Page 97 Individual Stories

Alexander MacWillie was born at Perth, Scotland on the 3rd of August, 1868. Shortly after his birth his family moved to first, Balsover, Ontario, Canada then to Milbank, Ontario where his father was a partner in McLaughan & McWillie foundry. His father died at a young age of forty five in 1878. After the fathers death the family established a local grocery store in Toronto. Alexanders mother died in 1910 at the age of 68. Alexander and his brother John joined a Mission that was working in China, however Alexander was rejected because the grocy business was in his name and the Mission felt it more appropriate that Alexander stay at home, run the groceystore and look after his mother. At some time just after the twentieth century, Alexander joined the 400 sales force of the Pittsburgh "Henry John Heinz Company" . Within a year he had proven himself to be such a innovative and successful salesman within the continental United States that Mr. Henry John Heinz had chosen him to spearhead the marketing of all H.J. Heinz products throughout the globe. Within the first two years Alexander had traveled to Puerto Rico, the West Indies, Hawai, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, the Samoan Islands, Hong Kong, China, Japan and South Africa. It was while he was establishing the Heinz Corportion in Hong Kong that he also was able to travel to Shanhi, China to attend the wedding of his brother, Dr. John MacWillie and Lotta Luella McMorran who were working in the medical field in China.

So successful were his sales techniques that by the time he got to Australia he had to hire additional staff. Among that staff he engaged was a 21 year old American girl named Margaret McQueen MacLeod and who had come to Australia from Boston with her mother, her sister, and niece to collect money from an estate left to her mother. Apparently the funds in the estate had dwindled away and the MacLeod's did not have enough money to return to the United States. Miss MacLeod proved to be very skillful in demonstration work and remained in Alexander's employment for the rest of his trip.

Alexander and Margaret were married in 1907 and they had five children, all girls (Joan (Walker), Margaret (Underwood), Eileen (Dawnstaeder), Juliette (Taft}, and Norma (Bowman). A large number of their descendants still live in Eastern Canada and the northwest United States. Alexander MacWillie died in 1926 at Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada.

In 1999, the Heinz Corporation celebrated its 150th year at the Senator John Henry Pittsburg Regional History Center by displaying six specfic categories of events and activities that contributed to the Heinz Corporation's great success over those many years. One of those displays depicted the effort and success of Alexander MacWillie in the development of a global marketplace for Heinz products. Alexander died in 1926 at Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada. His wife Margaret died in ?.

(Research supplied by

Donald MacWillie Jr.)