Dr. John C. MacDonald, an
able and successful medical practitioner of Edmonton, has had broad
experience along professional lines, and holding to high ideals, he has
worked earnestly and effectively to promote the Physical well-being of
his fellowmen. He was born in the province of Nova Scotia, in 1868, and
is of Scotch descent in the paternal line. his grandfather. Bruce
MacDonald, was a native of Nova Scotia and his son, John Bruce
MacDonald, father of the subject of this review, was born in that
province in 1840. He married Jessie Grant, also a native of Nova Scotia,
and his demise occurred in 1908, at the age of sixty-eight years. The
mother is still living. Her grandfather, the Rev. Titus Smith, was a
loyal subject of King George Ill of England and during the Revolutionary
war period he was obliged to leave his home in the state of New York and
seek refuge in Canada.
John Clyde MacDonald
attended the grammar and high schools of his native province and
afterward entered the medical department of Dalhousie University at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, from which he was graduated in 1895. He then
served as interne at the Nova Scotia Hospital for the Insane, at
Halifax, and later at the Victoria General Hospital, being connected
with each institution for a year, after which he acted as surgeon on a
cable steamer for two years. In 1898 he returned to Nova Scotia, opening
an office at Oxford, where he remained for three years, and then removed
to Westville, where he followed his profession for ten years. In 1911 he
went to the States for further study, spending a portion of the time in
New York city, and during the winter he attended the Harvard Medical
School at Boston, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1912 he located in
Edmonton and has since specialized in diseases of women and children, of
which he has a comprehensive understanding, building up a large practice
along this line. He closely studies the cases that come under his care,
and through experience, observation and research is constantly
broadening his knowledge and promoting his skill. In June, 1916, during
the progress of the World war, Dr. MacDonald enlisted in the Medical
Corps and for two and a half years was a member of the staff of
physicians for the military hospital at Edmonton.
While residing in Nova
Scotia, Dr. MacDonald was married, at Elms- dale, on the 9th of
December, 1906, to Miss Marian Viola Macdonald, a daughter of James
Macdonald, now deceased, who for many years engaged in railroad
contracting in Canada, being connected with the Canathan Pacific system
for some time. Dr. and Mrs. MacDonald have become the parents of four
children: Winifred Viola, the eldest married the Rev. Kenneth C. McLeod,
who served as a chaplain overseas during the World war, and they have
two daughters, Audrey and Mary; the other members of Dr. MacDonald's
family are Percy St. Clair, who was born in 1901 and is now serving in
the United States navy; James Clyde, whose birth occurred in 1903; and
Carl Almon, born in 1908.
Dr. MacDonald is a
Conservative in his political views and has always fulfilled the duties
and obligations of citizenship. He has been called to public office,
being elected mayor of Westville, Nova Scotia, in 1910, and giving to
the municipality an excellent administration. He is a Baptist in
religious faith and his professional connections are with the Edmonton
Academy of Medicine and the Nova Scotia and Canadian Medical
Associations. He is also visiting member of the Glasgow (N. S.) Hospital
and fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order, in which he has
taken the chapter degree, while he is likewise a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a past grand. He has
never been satisfied with mediocrity but is continually striving to
reach a higher degree of efficiency in his work, and natural talent,
acquired ability and persevering effort have brought him to a position
of prominence in his profession. |