(14 June 1864-23 Nov. 1945), physician. (Dr John Macdonell, Aeneas J. Macdonell; sp. Macdonnell also commonly found) Born in GC. Parents: Alexander G. Macdonell of Morrisburg, Ont., and his wife Margery Robertson (other dates of birth & place of birth Morrisburg also found). John Macdonell attended Trinity College School at Port Hope (1878-1880), and Queen’s University (B. A., 1884) and McGill University, where he got his medical degree in 1888. His whole medical career may have been in Winnipeg, where he had (Mitchell says) as “an extensive practise.” Macdonell was president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, in 1903, and was vice-president of the Canadian Medical Association, and physician-in-chief at the Winnipeg General Hospital. He taught at the Manitoba Medical College (affiliated with the University of Manitoba), being lecturer on pathology 1890, lecturer on histology and pathology 1891, professor of clinical medicine 1893, professor of surgical anatomy 1897, and professor of clinical medicine 1899-1915. The last 19 years at least of his life he spent in retirement in Victoria, B. C. His home there had the name “Glengarry.” He died in Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria. He was survived by a wife, Francis, and a son, John. The death was widely reported in the Canadian press, but detailed information about his life seems remarkably difficult to obtain.

     For the family to which Dr Macdonell belonged, see the entry for his grandfather Donald (Greenfield) Macdonell, which also contains a notice of Dr Macdonell’s father and brother.

Victoria Daily Times 24 Nov. 1945 (two items), Montreal Gazette & Standard Freeholder both 26 Nov. 1945, Winnipeg Free Press 27 Nov. 1945, Glengarry News 30 Nov. 1945, The Canadian Medical Association Journal (Feb. 1946) * information from Trinity College School, Queen's University Archives, McGill University Archives, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, Medical Library of the University of Manitoba, Canadian Medical Association * Morgan (1912) 686 * Ross Mitchell, Medicine in Manitoba: the Story of Its Beginnings (1955) 58, 66-67