(21 Feb. 1875-19 April 1933), farmer, political figure. (John McColl, John A. McColl) Born near Maxville, GC, presumably on his parents’ farm, which was on Lots 13 & 14, of the 18th Concession of Indian Lands. Parents: Neil McColl (1841-1908) and his wife Annie McDougall (1847-1929). Two of John Arthur McColl’s brothers served in South Africa in the South African War, and another arrived in South Africa after the war had ended; and four of his brothers served in the First World War, in which three of them, Douglas Chalmers (1879-1915), a lieutenant, Edmund Neil (1881-1916), a sergeant, and Lyman Clark (1890-1916), a lieutenant, were killed. John McColl was educated at Maxville Public School. By one account, John McColl bought the family farm from his parents before 1900. Later, he was a farmer at Collholme, Alberta. In 1905 John A. McColl, of Maxville, was reported to have left for the West, where he was purchasing land. (Glengarry News 16 June 1905) He was elected to the Alberta legislature for the Acadia constituency in 1913, as a Liberal. The Glengarry News at this time welcomed a Calgary press report on the meeting of two members of the Alberta legislature who had been neighbours in GC, McColl and James McNaughton. (GN 26 Sept. 1913 ) John A. McColl was re-elected in 1917 this time as an Independent with support from the United Farmers of Alberta, or, as other sources have it, again as a Liberal. In 1920, still an MLA, he visited the graves of his brothers Edmund and Lyman, killed in the war. (Cornwall Freeholder 16 Dec. 1920) His brother Mack McColl was an Alderman in Edmonton. John McColl was married on 6 Feb. 1901 to Ethel Alguire (born 1881) of Maxville. He died in Calgary, the city in which he had been residing. (six children) In 1914 and 1918, he was described as a Congregationalist. He was the uncle of the Rev. Edmund Neil McColl. For more on Glengarrians in prairie politics, see H. E. Munroe.

Edmonton Journal, 19 April 1933 * parents’ gravestone, Maxville Cemetery (includes full dates for parents, sons killed in war) * Campbell (1990), 595, 608-610 * Maxville (1991) 616-618 * Canadian Parliamentary Guide 1914 p. 537, 1918 p. 457 * tape (with printed outline) of interview, 1961, with James A. Cameron (like McColl, an MLA for Acadia), Glenbow Museum, Calgary * Douglas McColl, of Maxville, leaves for Edmonton, to farm, Glengarry News 15 Sept. 1905 * Lt. Douglas McColl killed at Ypres, GN 7 May 1915, Cornwall Freeholder 6 May 1915 * Mrs Annie McColl, of Ottawa, formerly of Maxville, has lost three sons in the war, CF 28 Sept. 1916 (illustr.) repr. from Ottawa Journal