One of the best educated and most successful physicians and surgeons in the county of Elgin is Dr. McLarty, who took more than ordinary pains to prepare himself for his profession. He is a son of Duncan McLarty, senior, who came from Scotland with an uncle when quite young, and became a farmer in the county of Elgin, where our subject was born on the 3rd of February 1839. The maiden name of his mother was Sarah McIntyre, who was also of Scotch birth.
Dr. McLarty received a grammar school education; taught four or five years in his native county, and thus secured the funds for further prosecution of his studies; connected himself with the medical department of Victoria University, Toronto, from which he received the degree of M.D. in 1867; and thence proceeded to Europe, spending nearly two years there, walking the hospitals and attending lectures, becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England, and of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Thus thoroughly equipped for professional business, Dr. McLarty returned to Canada, opened an office at St. Thomas in February, 1869, and soon had a remunerative practice.
Dr. McLarty was a member of the town school board for six or seven years; was in the town council for one term, and mayor in 1877 and 1878, making a popular chief magistrate of the town. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been master of the local lodge, and first principal of the Arch; is also a member of the Odd Fellow Fraternity; usually attends the Presbyterian church, and in moral as well as professional character stands high.
The Doctor has an unusually fine physique; is six feet two inches in height; well proportioned; stands perfectly erect, and weighs 220 pounds. His bearing is dignified, yet easy, and his address that of a polished gentleman.