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William Christopher Macdonald
Sir William Christopher Macdonald (10 February 1831 – 9 June 1917) was a Canadian tobacco manufacturer and major education philanthropist in Canada. Though born in Prince Edward island, he is considered a Scots-Quebecer.
Born William Christopher McDonald in 1831 at Tracadie, in what was then the British Colony of Prince Edward Island, he was sixth of seven children of The Hon. Donald Macdonald (1795-1854) and Anna Matilda (1797-1877), daughter of The Hon. Ralph Brecken. In 1772, as a consequence of the Jacobite Rebellion, Macdonald's paternal grandfather, John MacDonald of Glenaladale, the 8th laird of Glenaladale (of the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald), purchased more than 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of land in Prince Edward Island for settlement by more than 200 members of his Roman Catholic clan. Known today as the Glenaladale Settlers, in Canada the family name had been recorded as McDonald, which he maintained until 1898, when he began using the historical Scottish spelling but without capitalizing the "d".
As a youth, Macdonald rebelled against the authoritarian rule of his father and his Roman Catholic upbringing. Although his mother was Protestant, Macdonald and his siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. At the age of sixteen he renounced the church, choosing to become a non-practising Christian. At eighteen he left his Island home, making his way to the United States, where he found clerical work in Boston. Although he had limited education, Macdonald quickly showed an entrepreneurial spirit and, joined by his brother Augustine, he organized himself as a broker to handle the shipping of American-made goods to merchants in his native Prince Edward Island. However, after a ship carrying some of his merchandise sank in an ocean storm, the venture had severe problems and Macdonald closed the business and left Boston.
The Macdonald brothers moved to the then Province of Canada where they settled in Montreal, a city that was then undergoing an economic boom. There, they made a living as brokers, earning commissions from the resale of a variety of products until 1858 when they opened McDonald Brothers and Co., a company that made tobacco products. The business procured tobacco leaf from suppliers in the southern United States that was converted to pipe and chewing tobacco at their small Montreal facility.
While the use of tobacco products was growing in popularity, the American Civil War afforded the fledgling company an opportunity that brought enormous financial success, leading to Macdonald Brothers becoming the preeminent company in the field in Canada. Virtually all of the tobacco growers were located in states that were part of the Confederacy and with the onset of the war, the northern states faced a huge shortage of tobacco leaf. Because Macdonald's company was in Canada, he was able to buy the leaf from the South and have it brought by ocean cargo vessels to Montreal. There, it was processed then the finished product was shipped to the tobacco-starved market in the northern United States.
Despite the fortune that Macdonalds' tobacco made, Macdonald himself often said that he was ashamed of his business, seeing smoking as a "filthy and disgusting habit and even forbade its consumption in his presence", and referring to his shame as a source of his philanthropy. That was also perhaps why his company's slogan was "Tobacco with a heart".
At the end of the Civil War, the company continued to prosper and by the early 1870s, it had more than five hundred employees. During this period, Macdonald bought out his brother's stock position and soon began using the great wealth he had earned to undertake philanthropic endeavors.
Macdonald's philanthropic efforts at McGill University began because of his close relationship with John William Dawson, the principal of the university at the time. Macdonald, never having had a family of his own, soon became extremely fond of the whole Dawson family. In fact, he would later build the Macdonald-Harrington building (currently houses the Department of Architecture) in honor of Dawson's daughter Anna marrying the university geologist and future head of the chemistry department, Bernard J. Harrington.
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William Christopher Macdonald
Sir William Christopher Macdonald (10 February 1831 – 9 June 1917) was a Canadian tobacco manufacturer and major education philanthropist in Canada. Though born in Prince Edward island, he is considered a Scots-Quebecer.
Born William Christopher McDonald in 1831 at Tracadie, in what was then the British Colony of Prince Edward Island, he was sixth of seven children of The Hon. Donald Macdonald (1795-1854) and Anna Matilda (1797-1877), daughter of The Hon. Ralph Brecken. In 1772, as a consequence of the Jacobite Rebellion, Macdonald's paternal grandfather, John MacDonald of Glenaladale, the 8th laird of Glenaladale (of the MacDonalds of Clan Ranald), purchased more than 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of land in Prince Edward Island for settlement by more than 200 members of his Roman Catholic clan. Known today as the Glenaladale Settlers, in Canada the family name had been recorded as McDonald, which he maintained until 1898, when he began using the historical Scottish spelling but without capitalizing the "d".
As a youth, Macdonald rebelled against the authoritarian rule of his father and his Roman Catholic upbringing. Although his mother was Protestant, Macdonald and his siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. At the age of sixteen he renounced the church, choosing to become a non-practising Christian. At eighteen he left his Island home, making his way to the United States, where he found clerical work in Boston. Although he had limited education, Macdonald quickly showed an entrepreneurial spirit and, joined by his brother Augustine, he organized himself as a broker to handle the shipping of American-made goods to merchants in his native Prince Edward Island. However, after a ship carrying some of his merchandise sank in an ocean storm, the venture had severe problems and Macdonald closed the business and left Boston.
The Macdonald brothers moved to the then Province of Canada where they settled in Montreal, a city that was then undergoing an economic boom. There, they made a living as brokers, earning commissions from the resale of a variety of products until 1858 when they opened McDonald Brothers and Co., a company that made tobacco products. The business procured tobacco leaf from suppliers in the southern United States that was converted to pipe and chewing tobacco at their small Montreal facility.
While the use of tobacco products was growing in popularity, the American Civil War afforded the fledgling company an opportunity that brought enormous financial success, leading to Macdonald Brothers becoming the preeminent company in the field in Canada. Virtually all of the tobacco growers were located in states that were part of the Confederacy and with the onset of the war, the northern states faced a huge shortage of tobacco leaf. Because Macdonald's company was in Canada, he was able to buy the leaf from the South and have it brought by ocean cargo vessels to Montreal. There, it was processed then the finished product was shipped to the tobacco-starved market in the northern United States.
Despite the fortune that Macdonalds' tobacco made, Macdonald himself often said that he was ashamed of his business, seeing smoking as a "filthy and disgusting habit and even forbade its consumption in his presence", and referring to his shame as a source of his philanthropy. That was also perhaps why his company's slogan was "Tobacco with a heart".
At the end of the Civil War, the company continued to prosper and by the early 1870s, it had more than five hundred employees. During this period, Macdonald bought out his brother's stock position and soon began using the great wealth he had earned to undertake philanthropic endeavors.
Macdonald's philanthropic efforts at McGill University began because of his close relationship with John William Dawson, the principal of the university at the time. Macdonald, never having had a family of his own, soon became extremely fond of the whole Dawson family. In fact, he would later build the Macdonald-Harrington building (currently houses the Department of Architecture) in honor of Dawson's daughter Anna marrying the university geologist and future head of the chemistry department, Bernard J. Harrington.
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