McMARTIN, Lt Malcolm Jr.

   General Notes:

Came to America on the Pearl, as a young unmarried man, founder of Martintown; lived in Stormont and Dundas Counties first, to Martintown in 1810, 800 acres E of River Aux Raisin; also land on the bank of the river part of Lot 25 for carding, planning and sawmills, and an ashery, better known as Lieutenant Malcolm McMartin. K.R.R.N.Y. 1st Batt. Capt. 1st Regt. of Glengarry Militia.

From: The Story Of Martintown - A Pioneer Village by Rhodes C. M. Grant - "Beyond any doubt the real founder of Martintown was Lieutenant Malcolm McMartin of the 2nd. Batt. K.R.R.N.Y.. He came to America on the Pearl as a young married man, his wife was Mary McIntyre. His father, Malcolm Sr. and his father's brother John also came out on the Pearl. There was also a Peter McMartin, and probably still another family of McMartins. Malcolm St. (sp) received a farm in the 1st Con. North of River Raison, and bought part of Lt 25 in the same concession from Patrick O'Hales. Lieut. Malcolm received his land in Stormont County and I think some more in Dundas. He came to Martintown in 1801 as he judged Martintown would be a good place to build a mill. He obtained a grant from the Crown of eight hundred acres of land east of the Aux Raisins. Some of this had already been granted to McGregors, Bryants, Haggarts, McBanes in 1784 but had never been taken up by them. He also obtained a strip of land on the west bank of the river after it makes a bend to the south. As this was part of Lot 25 he must have bought it from his uncle John. The river narrows and there is a rapids about a hundred and fifty yards south of the bend. Here was an ideal place for mills. There is no record of whether or not there was a bridge across the river at this time, if not Malcolm's of timber and mounted on timber piers. He built a saw-mill and planing-mill on the west bank of the river where Barton's Feed Store stands today, and an ashery further north and a carding-mill some place on the bank and his house where the post office now stands. He built a grist and flour mill on the east bank of the river, replaced by his son in 1847 with the present old stone mill. Also he built a store still standing, now Lalonde's store. He was certainly a very enterprising business man and certinly was the man who actually founded and established Martintown." "Those who could not obtain suitaable lots from Peter Grant or his successors rented land from Malcolm McMartin himself. The village soon began to grow. Workmen came in to man the mills, then came inn-keepers, and store-keepers and tradesmen and soon there was a doctor and clergyman. Soon McMartin's Mills was the largest town in the Counties next to Cornwall. The name Martintown appeared, then both names were used until about 1857, when Martintown became the official name. It must have taken great faith in himself and in the country for Malcolm McMartin to start all those enterprises. Mind you there were no Government incentives, no forgivable loans, no tax exemptions, no Government experts to give advice. He risked his own money and time and hard work and planned it all himself. He died in the course of time and is buried in Williamstown. Unfortunately he never received the credit he deserved. His name is hardly remembered, there is no statue to his memory, in Martintown or anywhere else. Malcolm did not have the advantage of being a university graduate. Or is it a disadvantage? He was not a trained business man or an engineer or even a millwright. He seems to have been a soldier and farmer all his life until he went into business. Perhaps as the old folks would say he ahd "Horse Sense." It would be interesting to know who his builders and millwrights were. They must have been good ones and deserved to have been remembered, but there is not trace of their names."

   Research Notes:

http://www.twicelovedtreasures.com/glengarry.htm
1. LDS Family Search Site, AFN: 1GLC-49W
2. Story of Martintown: R.C.M. Grant
3. The Story of Dundas County, Carter.
4. The Kennedys - MacDiarmids, McDermids - Munros and Other Glengarry - Stormont Pioneers. by R.B. (Bob Campbell B. Sc. M. Eng. and Douglas McDermid B.A.
5. Sherry Kaseberg

   Marriage Information:

Malcolm married Margaret Mary McINTYRE. (Margaret Mary McINTYRE was born in 1749 in Perthshire, Scotland and died on 20 Jan 1803.)