Edith Kerr Macdonald

Edith Kerr Macdonald (1870-1957) was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada in 1870, daughter of Senator William Kerr and Myra Field Kerr of Cobourg, Ontario, Hamilton Township. Kerr married Donald Walter Macdonald on June 28, 1905 at the age of 35. He was the grandson of Captain Archibald Macdonald.
Canadian women became eligible to vote and to hold office in 1920. In 1926, Edith Kerr MacDonald became the first female to hold municipal office in Cobourg, and was one of the first women in Canadian politics. Kerr served on the Cobourg town council for several years. Kerr was an important advocate for women who had previously been under-represented to Council. She was on the police committee and became Reeve in 1930. Kerr made an unsuccessful bid to enter federal politics in 1930 as an independent.
See Kerr's important article "local architecture and famous visitors", in Cobourg 1798-1948 by Edwin C. Guillet. (Guillet, Edwin C., 1898-1975 Oshawa : Goodfellow Printing Co., 1948).
Kerr had three children, Dr. D'Arcy Macdonald of Toronto, Garth Macdonald, Q.C., and Kathleen Macdonald Roell. Her daughter, Kathleen was a Canadian Centurion who died in Toronto, Ontario at the age of 101 in August 2008. Kathleen Macdonald Roell was the first Canadian citizen to be repatriated in 1946 after surviving 40 months in a Japanese controlled internment camp.

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