Dr. Purdy Alvin MacDonald, a native of New Brunswick, graduated from McGill University in Medicine in 1906. Soon after graduation he began practice in Halifax. While he considered himself a general practitioner he gave special attention to surgery and obstetrics. Dr. MacDonald was a member of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Superintendent of Dalhousie University for many years. He was also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. (Canadian Medical Association Journal, v. 62, pg. 100, 1950.

Major Margaret Clothilde MacDonald was born on February 15, 1873, in Bailey's Brook, Nova Scotia.

She was a Canadian military nurse born into a wealthy Catholic family. She attended Mount Saint Vincent Academy in Halifax and Charity Hospital Training School in New York, where she studied nursing. After her graduation in 1895, MacDonald went to Panama to assist as a nurse during the construction of the Panama Canal. She served as a military nurse aboard the military ship Relief during the Spanish-American War in 1898. She also served as a nurse during the South African War in 1900, where she was one of the first females to receive a military commission. After her return to Canada, she was named the Head of the Nursing Service of the Canadian Army Medical Corps. MacDonald moved to Britain to learn from their military nursing program, focusing more on leadership and working to make a change for women. She was the first woman to receive the title of Matron in Chief in the British Empire for her leadership during World War I. In 1920, after many years of nursing, MacDonald retired, returning to her hometown of Bailey's Brook, Nova Scotia, where she died on September 7, 1948.

John Macdonald was a soldier in the British Army who enlisted in 1796. He was a trusted assistant to the 1st Duke of Wellington, and was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces in July 1830. He was awarded the C.B. (1815), K.C.B. (1827), and GCB (1847).

Premier of the Province of Canada from 1862 to 1864. The first Premier of Ontario from 1867 to 1871.