JOHN N. McDONALD. Among the energetic early settlers of Washington county the McDonald family, of whom this sketch treats, was very prominently identified. John McDonald (grandfather of John N.) was born in eastern Pennsylvania, where he received his educational training and grew to manhood. He was married to Martha Noble, of the same county, a daughter of the founder of Noblestown, Penn., and the young couple then came to Washington county, locating, in 1775, in Robinson township, on the farm still occupied by their descendants. The children born to them were James, Andrew, William, Alexander, Edward, John, Margaret (Mrs. Glenn), Martha (Mrs. Allison), Elizabeth (Mrs. Mitchell) and Mary (Mrs. William Nesbit). The father of this family passed the latter part of his life in improving the home farm, and he cleared the meadow on which an Indian trading post was erected. He was a Federalist in politics, and in religious connection was a member of the Presbyterian Church at Candor.
Edward McDonald (father of John N.) was born August 13, 1792, in Robinson township, this county, where he was reared and educated and passed his entire life. On April 27, 1819, he married Margaret Nesbit, of Allegheny county, Penn., and she bore him children as follows: John N., Nesbit, Martha (wife of the late Rev. J. M. Hastings, of West Chester, Penn.), Hannah J., Elizabeth, Emily (married to Jacob H. Miller), James, Edward and Margaret M. Mrs. McDonald died in 1839, and in 1844 Edward McDonald married Margaret B. Snodgrass, of Allegheny county, Penn. Mr. McDonald followed farming and stock raising, and in politics was a prominent worker in the Whig party, serving as a member of the Legislature and as a justice of the peace. In religious faith he was an elder and trustee of the Presbyterian Church at Candor. He died May 30, 1867.
John N. McDonald was born February 10, 1820, on the home farm, in Robinson township, this county, and received a liberal subscription-school education. On October 29, 1862, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth M., daughter of Maj. William Lee, of Cross Creek township, Washington county, and the children born to this marriage were: Edward, Jane Craig, Margaret (deceased), William Lee (deceased) and J. Nesbit. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McDonald settled on the home farm, where the family have since resided, engaging in agricultural pursuits. He was formerly a Whig, and upon the organization of the Republican party became an active worker of that body.
He served in the State Legislature of 1853 and 1858, as a representative of Washington county; was also a delegate to the Union State Convention, in 1856; a representative delegate in the convention of 1868; a senatorial delegate in 1876, and again a representative delegate in the conventions of 1880 and 1884. For many years he had been a member of the board of trustees of Washington and Jefferson College; and of his efficiency as a school director in his district, of the work he did for the Presbyterian Church of McDonald, and his interest in the cause of education and religion generally, all who knew him were aware.
In fact, it would require a volume to record all that he accomplished in these directions. He was formerly a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church at Candor, but, in 1886, became an elder of the First Presbyterian Church at McDonald, Robinson township. John N. died May 23, 1889, and was buried in the Raccoon cemetery.
Edward McDonald, the eldest in the family of John N. and Elizabeth M. (Lee) McDonald, was born January 11, 1864, on the homestead at McDonald, Penn. In 1884 he graduated at Washington and Jefferson College, and then returning to the farm was taken into partnership with his father in stock raising. In April, 1892, he was elected president of the First National Bank of McDonald.
Text taken from page 124 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).Transcribed January 1997 by Lee Weller of Kingston Beach, Tasmania, Australia as part of the Beers Project.
Published January 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]