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DUNCAN McLACHLAN. The Canada Business College
of Chatham, of which Mr. McLachlan is the president, is one of the many
leading factors contributing to the best interests of that city. An
institution, the prime object of which is to prepare young men and women
for successful business positions, brings a large revenue into the city,
and is an enterprise whose good work will live after its noble founder has
passed away. This educational institution was founded in 1876, by Duncan
McLachlan, and was opened for business November 30, of that year, with the
enrollment of one pupil, Alexander McLachlan, a brother of the president.
This first pupil is now the president of the International College at
Smyrna, Turkey. From that humble beginning, over a quarter of a century
ago, the number of pupils has increased to over 300, according to the
statement for the year ending 1900. The faculty has grown from one
member, in 1876, to eleven, six of whom are regular teachers, three
assistants and two lecturers. This is the only business college in Canada
which has continued for 27 years under the same management, and it is a
matter of note that pupils of Mr. McLachlan are at the head of great
colleges all over Canada and the United States. Among those in Canada may
be mentioned: James Westervelt, principal of the Forest City Business
College, at London, Ontario; R.E. Gallagher, at the head of the Canada
Business College, at Hamilton, Ontario; W.H. Shaw of the Central Business
College of Toronto; W.J. Elliott, of the Central Business College at
Stratford; and H.T. Gough, of St Thomas Business College. For the year
ending in June prior to the receiving of this information, the institution
had enrolled pupils from 138 cities, towns and hamlets; from six States in
the United States; from Newfoundland; from thirty countries and districts
of Ontario; and its graduates are to be found all over the world.
The life history of the man through whose
efforts this college has reached its present high degree of usefulness is
both interesting and instructive. Mr. McLachlan is a native of the County
of Wellington, Ontario, of Scottish ancestry, a son of Malcolm and
Christine (McDonald) McLachlan, and a grandson of Daniel and Mary (McDOnald)
McLachlan. Daniel McLachlan was born in Scotland, about 1783, and married
Mary McDonald, also a native of Scotland. They were among the very early
settlers in the County of Peel, Ontario where they engaged in farming, and
reared the following children: Charles, Malcolm, John, Daniel, Lachlan
and Alexander, all deceased; Clemina, the wife of Alexander McLachlan, the
Canadian poet; Mary, deceased, the wife of Daniel McMillan, and Nancy, the
widow of Neil Brown.
Of this family, Malcolm McLachlan, the father
of Duncan, was born in Johnstone in 1814, and was five years of age when
his parents brought him to Ontario. His first marriage was to Jane
Kirkwood, and the following children were born to this union; Daniel, of
Victoria, B.C.; William, of Seattle, Washington; Robert, of Orcas Island;
Margaret, deceased; and Mary, deceased. The second marriage of Mr.
McLachlan was to Christine McDonald, daughter of Duncan and Catharine
McDonald, and the children born to this union were: Duncan; John, who is
a deputy sheriff at Ottawa; Alexander, who is principal of the
International College at Smyrna, Turkey; Charles, a physician in New
Rockford, North Dakota, vice-president of the Bank of New Rockford, and
ex-member of the State Legislature; Malcolm, who is president of the
McLachlan Business University at Grand Rapids, Michigan; and James, who is
manager of an elevator at New Rockford, North Dakota.
President McLachlan was born September 19th,
1852, in the township of Erin, County of Wellington, Ontario, where he was
reared and where he attended the public schools and later took a course in
the Rockwood Academy. His educational work began early, for he was still
a young man when made principal of the public school at Glen Williams,
where he remained one year. At the conclusion of this service President
McLachlan entered upon his career as a student in the British American
Business College at Toronto, where he graduated in 1872, thoroughly
qualified in every detail of this line of educational work. In September,
1872, he accepted the position of instructor in penmanship in the Canada
Business College, Hamilton, and in 1873 became a partner in the
institutuion, this partnership continuing until 1879. In the meantime, in
1876, he had founded the Canada Business College, at Chatham, which he has
personally conducted ever since.
In 1891 Mr. McLachlan was united in marriage
with Emma Hall, the one daughter of this union being Jean Christine. Mrs.
McLachlan died in 1894 and in 1897 he married Miss Jennie Elder, by whom
he had two children, Louise A. and Kenneth Duncan. Religiously he is a
Presbyterian. Politically he is a Reformer, and socially a member of
Barton Lodge, No. 6, A.F. & A.M., of Hamilton, Ontario. |
