He was commonly called Donnell MacColl in Scotland, both Donnell and Daniel MacCaul in New Jersey, and Donald McCall in Upper Canada. His native tongue was a dialect of Gallic; English was a second language to him. He signed all surviving documents with an "x" (his mark), suggesting he was illiterate. Neither Donald, nor any of his children, named a son Donald. Donald and his five eldest children all named a son Daniel. (I think of him as Donnell, but use Donald herein to avoid confusion.)

Much of the lore and legend of Donald McCall and his wife Elsie Simpson comes to us third hand, the stories of their grandson Simpson McCall as re-told by E. A. Owen in his 1898 book Pioneer Sketches of the Long Point Settlement. Several of Owen's McCall sketches are obvious flights of fancy. Others are suspect as well. For example the "friendship" of Donald McCall and Robert Monro, which ignores their 19-year age difference.

Several other sincere and well-meaning family historians of the 1930s and 1940s, most notably Clayton McCall and Delbert T. McCall, obviously did not have access to the historical records available to current researchers. 

During the early 1940s, distant descendant Delbert T. McCall placed a plaque on a large stone in the McCall-Fairchild Burying Grounds that reads "Lieut. Donald M. McCall." 
The only surviving record of his military rank lists him Private. It is unlikely an illiterate soldier would have received promotions. That plaque also got both his and Elsie's dates of death wrong, and is the only source of this middle initial, which likely resulted from a misreading of  handwritten historical records.

Family lore says Donald fought on the Plains of Abraham, helping save Upper Canada for the British by battling the French. Surviving British military records however list him paid for service in Cuba and other places during the Plains of Abraham campaign.

Grandson Simpson Grant McCall told E. A. Owen that Donald married a sister of his commanding officer, who subsequently became the grandfather of future United States president U.S. Grant, making President Grant Simpson's third cousin. Several McCall genealogists have tried to prove this relationship and failed. U.S. Grant himself said his Simpson ancestors were not interested in genealogy so he didn't know that side of his ancestry. U.S. Grant did however mention his Simpson grandfather's name was John. Elsie's only known brother was David. (The odds of an illiterate Private marrying his commanding officer's kid sister we'll leave to the reader.)

Prior to 1960 it was said Donald and family fled New York for New Brunswick in the Loyalist exodus of New York at the end of rhe Revolution in 1783. But the only surviving historical record placing Donald in New Brunswick (Captain FitzGibbons' testimony) refers to New Brunswick, New Jersey, a hamlet not far from Basking Ridge, where Donald was seen planning strategy with British officers during the Revolution. Donald and his eldest sons lived and paid taxes in New Jersey until May 1796 when they and a business partner led a small band of friends and neighbors to Long Point.

Donald's son Duncan was a merchant who did not accompany his pregnant wife, parents and siblings to Upper Canada. He stayed behind to bring supplies the following spring. After his first wife's death, Duncan returned to New Jersey for several years, remarrying there before bringing his second wife, her daughter, and their first born to Norfolk.

McCall lore says Donald's friend Robert Munro was killed during the Revolutionary War. But Robert's son's land petition says he expects his father to come to Upper Canada next spring, and Robert's cemetery stone and will say he died in 1803.

So the next time you read a descendant's obituary that retells Simpson's tales yet again, you can accept the stories at face value or recall this article. Better yet, why not dig out the truth for yourself?
______
The McCall/McCoy Family Bible lists Donald as "Daniel McCall Sen."