Biography:

Dr. Harry Austin Pelton was born near Burritts Rapids (Oxford Township), Ontario on the 28th of October, 1889.  Burritts Rapids is a small community near Ottawa along the Rideau River.  Dr. Pelton was the youngest child born to Martin Pelton and the former Louise “Almira” Watts.  His father’s first wife was Mary Louisa Dougherty.  (She died of tuberculosis in 1880 at the age of 24).  There were two children born of that marriage; Charlie Adrian Pelton  was born in 1873 and died at the age of 7 months and a daughter Carrie Louisa Pelton was born in 1874.  Dr. Pelton’s parents were married in 1881.  Dr. Pelton’s parents were farmers and he had an older brother named Manson Pelton who was born on the 8th of October, 1884.

Dr. Pelton received his primary education at a small schoolhouse in Burritts Rapids.  He graduated high school from Kemptville High School in 1913 prior to going to study medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston in 1913.

Dr. Pelton enlisted in World War I on the 29th of March, 1915, in Kingston.  On his Attestation Paper he listed his occupation as “medical student” and his address was a post office box number in Kemptville, Ontario. He was 5’9″ tall and 155 pounds.  Dr. Pelton served overseas in England, France and Egypt.  He achieved the rank of Sergeant before he was discharged on the 9th of April, 1917.

Dr. Pelton completed his medical studies and he graduated M.D.,C.M. from Queen’s University in Kingston in 1919.  Dr. Pelton began the practice of medicine in Depot Harbour, Ontario.  (At one time Depot Harbour was located on Georgian Bay in the District of Parry Sound, but today it is deserted).

Dr. Pelton married Mary Hannah Fife on the 23rd of July, 1919 at the Howard Park Methodist Church in Toronto.  Mrs. Pelton was a registered nurse who was born near Indian River, Ontario on the 7th of October, 1893.  (Indian River is located east of Peterborough).  She was the youngest of 7 children born to Frederick Frances Fife and the former Mary Shearer.  Her parents were farmers and her siblings were; Benjamin Otto Fife, Arthur Newton Fife, Janet Lavina Fife, Andrew Fife, Annie Fife and Frederick Thomas Fife. Andrew and Annie did not survive childhood.  Her mother, Mary (Shearer) Fife died of tuberculosis on the 23rd of November, 1896 when she was 33 years old and Mrs. Pelton was just 3 years old.

According to the 1921 census, Dr. and Mrs. Pelton were living in Thamesville, where Dr. Pelton was a practicing physician.  Dr. Pelton’s name appears on birth and death records throughout the early 1920’s and he is listed in The U.K. & Ireland Medical Directory in 1925 as living in Thamesville.

Dr. and Mrs. Pelton had a son, David Austin Pelton and a daughter named Pauline Pelton.

In the latter half of the 1920’s, Dr. Pelton and his family moved to Toronto.   His medical office was located at 663 Greenwood Avenue.  Dr. Pelton’s medical practice information appears in the U.K. & Ireland Medical Directory from 1930 until 1942.

Dr. Pelton died at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto on the 14th of April, 1955.  Mrs. Pelton died in Toronto on the 4th of July, 1984.  Dr. and Mrs. Pelton were buried at Resthaven Memorial Gardens in Scarborough.

*Dr. Pelton’s son Dr. David Austin Pelton graduated from The University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine in 1954 and he practiced medicine in Toronto.   Dr. Harry Pelton’s daughter Pauline graduated as a registered nurse.  She married Dr. Stanley Lang and they were missionaries in Kashmir and Nigeria.