Roderick R. "Big Rory" MacLennan

January 1st, 1842 exceeded by a country mile all other New Year’s days in the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Roderick MacLennan at their pioneer Glen Donald farm home in Charlottenburgh Township, about six miles west of Williamstown. That was the day Mrs. MacLennan gave birth to a son who was christened Roderick, obviously after his father.

Descended from Farquhar MacLennan of Kintail, Scotland, and Angus Bahn MacDonald of Stoel, Rory inherited the physical stature of his ancestors, measuring 6’6” and weighing 250lbs in adulthood. This gigantic stature motivated his famous lifelong tag – “Big Rory”.

To counterbalance his imposing physical statue, Big Rory acquired no advanced education but that of the self-made man. His lack of a degree did not prevent him from scaling the heights as a successful contractor, banker, army officer, newspaper publisher, community leader, and of course, athlete.

During his early years, Big Rory found time to apply his uncanny strength and physique in developing the art of throwing weights, particularly the hammer. A Scottish tradition practiced by the farm boys in the evenings for entertainment, the highland heavyweights were popular in the area picnics where the young giant’s prowess became known and demanded. Soon knowledge of his abilities trickled to Cornwall, where track and field sponsors invited him to participate in the 1860 Victoria Day competitions. There he promptly set a new record with a throw of 216’ with the 10lb hammer, launching his athletic career.

Over the next five years, Big Rory continued to smash records, and his name became known across the country. In 1865, sponsors from Toronto invited Rory to a world championship, pitting him against Scottish world champion Thomas Jermay. With a throw, Big Rory was now champion of the world.

Big Rory defended his title multiple times throughout the years, including twice in 1870 at the Caledonia Games in Toronto.

Sadly, Big Rory’s throwing career ended with tragedy. In 1877, after a five-year absence from the pitch, the giant was drawn out of retirement for a Cornwall field day. Despite insisting he only throw with the condition the crowd be sufficiently cordoned off from any danger, as he made his throw the young Ellen Kavanagh detached herself from the crowd and ran into the hammer’s trajectory. Deeply overcome by the girl’s death, Big Rory never lifted the hammer again.

This was not, however, the end of Big Rory’s story. The giant found work primarily with the rampant railway construction of the era, and scaled the chain of direction until he himself became a railway contractor. Successful contracts with the Canadian Pacific in Ontario and the Maritimes made Big Rory a wealthy man. In 1885 he took up residency in Alexandria and there founded a private bank that would later be sold to the Union Bank. He also purchased the Glengarry Review and the Cornwall Standard (precursor to the Standard-Freeholder). He became a Lieutenant-Colonel with the 59th Regiment, and from 1891 to 1900 served as Glengarry’s Conservative Member of Parliament in Ottawa.

After moving to Cornwall in 1900, Roderick R. “Big Rory” MacLennan passed away on March 8th, 1907. He was interred in Williamstown cemetery.