Physician, educator.
Born at Richmond Hill, Ontario on 7 April 1869, son of Jesse Grant (c1831-?) and Priscilla Grant (c1834-?), he attended the University of Toronto before moving West in 1892. He taught at Melita School (1894-1895), Headingley School (?-?), and MacGregor School (c1896), and was Principal of Stony Mountain School (1898-1899) and Oakwood School (1899-1900). He enrolled in the Manitoba Medical College around 1901, graduating in 1905. In October 1907, he began a two-year term as a government medical officer at Norway House before returning to Winnipeg.
On 24 March 1910, he married Aberdeen School teacher Mabel Ida Maud Barnwell (1874-1945, daughter of Richard Grant Barnwell) at her parents’ Winnipeg home. They took up residence in St. James and had two daughters: Phyllis Elizabeth Grant (1911-2002, wife of Hertbert Aubrey Bayne) and Jessica Alison Grant (1912-2001, wife of Henry Bongard). Around June 1914, he moved his family and medical practice to Swan River, remaining there until January 1916 when he departed for rural Saskatchewan. By April 1918, he had returned to Winnipeg, taken up residence at 357 Oakwood Avenue, and enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He held the rank of Captain prior to general demobilization in July 1919, though immediately thereafter served a month as a Provisional Lieutenant with the Military District No. 10 (Winnipeg). Following military service, he resumed his career, including work in rural Manitoba at Sidney (1921). He retired in 1929 and settled in East Kildonan on Leighton Avenue and later at 174 Lay Avenue [now Mossdale Ave].
He died at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital on 17 July 1958 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
1871 & 1916 Canada censes, Library and Archives Canada.
1901, 1906, & 1911 Canada censes, Automated Genealogy.
1921 Canada census, Ancestry.
Birth, marriage, and death registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
Canadian Certificates of Military Instruction, Ancestry.
Canadian Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register, Ancestry.
“Teacher’s exams. [McGregor School]” Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 13 May 1896,page 5.
“Teachers’ examiners [McGregor School],” Winnipeg Daily Tribune, 8 July 1896, page 2.
“University matters,” Manitoba Morning Free Press, 6 September 1901, page 6.
“Medals presented to new medicos [Faculty of Medicine],” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 June 1903, page 9.
“Looking after the Indians,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 October 1907, page 8.
“Grant - Barnwell,” Winnipeg Tribune, 26 March 1910, page 3.
“Board to build two collegiates [M. Barnwell],” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 April 1910, page 3.
“Dr. Grant arrived here [...],” Swan River Star, 7 May 1914, page 1.
“Local news [Dr. Grant ...],” Swan River Star, 30 July 1914, page 1.
“Tomorrow’s calendar [Mrs. (Dr.) W. J. Grant ...],” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 December 1914, page 6.
“Dr. W. J. Grant [advertisement],” Swan River Star, 23 April 1915, page 1.
“Local news [Dr. Grant left yesterday ...],” Swan River Star, 21 January 1916, page 1.
“Social and personal [Miss Gertrude Jubb ...],” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 December 1934, page 8.
Obituary [Richard Barnwell], Winnipeg Tribune, 2 March 1937, page 4.
“Friends pay final honor to R. Barnwell,” Winnipeg Free Press, 3 March 1937, page 7.
“Mrs. W. J. Grant, 75, former teacher, dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 22 March 1945, page 4.
“Daughter of pioneers dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 23 March 1945, page 10.
Death notice [Mabel Grant], Winnipeg Free Press, 22 March 1945, page 21.
“Dr.W. J. Grant dies at 89,” Winnipeg Free Press, 17 July 1958, page 12.
“Dr. W. J. Grant, retired physician,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 July 1958, page 33.
Death notice, Winnipeg Tribune, 17 July 1958, page 28.
Obituary [Herbert Aubrey Bayne], Winnipeg Free Press, 6 October 1969, page 30.
Obituary [Jessica Bongard], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 March 2001, page C7.
Obituary [Phyllis Elizabeth Bayne], Winnipeg Free Press, 21 January 2002, page C11.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 12 September 2022
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