MacEachern, Duncan

MacEachern, Duncan

Duncan MacEachern (1863 - 1945) was born and educated in the province of Quebec. He worked as a millwright in Ontario until 1897 when he and his wife, the former Jennie Waterston (1863 - 1946) and son Norman (1894- 1965) came to the Wetaskiwin area. They farmed in the Angus Ridge District but soon moved into Wetaskiwin where Duncan helped build the Wetaskiwin Flour Mill. In 1905, he formed a partnership with local merchant William McCallum and bought the mill. McCallum was bought out in 1915 and a family company incorporated which operated under the name of the MacEachern Milling Company until 1957 when it was sold to the Wetaskiwin Milling Company Limited. Duncan MacEachern was member of City Council for eight years, Mayor in 1907, Chairman of the Hospital Board and on the school Board for nineteen years. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge and of the United Church. The MacEachern's raised four sons, Norman, Stanley, John and Charles and one daughter, Marion (Blundell). Norman served with the 10th Battalion in France where he was twice recommended for the Victoria Cross, twice mentioned in dispatches, and was the only Canadian soldier to win the D.S.O. with bar while holding a commission as a lieutenant. Seriously wounded in September 1918, he spent five months in hospital in England before being discharged with the rank of Captain. Upon his return to Wetaskiwin he joined his brother, John, in managing the family business. He was the Industrial Development Representative for the City of Wetaskiwin in the early 1960's. Norman and his wife Agnes (MacDonald) of Calgary had two sons, Donald and Kenneth. Norman died in 1965.

City of Wetaskiwin Archives