Physician, missionary.
Born at Leith, Ontario in February 1868, he attended the University of Toronto medical school and Knox College (Toronto), graduating in 1899. He became a medical missionary for the Presbyterian Home Missionary Society, setting up operations at Teulon in 1902, where he also practiced medicine.
On 18 November 1914, he married Georgina Ellen Young (1885-1975) at Winnipeg and they had three children: John Alexander Hunter (1916-2012), James Gordon Hunter (1918-2012), and Elizabeth Jean Hunter (1920-2002, wife of Leslie George Robinson). He learned Ukrainian and translated Ukrainian stories and poems into English, including the poetry of Taras Shevchenko, notably Shevchenko’s Kobzar (1922). He studied insects, and a fly (Chilosia hunteri) was named for him. He wrote The Work Among the Ukrainians (circa 1922). His autobiography A Friendly Adventure: The Story of the United Church Mission among New Canadians at Teulon, Manitoba was published in 1929. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1935.
He died at Teulon on 25 August 1940 and was buried in the Windsor Cemetery. The hospital in Teulon is named for him.
His articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:
A View on the Ukrainian Canadians
MHS Transactions, Series 3, Number 10, 1953-1954 Season
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Teulon and District Museum (Green Acres Park, Teulon)
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Birth and marriage registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Four Winnipeg citizens are among western Canadians recognized by King George in New Year's honors,” Winnipeg Free Press, 1 January 1935, page 1.
“Alexander Jardine Hunter,” The Canadian Medical Association Journal, October 1940, page 396.
Obituary [Georgina Ellen Hunter], Winnipeg Free Press, 3 June 1975, page 30.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
Obituary [Elizabeth Jean Robinson], Winnipeg Free Press, 11 December 2002.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
We thank Ruth Donald for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 October 2023
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