James Joseph McCann

Who was James Joseph McCann?

James Joseph McCann, PC was a Canadian politician, born in Perth, Ontario, son of John A. McCann, a mason and license-inspector, and Mary Hourigan, who were both of Irish descent.

Although he consistently reported his own birth-date as March 29, 1887, he was in fact born exactly one year earlier, and was originally named as James Parnell McCann. His birth registration gives this name in full, with the 1886 date, the entry for his parents' household in the 1901 census gives his name as James P. McCann and likewise supports the 1886 date, and the record of his first marriage in 1913 calls him James Parnell McCann. There is no possible doubt that the politician was the James Parnell McCann born in 1886, as his parents and wives are named in two different biographical dictionaries published during his own lifetime. It is possible he came to be known as James Joseph McCann following the early death of a younger brother named Joseph, born in 1895.

McCann took M.D. and C.M. degrees from Queen's University, Ottawa, in 1909 and a post-graduate degree in medicine from the University of Chicago in 1911.