Archives West Finding Aid

J.M. (John Malcolm) McIsaac was born on Prince Edward Island in 1860, and moved to Massachusetts as a child following the death of his parents. Apprenticed as a granite cutter, McIsaac moved west in 1889 to Spokane, Washington, where he worked initially for stone contractor J.B. Bye. Following work in Oregon on the Cascade Locks (where he met and became married to Etta Mary McGrath), McIsaac returned to Spokane, where he resided until his death in 1941. Following Etta Mary's death in 1905, he raised their three surviving children. McIsaac engaged in a wide variety of business ventures, including co-establishment of the firm McKay and McIsaac, property and mining investments, and remodel work on the building later known as the Davenport Hotel. A long-term employee of the City of Spokane Street Department, McIsaac was also active in the Catholic Church and with the Knights of Columbus and the Independent Order of the Foresters.