Henry R. McDonald, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Henry R. McDonald
HENRY R. McDONALD, farmer and lumberman, was born in Canada in 1831. He is one of nine children, living, born to Walter and Betsy (Dean) McDonald, the former a native of New Brunswick and the latter of New York. The elder McDonald was drafted into the British service in the war of 1812, and two of his sons were in the Canadian rebellion. The McDonald's came from Scotland and settled in New York, but at the Declaration of Independence they went to Canada; but the last generation has settled under Uncle Sam's protection. Senator McDonald is a distant relative, and the name is well known in Scottish history. When Mr. McDonald was thirteen years old, his father died, and three years later he went to New York and farmed for five or six years, with the exception of one year in Michigan. He then spent about a year in Wisconsin. He was married in 1850, to Martha Wilson, born in Dublin, Ireland. He then went to St. Paul, Minn., but in about a year he came to his present settlement, now known as Furnessville, and is the oldest settler now living there. He was employed about five years at lumbering, and then began lumbering for himself, and is now one of our largest land owners, and is the largest tax payer in Westchester; a member of both the F. & A. M. and I. O. O. F. He was, up to the Garfield campaign, a Democrat, but has since been a Republican. He has six children living - Charles, Martha Jones, Fannie Lynn, Abbie, Henry and Mary.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 304
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook