Colin J. McRae
Quick Facts
Biography
Colin J. McRae (born Colin John McRae; October 22, 1812 – February 1877) was an American politician. He served as a member of the Provisional C.S. Congress from Alabama, 1861 to 1862.
Early life
McRae was born on October 22, 1812, in Anson County, North Carolina. His brother, John J. McRae, served as the 21st Governor of Mississippi (1854–1857).
Career
Before the American Civil War, McRae was a merchant from Mobile, Alabama. He co-owned a foundry in Selma, Alabama, which made ordnance and iron plate for gunboats. Some of these gunboats were used during the war. He served as Confederate States Financial Agent in Europe from 1862 to 1865. In 1867, McRae moved to Puerto de Caballos, British Honduras (present-day Puerto Cortés, Belize), where he purchased land, ran a plantation and mercantile business.
Later life
McRae died in February 1877. He bequeathed the plantation and mercantile business to his sister and her husband. They leased the plantation to tenants until 1894. In October 2011, a college student at the University of New Hampshire found relics of his Belize plantation house on an archeological expedition in the middle of the Belize Valley. His records were found in Monterey Place in Mobile, Alabama.