Biography:

Dr. Jerrold Ross Waddell was born in Chatham, Ontario on the 16th of March, 1885.  Dr. Waddell was the 2nd of 4 children born to John Waddell and the former Julia Vernon Wilson.  Dr. Waddell had an older brother named William “Howard” Vincent Waddell, a younger brother named John “Tracey” Waddell and a little sister named Marjorie Waddell.  His father was born in Chatham on the 2nd of May, 1854 in an old stone residence (believed to be #55) on Water Street.  There is a park next to #55 Water Street in Chatham, called the John Waddell Park.  Dr. Waddell’s father was a grain merchant with J.B. Stringer & Co. and the park is believed to be named after Dr. Waddell’s grandfather also named John Waddell.

Dr. Jerrold Waddell was educated in Chatham and graduated from the McGill University Medical Department in June of 1907.

Dr. Waddell practiced medicine in Chatham for a number of years.  For the last year of his life, he was doing research at a laboratory at the Montreal General Hospital.  Five weeks before his death he returned to Chatham in ill health.  He died at the age of 28 on the 13th of July, 1913.

Dr. Waddell was buried at Maple Leaf Cemetery in Chatham.

*Dr. Waddell’s brother John Tracey Waddell drowned in a waterway at or near Chatham on the 16th of December, 1905 at the age of 17.

**Dr. Waddell’s brother William Howard Vincent Waddell enlisted with the Canadian Armed Services during WWI on December 29th, 1915.  He served overseas and was discharged on the 25th of February, 1919 due to de-mobilization.  Lieutenant William Howard Waddell appears on the Gathering Our Heroes website.