John McDonell (American politician)

John McDonell (1780 – October 1, 1846), also spelled McDonnell, was a Scottish–American judge and politician active in the U.S. state of Michigan. During the War of 1812, he helped pay the ransom of a number of prisoners held by Native Americans following the River Raisin Massacre. He served in the Michigan Senate in the early years of its existence.

John McDonell
Member of the Michigan Senate
from the 1st district
In office
November 2, 1835 – March 23, 1838
Personal details
Born1780
DiedOctober 1, 1846(1846-10-01) (aged 65–66)

Biography

John McDonell[1] was born in Scotland in 1780.[2] His father was a supporter of the Stuart claim to the British throne, which made him unpopular with the government and prompted him to move his family to the United States in 1785. The family landed at Philadelphia, then moved to Albany, New York, where his father became a citizen and McDonell received his education. After a fire destroyed his father's business, McDonell was sent in 1798 to work as a clerk in his uncle's mercantile house in York, Canada. He started his own business in 1807, and moved to Detroit in 1809, though he retained property in Canada. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1810.[3]

War of 1812

During the War of 1812, McDonell raised a cavalry company on Canadian soil to fight on behalf of the Americans.[4] Following the River Raisin Massacre, he paid the ransom of many prisoners that were brought to Detroit by their Native American captors.[5] Among those whose freedom he purchased was a future congressman, Gustavus Bower.[6]

In 1815, after the war, McDonell traveled to Sandwich, Ontario, (now Windsor) on business, and was arrested and imprisoned on charges of high treason against the British Government, for his actions on behalf of America during the war. He managed to escape, but a grand jury indicted him on the charges, and after he failed to appear for trial, he was declared an outlaw. Although the intercession of the American ambassador to Great Britain eventually led to the outlawry judgment being dropped in 1826, he had lost all of his property and outstanding business debts owed to him in Canada. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for compensation for these losses in 1834.[7]

Political career

McDonell was appointed an associate judge in the county court in Wayne County on January 17, 1817, and served as chief justice of the court from January 13, 1830, until the court was abolished on April 15, 1833, when its business was transferred to the circuit courts.[8] He was also appointed by the territorial governor to serve as an auctioneer in Detroit from 1817 to 1818.[9]

McDonell was one of Wayne County's representatives on the Michigan Territorial Council from 1828 through 1835,[10] and served as its president of the council in 1834.[11] He was a delegate to the convention charged with drafting a state constitution in advance of Michigan's application for statehood,[12] and also to the first Convention of Assent called to determine whether Michigan would accept the terms proposed by Congress for Michigan's statehood—taking the western part of the Upper Peninsula in exchange for a strip of land that had been the subject of the Toledo War with Ohio.[13] After the convention rejected the proposal, people requested that Governor Stevens T. Mason call a second convention to reconsider; he refused, but declared that the people themselves could call for such a convention. McDonell was one of several Wayne County residents who signed a statement calling for such a convention, which eventually approved the proposal and removed the last obstacle to Michigan's statehood.[14]

Following the adoption of the state constitution and the creation of the Michigan Legislature, McDonell represented Wayne County as the senator from the 1st District in the Michigan Senate from 1835 until his resignation on March 23, 1838.[15][16] He also served as an alderman of the city of Detroit in 1837.[17] From 1839 to 1841 he was the customs collector in Detroit.[18] He served as a regent of the University of Michigan from 1835 to 1837.[19]

McDonell died on October 1, 1846.[16]

Notes
  1. McDonell himself spelled his name with one "n" (United States Congress 1882, p. 4); other sources, e.g., Farmer 1890, spell it with two.
  2. McDonell cites 1780 as his birth year in (United States Congress 1882, p. 1); other sources, e.g., Legislator Details 2018, list it as 1779.
  3. United States Congress 1882, pp. 1–2.
  4. United States Congress 1882, p. 8.
  5. United States Congress 1882, p. 3–4.
  6. United States Congress 1882, p. 7.
  7. United States Congress 1882, pp. 1–4.
  8. Farmer 1890, p. 192.
  9. Farmer 1890, p. 770.
  10. Farmer 1890, p. 98.
  11. Journal of the Council 1834, pp. 12–14.
  12. Farmer 1890, p. 88.
  13. Farmer 1890, p. 89–90.
  14. Faber 2012, p. 71.
  15. Farmer 1890, p. 100.
  16. Legislator Details 2018.
  17. Farmer 1890, p. 142.
  18. Farmer 1890, p. 785.
  19. Bentley Historical Library 2006.

References
  • Bentley Historical Library (2006), Regents of the University of Michigan, archived from the original on 2008-02-10
  • Faber, Don (2012-09-14), The Boy Governor: Stevens T. Mason and the Birth of Michigan Politics, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0-472-05158-8, retrieved 2018-11-11
  • Farmer, Silas (1890), History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, vol. 1, Detroit: S. Farmer & Company, ISBN 9780722200971, retrieved 2018-11-11
  • Journal of the Proceedings of the Sixth Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, Detroit: S. McKnight, 1834, retrieved 2019-01-01 – via HathiTrust
  • "Legislator Details: John McDonell", Michigan Legislative Biography, Library of Michigan, 2018, retrieved 2018-11-11
  • United States Congress (1882), "Doc. No. 16: John McDonell—Memorial Of", House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session, Government Printing Office, retrieved 2018-11-11
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