The Story of St. Andrews West from Index cards of the late Edwin McDonald

By Duncan (darby) MacDonald U.E.

This is a compilation of genealogical and historical information gathered by the late Edwin McDonald who set a goal of documenting the thirty eight original families who settled in Saint Andrews West in Cornwall Township, Stormont County. The descendants of those original settlers spread far and wide across Canada, the USA and around the world. Edwin McDonald recorded the history of the families and community by writing out his findings on index cards. As his memory began to fade with age, he decided to share his records with the author who compiled them into this volume. 

The book provides much hard to find information, based on oral and documented history, which will assist the family historian in their quest to research the early settles of St. Andrews, West and their descendants. The author acknowledged that there are errors, items missed and other items incomplete.

Contents include:

• View of St. Andrews West
• Subscription List
• From the Author
• Hints to Help You
• 1806 Document
• 1805 Document
• Other Publications
• Transcriptions of Index Cards
• Index Browse the Names Index 
• Index of Card Numbers and list of Nicknames at back of Index
• Sisters of the Holy Order 

Details

148 pages
8.5 X 11"
Originally published by MacDonald Research Centre, Brockville, 1987
This new  edition published by MacDonald Research*, Milton, 2011
*MacDonald Research is an imprint of GlobalGenealogy.com Inc. ISBN 0-921133-03-0 

Links to more books of vital records for St Andrews West Roman Catholic Parish:

• Part 1 - 1804-1836 St. Andrews W. Births, Burials, Marriages
• Part 2 - 1836-1856 St. Andrews W.  Births, Confirmations, Burials, Marriages
• Part 3 - 1857-1867 St. Andrews W.  Births, Burials, Marriages
• Part 4 - 1868-1878 St. Andrews W.  Baptisms, Burials, Marriages
• Part 5 - 1879-1891 St. Andrews W. Baptisms, Burials, Marriages
• Part 6 - 1891-1901 St. Andrews W.  Baptisms, Burials, Marriages, Professions of Faith
• Part 7 - 1902-1942 St. Andrews W. Baptisms, Burials, Marriages
• St. Andrews West RC Burials 1804-1901
• St Andrews West RC old/new Cemeteries
• Story of St Andrews West RC (38 settler families)

Background to the St Andrews West Series: 

This series of books contains transcriptions of vital records for St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Church in Cornwall Township, Ontario. Included are transcribed extractions of baptisms/births, marriages, burials/deaths, confirmations (Part 2), professions of Faith (Part 6) plus historical information about the parish, its founders, pew lists and more. As well as extra volumes of vital records

St. Andrews West, the oldest parish in the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry in Ontario, is located in Cornwall Township, in Stormont. The church and its congregation have strong ties to the early history of the province. In fact, the Parish Hall was used as a hospital in the War of 1812. The St. Andrews Church building, as it stands today, was built in 1860. It in the Gothic style, featuring a lofty bell tower and spire. The recreated ‘Log Church’ is a replica of one of the first Catholic churches in Upper Canada. The first settlers to the parish arrived in the 1780s from New York state. Rev. Roderick MacDonell of Leek arrived from Scotland in 1785. The majority of early settlers to the parish were United Empire Loyalists and others seeking asylum in British North America (Canada) after the American Revolution. One of the largest groups to settle were members of the K.R.R.N.Y. (Kings Royal Regiment of New York).

The parish register transcriptions are broken into seven parts/volumes, distinguished by date range, plus a single volume of Burials

Note about print quality: Duncan (darby) MacDonald U.E. created the paper masters for these books in the 1980s using a photocopier. When Global Genealogy acquired the rights and republished the works in 2010, they digitally cleaned the surviving masters to the best that they can be. The result is quite readable, though some photographs and photocopies of documents are not at the standard that we expect today. Also of note is that MacDonald made pencil correction on his masters from time to time.  Those are included as provided to us.