Dr. Alexander C. Macdonald was born on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada, on January 22, 1885. That same year he was brought with his family to Cavalier County where his father had homesteaded. Here he spent his boyhood but attended school in Illinois and finished high school at Lidgerwood, North Dakota, in 1908.
He received his collegiate and medical training at the University of North Dakota and Rush Medical College, Univ. of Chicago. He received his M.D. Degree in 1914 and began practice at Fingal, North Dakota, that fall. In 1917 he was commissioned and called to active duty with the Army Medical Corps. Prior to going to England, he married Mabel Nayes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alec Nayes of Fingal, in the spring of 1918.
In 1919, after a year of service, the Macdonalds returned to Valley City and "Doctor A.C.," as he was fondly called, began to practice nearly fifty years of service to Barnes County.
Four children were born to Doctor A.C. and Mabel: Dr. Neil Macdonald; Charlotte (Mrs. Robert E. Finley); Doris (Mrs. Russel Kohler); and Joyce (Mrs. John Scott).
Doctor A. C. Macdonald died on November 2, 1966. Mabel Nayes Macdonald died June 2, 1967.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 149