John Alexander Macdonald was born on January 10, 1815 in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents were Helen Shaw MacDonald, a Gaelic-speaking Highlander, and Hugh Macdonald, a struggling businessman. The family immigrated to Canada in 1820. The Macdonalds first settled their four children in. MacDonald entered municipal politics in 1843 as Kingston alderman and was elected to the assembly of the United Province of Canada in 1844. He represented Kingston for 38 of the next 47 years. John and his wife Isabella Clark (died 1857) had two sons, John Alexander and Hugh John. In 1867, he married Susan Agnes Bernard who gave birth to a daughter, Mary. Throughout the years the Macdonalds lived in several residences in Kingston. He died in "Earnscliffe", his Ottawa home, in 1891. In 1820 Kingston was the largest community in Upper Canada. With a population of 4,000, the town had a military base and an important port on the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system. The Macdonalds were attracted here by the presence of Colonel Donald Macpherson, a military veteran who was married to John's aunt. Hosted by the Macphersons, the Macdonalds lived four years in Kingston before moving west to the Bay of Quinte area where Hugh Macdonald opened a store. John was schooled in Adolphustown until age 12 when he returned to Kingston to attend Midland District Grammar School. During this time he lived with the Macphersons, returning each summer to his own family at Glenora where his father had acquired a gristmill. In 1829, John enrolled in a new Kingston school for general and classical education run by John Cruikshank. During Macdonald's 47 years in politics (1844-1891), he was re-elected from Kingston thirteen times. In 1848 he resigned from the government to make way for the reform administration of Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and was returned by acclamation in 1851. In 1856, John became leader of the Upper Canada section of the government of the United Province of Canada.On July 1, 1867, the Proclamation of Canada's Confederation was read in Kingston's market square. The first federal parliament sat in Ottawa on November 7, 1867 with the recently knighted Sir John A. Macdonald serving as Prime Minister. During his political career, Macdonald presided over several Ministries: Justice (1867-1873), Interior (1878-1883), Indian Affairs (1878-1887), Railways and Canada (1889-1891). Under his leadership, the new Dominion was extended from sea to sea by incorporation of the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, and linked together by the construction of the Intercolonial and Canadian Pacific Railways. Sir John A. Macdonald is remembered as a lively personality, a warm communicator, a consensus builder, a creative thinker, and a forceful leader. At the national level, he fought for unity through an integrated economy and the transcontinental railroad, becoming known as the "Father of Confederation". On the international stage, Macdonald strove to maintain the British connection and defend the frontiers of Canada against United States expansionism. Many things have changed since his time in office, but many of contemporary Canada's defining features, institutions and challenges have their roots in Macdonald's tenure as Prime Minister.