J. W. DONALDSON is an enterprising young farmer of North Strabane township. He is a son of John Donaldson (who was a son of James), who passed his youth on the home farm in Westmoreland county, Penn., where he was educated. He was married to Margaret Salisbury, a resident of Red Oak, Brown Co., Ohio, who bore him children, as follows: Josephine (who died at the age of fourteen), Thomas W. and Margaret (Mrs. William H. Jones). For his second wife Mr. Donaldson married Rebecca Van Eman, and their children were Mary E., J. William, Jennie R. and Alexander B. Mr. Donaldson was a Whig, and an ardent partisan. He served many years as justice of the peace in Brown county, Ohio, to which State he removed from Pennsylvania six months before his first marriage, where he was engaged in coach building and afterward in farming. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he was an elder for years. He died in Brown county, Ohio, and the family then removed to Washington, county, Penn., first locating near Canonsburg. J. W. Donaldson was born September 13, 1853, in Brown county, Ohio, and came to Pennsylvania with the family when but a small boy. His education was principally obtained by self- study, as he was obliged to earn his living at a very early age, working at any employment he could secure. On January 1, 1880, he was united in marriage with Mary B., daughter of T. H. Lyon, and the union has been blessed by the following children: Mary L., Arthur V., Bertha B., Nellie J., Annie Grace and William Harvy. After his marriage, Mr. Donaldson purchased a portion of the Linn farm in North Strabane township, where he remained several years, and then bought and moved upon his present home in the same township. He has, by enterprise and perseverance, achieved his own success, and is a liberal supporter of all public enterprises. He takes an active part in church work, serving in the Presbyterian Church as trustee nine years, and holding the office of ruling elder for the past six years. The Society of which he and his family are members is known as the "Dr. McMillan Church." In politics he is an active and valued member of the Republican party.

Text taken from page 1254 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed February 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published February 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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