(12 Dec. 1900- 15 Aug. 1952 ), physician. (George W. Cragg, G.W. Cragg) Born at Greenbank, Ont. Parents: Mr & Mrs Richard I. Cragg. He attended Toronto Normal School and was a teacher before becoming a physician. He received a medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1930, and took a post-graduate course in internal medicine in London, Eng. In 1936, he joined the tuberculosis division of the Ontario Health Department. Dr Cragg was the superintendent of the St. Lawrence Tuberculosis Sanatorium (the “San”) from 1938 till his death. Appointed first as the acting superintendent at the San replacing Dr A. D. Lapp (Standard Freeholder 17 Jan. 1938), he was soon appointed superintendent in his own right succeeding Dr Lapp (Glengarry News 4 March 1938).
The St. Lawrence Sanatorium or “San” for the treatment of tuberculosis patients was in its day one of the best known public institutions in SDG. Its superintendent was therefore a man of some prominence. The San was founded in response to widespread public concern in Ontario over TB. A location was chosen next to the St. Lawrence River at Glen Walter in GC. The San was formally opened on 15 Sept. 1937. Its function as a TB hospital has long since ended, and in recent years it has been an Islamic Institute.
Dr Cragg was an active promoter of chest X-ray clinics throughout SDG. In the fall of 1938, he published a series of articles on TB in the Glengarry News (the 10th and last article was in Glengarry News 25 Nov. 1938). Late in his life the Cornwall newspaper published a long summary, containing much historical material, of his report to the SDG Council and the Cornwall City Council on the 11-year success record of the San. (SFH 14 April 1948, with editorial 15 April 1948) Dr Cragg was a member of the United Church. He died at the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Cornwall, having been a hospital patient for three months. He was married to Madeleine Chapman.
The Montreal Star 16 Aug. 1952, Standard Freeholder 16 & 18 Aug. 1952 (with editorial of tribute), The Canadian Medical Association Journal, 67:5 (Nov. 1952) 483 * Harkness 514, 568 (portrait) * there are TB statistics 1931-1942 for GC in the printed volume of Minutes of Proceedings of the SDG Council for 1943