Biographical Sketches
CALVIN D. MCDONALD, M.D.
Is the senior member of the firm of C. D. McDonald & Sons, well-known practitioners of Kansas City, who are located at a pleasant office in the Rialto building. The Keystone state he claims as the place of his birth, which occurred in York county, on the 23rd of January, 1835.
His parents were John and Catherine (Wynant) McDonald, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of Pennsylvania. They had 9 sons and 2 daughters, but only 5 of the children are now living, namely: James M., of York, Pennsylvania; Thomas B., who is also living in the same place; Dave A. and Calvin D., of Kansas City; and George W., of Palo Alto county, Iowa. The father was a shoemaker in his early days, but subsequently became a farmer. He died in York county, Pennsylvania, in 1880, when about 90 years of age. His wife passed away some 2 years previous, at the age of 86 years. They had traveled life's journey together as man and wife for 67 years, and their many excellencies of character won them high regard. They were members of the United Presbyterian church, in which the former served as elder. The paternal grandfather of our subject, James McDonald, was a native of Ireland, and the founder of the family in America. His death occurred in Pennsylvania. The maternal grandfather, John Winant, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and was of Holland lineage. He died at about the age of 80 years.
Dr. McDonald, of this review, was reared on the old home farm in the county of his birth, and acquired his literary education in the York Academy. Tiring of the routine of farm life and desiring to enter a professional field, he began the study of medicine about 1859, and met the expenses of his course with money he had saved from several years of teaching. He had also engaged in selling monuments, and in clerking in a country store. His first course of medical lectures was in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and subsequently he entered the Starling Medical College, of Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated, and later began practice in Mount Blanchard, that state, where he remained for 5 years.
In 1868 he came to Carrollton, Missouri, where he engaged in practice until the winter of 1870, since which time he has been connected with the medical profession of Kansas City.
On the 8th of November, 1859, Dr. McDonald married Miss Mary Shields, a daughter of Joseph L and Meletha (Clayton) Shields. They have 3 sons and a daughter, namely: Park L., who married Mattie Forris, and is engaged in practice with his father; Chett, who is also a member of the firm; Letha, who is keeping house for the Doctor; and Jay, who died at the age of 5 years. The mother's death occurred April 26, 1895, at the age of 53 years.
During the civil war, Dr. McDonald became sergeant of Company F, 21 Ohio infantry, but served only a short time. He is a member of both the county and state medical societies, also the Kansas City Medical Club, and, socially, he is connected with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Honor, and the Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is an ultra republican. He served as county coroner from 1884 until 1886. He is a progressive physician, who has always been a student, and has kept abreast with the advancement made in the profession.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.