Background
John Jay McLaughlin was born near Enniskillen, Durham County, Ontario, the eldest son of Mary Smith and Robert McLaughlin, the founder of McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Carolina which became General Motors of Canada.
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John James
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Known as "Jack", he completed high school in Oshawa, Ontario, where he then became a pharmacist apprentice, before attending the Ontario College of Pharmacy in Toronto, and graduating in 1885.
Career
He did postgraduate study in pharmacy in New York City, where he worked as a dispenser, and later managed one of the largest pharmacies in Brooklyn. Because of the long held belief in the health benefits of natural mineral waters, by the late 1880s a carbonated beverage industry had developed. With the addition of flavourings, they were increasingly consumed for pleasure, often at drugstores.
After embarking on a tour of European producers, McLaughlin returned to Toronto in 1890, where he founded a soda water bottling plant.
In 1904, he launched "pale dry" Ginger Ale and in 1907, received a patent for "Ginger Ale.".
