Sheet metal manufacturer.
Born at Sunny Brae, Nova Scotia on 15 January 1883, son of Edward MacDonald, brother of Duncan Robert Grant MacDonald and John Edwin MacDonald, he came to Manitoba in 1904 on a harvesters’ excursion train, to a farm near Portage la Prairie. Five years later, he started a sheet metal business in partnership with Mr. Dowdell on Alfred Avenue in Winnipeg. In 1910, he went into business with his brothers at a site on Aikins Street and, in 1914, they formed the MacDonald Brothers Sheet Metal and Roofing Company. A companion company, the MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company, was established in a plant on Robinson Street.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, the Robinson Street plant was greatly expanded to manufacture aircraft parts. the aircraft division was sold in July 1954 to the UK-based Bristol Aerospace Company but the sheet metal business continued on under family leadership. During his business career, he was President of MacDonald Brothers Sheet Metal and Roofing Company and Vice-President of MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company.
On 3 June 1914, he married Evelyn “Lena” Ritchie (1892-1921) at Winnipeg and they had three children: John Edward MacDonald (1915-?), Evelyn MacDonald (1916-?, wife of J. P. Beattie), and Katherine Ritchie MacDonald (1921-2016, wife of Joseph Douglas Mulholland). He was a member of the Granite Curling Club, Masons (King Edward Lodge), and Winnipeg Builders’ Exchange. He died at Winnipeg on 17 March 1972. At the time of his death, he lived at 420 Lindsay Street.
Marriage registration [James Daniel MacDonald, Evelyn Ritchie], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [Katherine MacDonald], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1921 Canada census, Ancestry.
Marriage registration [Katherine Ritchie MacDonald, Joseph Doulgas Mulholland], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 24 February 1969, page 30.
Obituary [Katherine Ritchie Mulholland], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 October 2016.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 27 May 2024
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