John Grant (1754-1817)

He was born in Scotland at Glenmoriston, near Inverness, and came to Canada in 1771 as Agent for the North West Company and general forwarder at Lachine in the days before the canal. He gave the ground on which St. Andrew's Church was built and the cornerstone was laid in 1832 by his son and sons-in-law (Thomas Blackwood and Donald Duff). In 1806, he married Margaret Beattie and maintained a pew at St. Gabriel's Church, Montreal. His obituary read: "His hospitable and charitable disposition was almost unbounded. He was greatly beloved, and his neighbors, as a last token of their respect, carried the body on a palanquin, not only from Lachine to this city (Montreal), but even to the grave, not allowing the hearse in attendance to be used".