“The McDonald Family”

We have been asked by our good friend, Elder Willard McDonald, of Hartsville, for some account of the family. We are sorry that our account of the McDonald family is so limited. However, we shall try to give some of the history that we do have.

The first member of his family to arrive in America, so far as we can find, was Randolph McDonald, born in Glasgow, Scotland and coming to Edinburg, Shenandoah County, Virginia, many years ago, the exact date not being known to the writer. His sons, so far as we are informed, were Magness McDonald, who married his first cousin, Agnes McDonald; Bill or William McDonald, James McDonald, who appears to have remained in Glasgow; and Elias McDonald. We do not know whose daughter Agnes was, but her father was a brother of Randolph. We are sorry to report we have nothing about any of the descendants of James and Elias.

Magness McDonalds’s line, so far as we have been able to learn follows: We have already reported that his wife was Agnes McDonald, but there are indications that he was married twice. His second wife’s name is unknown to the writer. It is known that Randolph McDonald was a direct emigrant from Scotland to Virginia. Following are children of Magness, in part. By the first wife, he had John McDonald, commonly known as Jack McDonald; Andy McDonald, William McDonald, a daughter, whose name is not known, who is thought to have married a Tucker; James McDonald and another daughter whose name is not known.

By his second wife, he was the father of Stephen McDonald, Porter McDonald, Joe McDonald, a sergeant in the War of 1812; and two others supposed to have been Frank and Lum McDonald.

John McDonald was born in 1796 and died in 1855, in Macon County, Tenn. He married Nancy Wilkerson, earlier spelled Wilkinson. The children of this marriage were: William McDonald, born in 1819 and married first Cenie Dotson and later E. Davis; Polly Ann McDonald, married Hugh Massey; Elias McDonald, married Ruth Dotson; John McDonald, married a Harwood; James McDonald, married a Wilmore and later a Marshall; Betsy Lee McDonald, married W. A. Hargis; Edward McDonald, married Sarah, daughter of Dobb Gregory, son of Squire Bill Gregory, who was a brother of Bry Gregory, the writer’s great-great-grandfather; Nancy Lee McDonald, married John Holland; and Wyatt McDonald, married a Goad.

William McDonald had, by Dotson woman, the following children, according to our records; Nancy, married George Tuck; Tom McDonald, married a Smith; Ruthie McDonald, married Tom Williams; Genie McDonald, died young and unmarried; and Sarah C. McDonald, married Cobb Russell. By the second wife, William McDonald was the father of: Mary McDonald, first married Rowland Gregory, son of Smith Gregory, son of Squire Bill Gregory, mentioned above; and later she married John Gammon. Other children of William McDonald were: John McDonald, married Fannie Gray and later Letha Smalling; Nelse McDonald, married Fannie Chandler; Stephen C. McDonald, married Eliza Andrews; S. Ferby McDonald, married a Day; William McDonald, married a Harwood; Mattie McDonald married a Ragland; and Flora McDonald, married a Freeman.

A William McDonald, supposed to have been the same as above mentioned as the son of Randolph McDonald, is reported to have married Elizabeth Sadler, and to have become the ancestor of the “Forks of the River McDonalds.” This has reference to the many McDonalds that have lived between the Cumberland and Caney Fork Rivers. Our records show the children of William and Elizabeth Sadler McDonald to have been; John McDonald; Henry McDonald; William McDonald; Wilse McDonald; Porter McDonald; King McDonald; Byrd McDonald; Jennie McDonald, Polly McDonald and Nancy.

John McDonald, son of William, was first married to a Carter and later to a Blye. He was the father of: Champ McDonald, married a Onstedt (perhaps Olmstead); James McDonald, married a Beasley; Nan McDonald, married a Dillard; and Jane married first a Shoemake and later a Beasley.

Henry McDonald, son of William McDonald, married a Hale and later a Phelps. Henry was the father of: John McDonald, married a McDonald, went to Texas and we have no further information; Porter McDonald, never married; Nancy McDonald, who married a Womack and later John McDonald; Mary McDonald, a Lee; and Rose McDonald, never married.

William McDonald, son of William, married a Stalcup by whom he was the father of: Nick McDonald, who removed to Illinois; William McDonald, Jr., married Betsy McDonald; Pete McDonald, to Texas; Wilse McDonald, no additional information; and Betsy McDonald, married a Lee.

Wilse McDonald, son of William and Elizabeth, married a Fenny. To them were born: Billie McDonald, married a Ferrell; Jim McDonald, married a Young; Nancy McDonald, married a Sadler; and Mary McDonald, died young and unmarried.

Porter McDonald and his wife, Susan Edlemon McDonald, were the parents of: Mary McDonald, married a Anderson; Jane McDonald, married a Apple; Elizabeth McDonald, married a Apple, a brother to Jane’s husband; Liza McDonald, married a Bockman; Maria McDonald, married a Apple, a cousin of the two Apples just mentioned; Sidney McDonald, married first a Rowland, and later a Glover; Ridley McDonald, married a Warren; Andrew or Andy McDonald, married a Shaw; John McDonald, married a Glover; and William McDonald, married a Apple, a sister of the two McDonald brothers just mentioned.

