Lake County Biographies

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ALAN J. MACDONOUGH

    Alan J. MacDonough was born at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, November 1st, 1883, son of Edward A. and Margaret Quay MacDonough.
    Mr. MacDonough received his education in the schools of Pennsylvania and at Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, where he took an engineering course.
    After leaving college he joined the Morgan Engineering Company at Alliance, Ohio; he next was with the Masslin Bridge Company in Ohio and still later with the American Bridge Company at Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and at Canton, Ohio.
    Mr. MacDonough came to Kissimmee, Florida, in 1910, where he engaged in engineering and architectural work two years, when he moved to Lakeland, Florida, to carry on the same work.
    In 1920 he settled at Eustis where he has since carried on the practice of architecture with remarkable success. He has designed most of the important buildings which have been built in Lake County during the past few years, among which may be mentioned: the new county courthouse at Tavares, the Leesburg city hall, Eustis city hall, Eustis Theatre building, Clermont High School, Masonic Temple at Leesburg and Eustis Grade School, and many fine residences, including those of Mr. Glen C. Hyde, H. G. Gamble, O. K. Cole and R. D. Keene in Eustis. Since 1920 Mr. MacDonough has designed over a hundred buildings of various kinds in Lake County and most of them have been of considerable size.
    In addition to his architectural work he is principal owner and Secretary of the Harris MacDonough Company of Eustis, which handles lumber and building materials.
    He is a member of the Florida Association of Architects and of the Rotary Club of Eustis. Fraternally he is a Mason and a Shriner.
    He was married at Kissimmee, Florida, July 11, 1912, to Lillian E. Porter and has the following children: Marie, Grace L., Alan J., Junior, and Robert P.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p259

DR. WILLIAM ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

    One of the best known and most active workers for the advancement of Lake County is Dr. William Alexander MacKenzie, who was born in Illinois on November 22, 1878, the son of Dr. William Robert MacKenzie and Eleanor Gordon MacKenzie. On his father’s side he is descended from two Kings of Scotland, the Stuarts and the Bruces; his father was also a cousin of Edith Cavell. On his mother’s side he is descended from the Kentucky Buckners, his mother’s cousin being Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Governor of Kentucky, and Commander of the Confederate Army at Ft. Donelson. He is also descended from the Ashby and the Jones families, famous in Virginia history, John Paul Jones being one of the family and also General Ashby. Culpepper County was the old home place in Virginia, and Dr. MacKenzie’s grandmother’s cousin was the first white child born in Chicago at Ft. Dearborn.
    He attended Monmouth College, Illinois, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of St. Louis, where he was an honor man in medicine, and where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine.
    Before locating in Florida, Dr. MacKenzie was assistant in Medicine at St. Louis University, and Physician in Charge at Mt. St. Rose Tubercular Hospital- assistant to Dr. William Porter, leading throat and chest man, who was formerly an associate of Sir Morrell MacKenzie, physician to the English and German royal families. Dr. MacKenzie specialized in throat and chest, and did considerable literary work. Though very busy in his professional life, Dr. MacKenzie was interested in the commercial life of St. Louis, particularly in real estate; and at the same time was manager of the St. Louis University football team for 1902-03.
    On locating in Leesburg in 1913, Dr. MacKenzie became President of the first large development company in Lake County, known as the Lake County Land Owners’ Association, which company planted thousands of acres of groves, and was mainly responsible for the growth and development of Fruitland Park in Lake County and Sunset Harbor in Marion County. Through the activities of this development company much outside capital has been brought into the county and the State.
    In addition to his development company, Dr. MacKenzie is President of the Leesburg Hardware and Supply Company; President of the MacKenzie, Fennell, Seng Realty Corporation; President of the Business Men’s Real Estate Association; formerly President of the F. H. Cox Insurance Agency. He is now, and has been for ten consecutive terms, 1919-1929, Mayor of Leesburg; has twice been President of the Lake County Board of Public Instruction; spent three terms in the State Legislature, 1924-1928; being Chairman of the Committee on Education the entire period, and was never member of less than eight to ten committees.
    During the World War, Dr. MacKenzie was in Public Health Service, and healed 502 cases of influenza without a loss. He led the Lake County Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. drives during the war, and was one of President Wilson’s Four Minute Men. In 1926 he was in charge for three weeks of medical relief work at Sebring, caring for the Moore Haven sufferers.
    In 1923 Dr. MacKenzie represented Governor Hardee at the Conference of Southern Governors, held in Atlanta, Georgia, and delivered the Governor’s address at the Daughters of the Confederacy Banquet.
    In appreciation of his work during the World War, President Wilson sent him several certificates of recognition.
    Dr. MacKenzie is a member of the Methodist Church, a member of the Kiwania Club, the Leesburg Chamber of Commerce, Lake County Chamber of Commerce, of which he is President and has been for three terms; he is also a member of the Masons, Shriners, Knights Templar, Knights of Pythias, Elks, and Odd Fellows. His college fraternity is Phi Beta Pi, and he is a charter member of the Lambda Chapter.
    He was married in St. Louis to Carrie Virginia Onetta Nichols, and they have one child, Grethel M. MacKenzie.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p259-260.

