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Donald Alexander MacKinnon

Canadian politician (1863-1928)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ1239674
Source-derived summary

Donald Alexander MacKinnon (22 February 1863 – 20 April 1928) was a Canadian teacher, lawyer, politician, author, and the eighth Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1904 to 1910.

Born in Uigg, Prince Edward Island, the son of William and Catherine Nicholson Mackinnon, MacKinnon attended Uigg grammar school and started teaching when he was 14. He later received a first-class teaching licence from the Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown. In 1882, he started articling with the Charlottetown barrister Malcolm McLeod. From 1885 to 1887, he attended Dalhousie Law School where he received a Bachelor of Laws degree. He was called to the Bar an attorney in 1887 and a barrister in 1888. He was created a Queen's Counsel in 1899. He opened a practice in Georgetown, Prince Edward Island in 1887 where he remained until moving to Charlottetown in 1897. In 1900, he became president of the Law Society of Prince Edward Island.

From 1893 to 1900, he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island for the electoral district of 4th Kings.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Donald Alexander MacKinnon” as canadian politician (1863-1928). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1863, 1928, 1904, 1910—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1863-02-22. The account is most persuasive where Donald, Alexander and MacKinnon can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as canadian politician (1863-1928). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1239674. VIAF identifies the subject as 73300234. The Library of Congress control number is n2007013237. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1863, 1928, 1904 and 1910.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Donald Alexander MacKinnon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Donald Alexander MacKinnon primary sources, Donald Alexander MacKinnon archive and Donald research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Donald Alexander MacKinnon”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Donald Alexander MacKinnon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.