Porter McDonald lived and died in the Chestnut Mound section of Smith County. We do not have any dates on this family. In my notes is the following statement; “He was buried on Hurricane Creek, and was of medium build, brown eyes and wore a small beard.” This account was given us by Andy McDonald, whom we met in the year 1926 and who furnished the writer with most of the information about the descendants of William McDonald and his wife, Elizabeth Sadler McDonald. Andy McDonald, in the year 1926, was more than 90 years of age, having been born Oct. 4, 1834.

The following concerns the offspring of Porter McDonald: His daughter, Mary McDonald, married a Anderson and became the mother of: Dinks Anderson, married a Dickens; James Anderson, married a Beasley; Cis Anderson, married a Womack; Tennie Anderson, married a Massey; and one other daughter, believed to have been Martha Anderson, married a Wilbanks.

Jane McDonald, who married a Apple, was the mother of: James Apple, who married an Apple; Clarkie, who married an Elrod; and a third child, of whom we have no further information.

Elizabeth McDonald, the daughter of Porter and Susan Edlemon McDonald, married an Apple, a brother of the husband of Jane McDonald, above mentioned, and became the mother of: William Apple, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, who married a Franklin; Alex Apple, who married a Farmer; Tim Apple, Cookeville Attorney, who married a Jenkins.

Liza McDonald, another daughter of Porter, married a Bockman and became the mother of: Henry Bockman, who never married; Harvey Bockman, who went to Oklahoma, and we have no further information; Sid Bockman, married a Tubbs; Jimmie Bockman, (this is the best we can make out the name), who married a Warren and later a Murphy; Susan Bockman, who married a Tubbs, a brother of Sid Bockman’s wife and later a Ray; Alonzo Bockman, married a Ditty; Alvin Bockman, married a Young; Edgar Bockman married a Carlin; and Herbert Bockman, married a Ditty.

Maria, another daughter of Porter and Susan, married an Apple, a cousin of the husbands of her sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, and became the mother of: Susan Apple, married a Robinson; Sidney McDonald, son of Porter, married first a Rowland, later a Glover. He had one child, a daughter, Tennie, by the first marriage. She married a Haynes. By the second marriage, two sons and two daughters were born. It appears that Sidney moved to the State of Washington. Ridley McDonald another son of Porter, married a Warren, by whom he was the father of: Leonard, married a Robinson; Lon, married a Dillard; Landon, married a Cornwell; Alfred, married a Myers; Beebie, married Jim Hall; Bob married a Boulton; Haskell, married a Jared.

Andrew, referred to above to having been born Oct. 4, 1834, and married a Shaw, was the father of: John McDonald, married a Montgomery and later an Elrod; Wade McDonald, moved to Murfreesboro, married a Glover; Maggie McDonald, married a Burton and later a Elrod; Lee McDonald married a Fitzgerald; Ira McDonald, a Haile; Sallie, went to Montana, married an Apple; and Tennie McDonald, married a Lewis. It should be added that John McDonald also went to Montana.

John McDonald is the next son of Porter, on our records. He married a Glover; By her he was the father of: Louise McDonald, went to Huntsville, Ala., married a Sadler; Ada McDonald, went to California, married a Holliman; George McDonald, married an Apple; Lassie, went to California, married a Maddux; Sion McDonald, never married; and Calvin McDonald, married a Scruggs.

The last of the sons and daughters of Porter McDonald, according to our list, was William McDonald, who married an Apple, a sister of the husbands of Elizabeth and Liza. Their children were: Rev. Jimmie P. McDonald, who died at more than 90 years of age a short time ago and who had long been an active minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and who married a Ferrell; George McDonald, who married a Warren; John McDonald, married a Ferrell, a sister of the minister’s wife; Wayne McDonald, married an Apple; Luther McDonald, who married a Ferrell, a first cousin of Luther and Jimmie’s wives; Clarkie McDonald, never married; Frank McDonald, married a Young; Valley, married a Glover; Lon McDonald, married a Jared; and Minta McDonald, married a Young, a brother of Frank’s wife. Elder Willard McDonald, Baptist minister of Hartsville, is the son of Lon McDonald.

King McDonald, son of William McDonald and his wife, Elizabeth Sadler McDonald, and who married a Brooks, was the father of: Jane McDonald, married a Trousdale; Thula McDonald, married a Ferrell; Darthenia McDonald, married a Duke; Belle McDonald, married Dr. McCellan; Lon McDonald, married a Kent and later a Reece; Fannie, married a Ferrell, brother of Thula’s husband; Jasper McDonald, married a Bockman; Henry McDonald, married a Wallace; Matt McDonald, married a Young; and Wirt McDonald, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, married a Stanton.

(Continued next week)

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