Well, my trip was completed on June 9, 2012 and it has taken me three weeks to post all that I wanted to post about this trip to Ontario and Quebec. I can’t believe I did 2117 miles.
It was a good trip, hard, complicated and very satisfying. As always I can think of things I should have done and didn’t, photographs I wish I had taken and more. I have learned a lot and saw many amazing places.
I would like to thank all my followers for their support, it is greatly appreciated. A big thank you to all the wonderful people I met along the way and their help and support.
As usual I put my binder together of this trip with my collection of maps and pamphlets and sources.
My next goal is to get the links to archives and more up on my side panel.
Uploading more of the cemetery photos I took might take a little while because I need to identify get them ready.
UPDATE 7/19/2012: I have uploaded the additional cemetery photos to the appropriate cemetery posting. Go to the side bar of this blog and look at Categories and seek out the CEMETERIES and pick one you would like to look at. The link is either in the middle or at the bottom to my Picasa Web Albums.
Of course, I need to review my research and the sources I studied. I will let you know if there is anything really great that I found.
I need to post on my other blogs. So this blog is back on schedule where I post about every two weeks.
St. Lawrence River – 1000 Island Drive
Here are some AH Moments during the trip:
1. Walking into the Pontiac Archive in Shawville.
2. Seeing Allumette Island from Pembroke’s marina for the first time.
3. Looking out across land in Chichester Township at Auberge Norfolk in Nicabeau.
4. Standing before the St. Alphonsus church in Chapeau and looking back from the bridge to Chichester and seeing the spire in the distance.
5. The Ottawa River and its many moods especially the Culbute Channel and from Calumet Island.
6. St. Andrews Church in St. Andrews West for the first time.
7. St. Raphael’s Ruins.
8. Kirkhill and the two spires of the two churches in the distance.
8. The Rideau Canal in the early morning in Smith Falls.
10. The 1000 Island Drive along the St. Lawrence
11. The St. Lawrence in the morning next to the Monte Carlo Motel in Cornwall.
I could go on but I think that is a nice list.
BJ MacDonald
The Man Who Lived Airplanes 
Hello Bonnie. I ran across your blog here a few days ago when I was searching for a photo of a church in Pontiac, Quebec… and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying reading back through all of your entries ever since. Thank you so much for your thorough approach and detailed descriptions of things. While I will not have to travel the same distance as you did on your adventure to the Pontiac region et.al., (I’m just an hour outside of Toronto in Ontario), I have been trying to plan it out in great detail to maximize my time while I am there. Since it’s been 20 or 30 years since I was in the area, your blog has been an invaluable resource in my planning, and thrilling to read as a bonus ! So thank you. I’m not sure we have any overlapping relatives persay, but one never knows. I’ve traced 3 families in my tree back to the same area, with some intermingling. It is, most definitely, a small world. Thanks! ~ Shannon
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Hello Shannon: How kind of you. When I was preparing for the trip I noticed that there was not that much information out there about the area and I was determined to change that and give others the opportunity to see what the area looked like. I wish I had more time, for I would have done a lot more. I am glad to here that you are also preparing an itinerary (trip plan). I do my my day usually Day 1, Tuesday Month, day, year: Description with addresses and goals. Then I prepare maps that help me get around. I use Streets and Trips because it has a daily agenda. It is not as detailed as I would like so use Google Earth too or a Satelitte version and be prepared to not get a good reading with GPS. Some areas are remote. Please keep in touch and let me know how your trip goes. Bonnie
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At the Arnprior Archives I found out Samuel McDonald ( also written as McDonnell in the 1854 cencus of McNab twp. He came to Arnprior with Margaret Scott MacMcDonald the widow of Alexander MacDonald. Samuel was a blacksmith in Glenleg Kilmoniveg Parish.
Margaret Scott and Samuel had children Duncan, James and John?
After passing away Duncan left the house to John and Mary McDonald. Then it went to Duncan and James. James died in the Chicago area. Duncan who married Julia Keyes is buried at Port du Fort.
Margaret Scott’s daughter Ann married Ranald McDonald of St. Polycarpe. His parents were Ranald and Mary McDonald. I beleive they may have come from Antigonish. Margaret Scott’s son John married Isabella Mcgillivray. Her son Alexander married Mary Hickey from Fitzroy Harbour.( Alexander is my gggrandfather.
Note: Samuels father was a Donald McDonald, McDonnell? who came to Alexandria to marry Sarah. I think he may have come from Antigonish as well. (I would like to find out if Donald and Ranald were related) They had Samuel , Duncan and John. Duncan married Christina Stewart and they lived in the Sudbury area working in the mines. Duncan and Christina had a son Archibald who married an Annie Mooney. Descendents of Archibald and Annie ended up out West.( Richard McDonald family tree records Archibald and Annie Mooney family) ( Also James Leone and Richard Morton from California)
There is a letter to Robert and Ruth online and a preliminary tree of the McDonalds of Arnprior. There are many marriges of McDonalds and McGillivrays and McDonnell/McDonells. Margaret Scott and Samuel have been recently added to James and Deborah McDonald family tree (Ranald the Calf) on the glengarry Genweb site.
Have a nice day! I hope we can connect our work for I believe our trees would connect.
Carol Gottberg
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Carol: I removed your email from the content. I see it behind the scenes. Thanks so much for the information. My stomach gets that old knotted feeling when I study the McDonell surname and all its spellings. I am very fascintated with the Arnprior McDonells/McDonnells and think that Alexander was a force of nature, HA! I have read that there were six brothers and a couple sisters and then other books say there are eleven brothers. All very confusing. It is July 4th here in the States so I am relaxing a little today but I will contact you soon and we can chat. I did not find out as much as I had hoped in the Glengarry area, just that is it very hard to find connections for McD’s. Even if we are not connected still we are all trying to figure it out, the origins of our families. I would love to chat, so I will contact you sometime in the next few days. Bonnie
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