14. | Alexander MCINNIS was born in 1807 in Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada (son of John MCGINNIS and Christy MCLEOD); died in 1876 in Russell County, Ontario. Notes:
Notes for Alexander McInnis: Alexander was one of the early settlers in the Lemieux area. He had an agricultural farm on the Boundary Lot No. 3, which remained in the family until 1975. They were both buried on the McInnis family plot in Fournier, Ontario in the Parish of St. Bernard in the old section of the cemetery.
It was also known that Aleck (Alexander) McInnis was a good fiddler. He caused quite a stir on the opening night of the Riceville Townhall in 1859. There was a Mr. Campbell of Lochiel in Glengarry County, who had been invited to the Hall and who had a reputation as a Phrenologist who claimed to be able to show people how to be happy, how to choose a profession, how to select a mate and how to raise children. He also claimed he had a system of measuring a person's character and intelligence by feeling the bumps and depressions of the skull. This has never been accepted by scientist and today the practice of phrenology is considered a form of fraud. This Mr. Campbell was a one-man show. Besides lecturing on phrenology and giving demonstrations on the heads of half a dozen of those present, he played the violin. He must have been something of a real musician because some of the stuff he played was classical music. The hall was filled with farmers, theirs sons and daughters coming from miles around through the bush. Well, there wasn't a man or a women in the hall who didn't profess to be able to tell what was good fiddle. They had heard Aleck McInnis, the local fiddler, who had a widespread reputation as a dance fiddler and after listening to the strange classical music played by Mr. Campbell, everyone decided they had enough. One "bold" farmer went over to Mr. Campbell and asked him if he would mind lending his fiddle to Mr. McInnis, who was there at the time, the crowd wanted to hear his music. By way of variety, Mr. Campbell agreed. Then, there were loud calls for Aleck McInnis to which he modestly responded. After doing some tuning up, came the lively jig music for which Aleck was famous. Everybody in the hall was tapping the floor with their feet. Then Mr. McInnis stopped playing because he wanted his own fiddle. So he left the hall and returned home to get it. It was about a mile away from the hall. While he was away, Mr. Campbell played his classical music, which was not to the crowd's pleasure. It took Aleck about 45 minutes, the road had been rough and dark. It didn't take him long to get tuned up and started his jig stuff with a swing and abandon which set the crowd applauding. It was 10:30 when he began playing and stopped wornout, it was daylight. Everybody danced all night. It was a night to remember by many oldtimers who lived along the banks of the Nation and Scotch rivers.
Alexander married Margaret MCDONALD on 4 May 1842 in St Finnans Alexandria, Ontario. Margaret (daughter of Duncan MCDONALD and Ann (Nancy) MCGILLIS) was born on 10 Aug 1819 in St Raphael, Lancaster, Ontario; died on 22 May 1880 in St Bernard, Fournier, Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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