Alexander McDonald got the nickname Pioneer McDonald because he opened up the Canadian West for Baptist churches. Born south of Ottawa in 1837 to a large Scottish farming family, he wandered the Manitoba mission field on foot and on horseback to convert farmers and settlers to Christ. He founded the first Baptist church in Western Canada in Winnipeg in 1875 and founded and pastored many other congregations throughout Manitoba and the Dakotas as he journeyed throughout the West preaching the gospel to all who would listen.