McCall, Duncan

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Elwood H. Jones, “McCALL, DUNCAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mccall_duncan_6E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Merchant, politician, jp, and militia officer; b. 18 Nov. 1769 in Basking Ridge, N.J., son of Donald (Donell) McCall (McColl) and Elsie Simpson; m. first Jemima Fairchild (d. 1798), and they had a son and a daughter; m. secondly Mary Lockwood, a widow, and they had a son; d. 25 Nov. 1832 in York (Toronto), Upper Canada.
    • On 26 June 1795 the colony’s Executive Council approved the petition of McCall, his son John, and Patrick Haggarty for a tract of land on the north shore of Lake Erie “for the establishment of at least one hundred settlers” from New Jersey. McCall and his three sons, including Duncan, each received a grant of 600 acres. Every settler they brought with them was promised 200 acres. The family, with the exception of Duncan, arrived in 1796 and took up land in Charlotteville Township. He came the following year with a shipment of goods and merchandise from New York. For many years afterwards, Duncan McCall operated a store in the township; by 1816 he was farming as well, having 60 acres under cultivation.
    • The McCalls were a prominent local family in the Long Point region and became involved in the extreme factionalism that characterized the politics of the area prior to the War of 1812.
    • Duncan McCall made his mark at a later date as a politician. He was elected one of the two members for the riding of Norfolk in 1824, 1828, and 1830. The focus of his legislative activity was local. His major accomplishments included the rebuilding of the Vittoria jail and court-house after a fire in 1825 and the erection of a lighthouse on Long Point. His career witnessed the beginning of entrenched opposition in the assembly and an increase of political strife.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5148
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205676735/duncan-mccall