Alexander McLennan was born February 16, 1845 in Glenshiel Parish in the district of Kintail, Ross-shire, Scotland, to Ewen MacLennan, a merchant out of Jamaica and his wife Helen MacRae. He was educated in the parish school and a grammar school in Inverness but his father had died in 1850 and prospects in Scotland were poor.

Alexander emigrated about 1861. He came to Canada to two uncles who had established livelihoods in Ontario for a number of years. He worked with his Uncle Robert as a teacher and as a store and postal clerk with his Uncle Alex. He spent at least one year furthering his education, which probably included mathematics and surveying studies.

Sometime in the later 60s, Alexander left Ontario in search of riches in the gold fields of British Columbia. He did not become rich but got a job tutoring the daughters of the assayer in Barkerville. He must have done some traveling in the northern parts of B.C. because he often described the Peace River country and thought many times of moving there.

His surveying and writing abilities enabled him to work for a cousin, Roderick McLennan, on the CPR survey and line clearing through the rough terrain B.C. His official journals still exist, in the care of a family member.

Victoria was the next stop on his travels, where he worked in a men’s clothing store, Cameron and McCandless. He met Elizabeth Dunn through a mutual friend and they were married in Victoria, September 11, 1879. They lived on Simcoe Street in James Bay and had two sons born in Victoria, Ewen Robert,1880 and Alexander Edward,1882.

Henry Ruckle came into the store frequently and the two men became friends. Henry Ruckle informed him of property that had come up for pre-emption because the owner had died so Alexander came to the Ruckle home on Salt Spring, taking the stagecoach to Sidney and rowing across to Beaver Point. He decided to purchase the 420 acre property, where McLennan Drive is today. There were two log cabins in which the family lived while building additions and making adjustments and renovations as the family grew, until their home was a ten-roomed house. He named the property Glenshiel Farm after his birthplace in Scotland.

Ellen Jane was born in 1883, weighing just three pounds and spending her first months in a basket on the oven door. Next came Douglass Stewart in 1886 who, according to family legend, weighed sixteen pounds. Needless to say, Elizabeth was nervous about the remote conditions on Salt Spring so when the time for her next delivery drew near, she went to stay with Alexander’s cousin, Jessie MacRae Brethour, in Sidney. Jessie Brethour McLennan was born in 1891and had the distinction of being the first child of European descent to be born in Sidney. In 1894, Anne Elizabeth came along and Margaret Christina (Maggie) was born in 1896. Six years later, Robert Murray was born in 1902, a year after his oldest brother, Ewen, died of blood poisoning.

Alexander McLennan was a well-educated, community minded man. He was one of the original trustees of Beaver Point School and often provided room and board for the teacher. He was the Justice of the Peace for a short time, but was not happy with a job that he felt was interfering in the affairs of his neighbours. For many years he was the postmaster for Beaver Point, often walking to Burgoyne Bay Wharf to pick up the incoming mail.

On April 5 1932, Alexander McLennan died at home of prostate cancer. He was buried in the Burgoyne United Churchyard in the Burgoyne Valley beside his firstborn son, Ewen.