W. S. MCCLELLAND

    A true Floridian, not by his birth but by adoption, and a real pioneer n this section of the State, is W. S. McClelland. Probably no man in Lake County is more prominently identified with its affairs during a long period of years than is Mr. McClelland, who has for forty-five years been a resident of Eustis, and a leader in its political and financial circles.
    He was born October 29, 1846, in McClellandtown, Pennsylvania, son of Andrew and Mary McClelland, the town being named in honor of his family. When he was five years old he was taken in charge by another family and raised by them until he was twenty-one. He received his early education in the schools of Ohio and when he was bout twenty-two he went west to Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska, and worked in early railroad building, where he was section foreman. He came back to Ohio and worked on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and spent twenty years in the transportation department with headquarters at Chillicote, Ohio.
    Mr. McClelland came to Florida in September. 1883, and selected Eustis for his place of residence as he had a friend already located in Eustis. Together they bought grove property, and Mr. McClelland built the Eustis House, the first and only hotel in the town. He owned and managed the hotel for six years, thus becoming the first hotel man in this section, as he has been first in so many other things.
    He next formed a partnership with Mr. A. G. Smith, and they were in the grocery business for three years. Then he purchased the Eustis Bank and ran it for seven years, at which time he sold out part interest to Mr. Isted and Mr. Hubbs, and it ran for eight years under the name of McClelland, Hubbs, and Isted, and then incorporated as the First State Bank. After its incorporation he was President for twenty-five years, and the present bank stands as a monument to his business ability.
    Besides the bank in Eustis, Mr. McClelland has been interested in may other banks in Florida, and was one of the organizers and is now a director of the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville. In fact, Mr. McClelland is one of the big bankers of his day.
    In addition to banking, Mr. McClelland has taken an active interest in the citrus nursery business, and is President of the Lake Nursery Company, of which he is principal owner. The company has 150 acres of groves, and in addition to this Mr. McClelland has his own grove of 60 acres, and is one of the largest growers of citrus fruit in the county.
    He has always taken an active interest in the civic affairs of Eustis and Lake County, and has been an Alderman in Eustis for two separate terms. During the yellow fever epidemic he was a captain at Camp Perry.
    One of the honors of which Mr. McClelland is especially proud is the fact that he has taken the degree of Royal Order of Scotland, a rare distinction. He is a Knight Templar, and has been a 32nd degree Mason for more than 52 years.
    He was married in Ohio to Miss Allie Evans, deceased; in New York to Mrs. Alice Yaeger, deceased; and in Eustis to Mrs. Nannie Weidman of Chicago.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p264

MRS. MAGGIE MCCORMICK

    One of the most active and successful business women in Leesburg today is Mrs. Maggie McCormick, who, though not born in Leesburg, has spent the greater portion of her life there.
    She was born in Gadsden, Alabama, daughter of Edward Lea and Sarah Lea, and came to Leesburg thirty-eight years ago with her mother, who is still living in Leesburg. They had come to Yalaha two years before settling in Leesburg, and liked the section so well after their visit they decided to leave their home in Alabama and venture to a new state.
    Mrs. McCormick attended school in Leesburg, and remained in the town until her marriage, when she was away for about ten years, most of the time being at Port Inglis, Florida, where she conducted a hotel.
    Returning to Leesburg August 1, 1908, with her husband, they built the Magnolia Hotel, which she still owns and operates. Until his death in 1922, Mr. McCormick was active in the management of the hotel with Mrs. McCormick, and since his death her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Baker, are in the hotel with her.
    The Magnolia Hotel she has built up from a six-room house to a forty-six room hotel, which is a very popular commercial and tourist hotel. Mrs. McCormick has been unusually successful due to the effort she has put into the management of the hotel in her desire to please the public, to her keen business instinct, and to her ability to meet the public and keep them content. In addition to her hotel property, she owns a great deal of real estate in and around Leesburg.
    A busy person is always the one who has time to work for others, and Mrs. McCormick is no exception to the rule. She is a real worker in the Woman’s Club, and helped materially in getting the fine woman’s club building erected. She is also very active in the Chamber of Commerce, and is always at the front of any new movement for the enlargement and betterment of Leesburg.
    Her church affiliations are with the Methodist Church.
    She was married at Leesburg to John A. McCormick, and has two daughters: Roberta (Mrs. B. A. Baker), and Sarah Jane.

from: History of Lake County Florida, Wm. T. Kennedy, Editor-in-chief, History of Lake County Florida Part II, Biographical. Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Lake County, Florida p264

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