Touring Glengarry: St. Andrews West (Stormont)

Hwy #18 heading west will eventually take you to St. Andrews West.  It is not in Glengarry but rather in Stormont.  I include it in Touring Glengarry because the people would move back and forth between St. Andrews Catholic Church and St. Raphael’s.  It is in the marriage records of the individuals in the Drouin Collection of Catholic records which is online at Ancestry and also Family History Library.

St. Andrew’s sign

When I first saw St. Andrews Catholic Church I was driving up Hwy #138 to Dunvegan and came up over this rise and there it was right before me.  WOW!  The following photograph is the closest I can get to what I saw that first time.

Move over a little to the right and you are on the highway when you see this view

St. Andrews West is north of Cornwall on Hwy #138 when it intersects with Hwy #18.  The church is on the southwest corner of this intersection.

Behind Quinn’s and St. Andrews Catholic Church

Quinn’s Inn is on the northeast corner of this intersection.  I had dinner at Quinn’s.  There is parking in back.  You then walk through the doors in the back.  Quinn’s was busy the night I was there.  It is a restaurant but different.  It was a big room where the tables were but it was more like an old pub would have been like.  The hosts were a man and woman and they were the one’s serving us.  They were having a special on prime rib.  My dinner was $20.00.  http://www.quinnsinn.ca/

A little history of Quinn’s

There was a reason I was visiting Quinn’s.  It was because of John Sandfield MacDonald the first Premier of Ontario.  My grandfather was named Ronald Sandfield McDonald.  His brother Angus, named a son Lorne Sandfield McDonald.  Now, my dad’s sister Miriam said the name was given in honor by my great-grandfather Archibald McDonell.  She writes in her notes:

Name after John Sandfield MacDonald

I cannot ignore this use of the name Sandfield.  Even though Miriam thought it was to honor the Premier maybe there is a connection.  So far I have not figured it out.  I think I have to dig more into John Sandfield’s background.  His marriage and children are easy to find online but I believe I will have to go back further into this man’s family to see if there is a connection.

There are two cemeteries.  The one on Hwy #138 is newer with an older section to the north.  There is a big field between it and the church.

The newer cemetery on Hwy #138 St. Andrews West

The Old Burying Ground is right across from Quinn’s on the northwest corner.  Just watch as you cross for this intersection is very busy and there are many trucks taking Hwy #138 both north and south.

I was losing the light and it is almost impossible to get the whole church into a photograph the spire is so tall.

The Old Burying Ground and St. Andrews Church

In this Old Burying Ground is the tombstone of John Sandfield MacDonald.  If you look close enough at the photograph above you can find it and more.

John Sandfield MacDonald’s Tombstone

Not to far from him is the tombstone of Simon Fraser, the man who went west and found the Fraser River, which I just recently saw on my trip to British Columbia.  I am somewhat fascinated with explorers and Simon Fraser has been one of them.

Simon Fraser’s tombstone

St. Andrews West water tower.

Almost in competition with the St. Andrews Church

I took many photographs of the two cemeteries and will upload them when I finish posting about this trip.  I am almost done.

UPDATE 7/9/2012:  Here are two links to additional photographs of the Old Burial Ground and the newer cemetery in St. Andrew’s West, Ontario.  I started in the southern part from the western side to the eastern (highway) of the larger cemetery south of the church and proceeded north to the older part of the cemetery by the field and then the church.  The Old Burial Ground is not photographed in any particular order and is not complete.

UPDATE: August 9, 2023 – Picasa and Album Archive are not longer showing my extra photos. I may come back and fix that sometime in the future.

St. Andrew’s West Cemetery & Church

Old Burial Ground, St. Andrews West