JOHN KIRKWOOD DONALDSON, D. D. S.
Success in what are popularly termed the learned professions, is a legitimate result of merit and painstaking endeavor. In commercial life, one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but professional advancement is gained only by critical study and consecutive research, long continued. Proper intellectual discipline, thorough professional knowledge and the possession and utilization of those qualities and attributes essential to success have made Dr. John Kirkwood Donaldson one of the leading dentists of Audubon county. Though Doctor Donaldson is a comparatively young man, he is widely known for the high standard of his professional attainments and since establishing himself at Audubon has built up an extensive and lucrative practice in his profession.
John Kirkwood Donaldson was born on July 28, 1885, on a farm in Audubon township, Audubon county, Iowa, the son of Orlando Chester and Iantha (Rutan) Donaldson, natives of Johnson county, Iowa. Orlando Chester Donaldson was born in 1845, the son of James and Jane Donaldson, natives of Pennsylvania, who were early settlers in Johnson county, this state. Iantha Rutan was born in Johnson county in 1841, the daughter of early settlers and pioneers in Johnson county, her mother having been a sister of the wife of Governor Kirkwood, Iowa's war governor. Mrs. Kirkwood is still living (1915), at Iowa City, at the age of ninety-seven, and is quite hearty. Orlando C. Donaldson and Iantha Rutan were married in Johnson county and came to Audubon county in 1878, settling in Audubon township. Orlando C. Donaldson served as county recorder of Audubon county from 1900 to 1905, during which period he resided in Audubon. From Audubon he moved to Shenandoah and there was engaged in the clothing business. One year later he engaged in the general mercantile business at Defiance, Iowa, and after being in business there for two years, removed to Exira township, this county, where he lived on a farm for one year, at the end of which time he moved to a farm near Manchester, where he is now living.
To Orlando Chester and Iantha (Rutan) Donaldson six children were born, two daughters and four sons, namely: Elverton Orlando, who lives at Defiance, Iowa, where he is owner of the gas plant; Wesley Samuel, a mechanic, who lives at Exira, where he is proprietor of the Ford garage; Mrs. Janette Burbridge, who lives at Palo Alto, California, and whose husband is an instructor in Leland Stanford, Jr., University; Dr. John Kirkwood, the subject of this sketch; James William, of Palo Alto, California, who is in the motorcycle business, and Clara Belle, who married Ray Zollinger, a ranchman of Montana.
John Kirkwood Donaldson was graduated from the Audubon high school, after which he attended the Northwestern University Dental School, graduating with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1910, immediately after which time he began the practice of his profession in Audubon and during the years in which he has been engaged in practice has made rapid progress.
Doctor Donaldson is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having attained to the chapter in that order, and is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. While at Northwestern University, Doctor Donaldson was a member of the Delta Sigma Delta, the popular dental fraternity. He is identified with the Presbyterian church, and politically, classes himself as an independent Republican, being independent in local politics, but supporting Republican principles and Republican candidates in national politics.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 337-338.
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