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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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MACLACHLAN, DONALD (1825-1900)

MACLACHLAN, DONALD, tobacco manufacturer, longboat builder, and grocer; b. Pictou, N.S., c1825, s/o Peter MacLaughlan (a boat builder); m. 1858, Matilda McLaughlin, of Chatham; d. there, 13 Dec 1900.

Donald MacLachlan came to the Miramichi from Pictou around 1845 with his uncle John MacLachlan, who was a native of Argyll, Scotland. His uncle was about twenty-four years of age and he about twenty. In 1846 they were the builders of the vessel Mexican Packet for Joseph Cunard. In 1849 they established the D. & J. MacLachlan tobacco manufactory in Chatham, and their tobacco won an award of excellence in the Fredericton Exhibition in 1852. A few years later the business became Donald MacLachlan's alone when his uncle left to work in the shipbuilding industry in Prince Edward Island.

By 1858 MacLachlan had a thriving business, with twelve to fifteen employees. His advertisements stated that samples of his smoking and chewing tobacco could be picked up at his manufactory or at Pallen's Drug Store. Some of the tobacco was grown locally. In 1865 he processed fifty pounds of leaf which had been cultivated by Richard Hutchison at Douglastown. In 1871 his tobacco factory was one of the most highly-assessed businesses in Chatham. At that time he also owned a small boat-building plant at which he had constructed a total of 180 longboats.

In the 1870s MacLachlan discontinued both the tobacco manufactory and his boat building activity and opened a grocery and general store. In 1885 his store was devastated by fire, but he rebuilt it and continued in business.

MacLachlan was an articulate, intelligent man, as revealed in letters which he wrote to the newspapers. The Chatham World stated that he always behaved as though he had been born in Scotland" and that he "possessed the characteristics of the race: tireless industry, sterling honesty, staunch convictions, a determination to have things his own way, and loyalty to the Presbyterian faith." He was also a compassionate person in an age of insensitivity to the suffering of others. Learning in 1880, in his role as secretary of the almshouse commissioners, that a deaf mute boy was an inmate of the almshouse, he took him to Halifax and enrolled him in the Deaf and Dumb Institute. He was thrilled two years later to receive a letter of thanks written by the boy himself.

MacLachlan was active in the militia for a number of years and was made a captain in the 1st Battalion in 1867. He and his wife, Matilda McLaughlin, had at least six children, but only Daniel P. MacLachlan and two others were named in his will.

Sources

[m] Gleaner 13 Nov 1858 [d] World 15 Dec 1900 / Fraser (C); Gleaner 10 Dec 1849, 25 Nov 1851 (ad), 30 Mar 1861 (ad); JHA 1868 (re. militia); Manny (Ships); PANB (probate files); World 1 Jul 1882, 28 Feb 1885, 10 Oct 1885, 21 Oct 1885, 23 Dec 1891, 5 Dec 1900


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