaped the captivity that