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From: "Cathy Joynt Labath" <>
Subject: [IA-IRISH] Bio of John McDonald
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 18:06:27 -0600


Surnames: McDonald, Thompson, McElhinney, Gallup, Wood

History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa 1882. Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co.,
1883

John McDonald, flour and feed, Oakland, was born in County Tyrone,
Ireland, in April, 1834; his father, William McDonald, was born in the same
place as subject, as was a miller by occupation; he emigrated to the United
States and settled in Illinois, Warren County, in 1855, and died the
following year of typhoid fever. Subject's mother was born in Ireland; came
to this country with her husband and died at Oxford, Jones Co., Iowa.
Subject's brother, Samuel, and his sister, Martha, came to the United States
with their parents, the oldest brother preceded them to this county. Mr.
McDonald received a fair common school education, and worked with his father
at milling, until he married, March 8, 1852, Bessie McElhinney, born in
Ireland November 20, 1833. She was a daughter of William and Bessie
(Thompson) McElhinney, natives of Ireland, where the father died. After his
marriage, Mr. McDonald, came to this country and located in Warren County,
Ill., June 3, 1853. He ran a grist mill at Monmouth, Ill., for four years
for Silas Umpstead; then moved to Keithsburg and conducted a mill for Joseph
Ogden, for seven years; then moved to Keithsburg and conducted a mill for
Joseph Ogden, for seven years; thence to North Henderson, Mercer County, for
a year; then, after a year spent in Millersburg, he purchased a mill in
Bureau County, Ill.,; operated it for two years, sold it and came to Jones
County, Iowa, where he rented a mill for a year. Upon leaving Jones County,
Mr. McDonald moved to Union Township, Shelby County, where he bought a farm
near the present site of Defiance; there he engaged in farming for seven
years, when he and his wife began traveling for the latter's health in
California and Washington Territory; in the latter Territory she died of
consumption September 4, 1878. In 1879, Mr. McDonald located in Neola, and
established the "Exchange Mills Flour and Feed Store," which his son now
conducts. Mr. McDonald sold his property in Neola; established a similar
business in Marne, Cass Co., Iowa; conducted it six months; sold out and
came to Oakland in December, 1880, where he has since conducted a flour and
feed business. Our subject has, by his first wife, four children-Jennie,
Ella, William and Thomas Thompson. April 1, 1880, at Neola, Iowa, Mr.
McDonald married Margaret Gallup, born in Harrison County, Iowa, in 1861,
daughter of Jasper and Sarah (Wood) Gallup, early settlers of Pottawattamie
County-he a native of New York State, and she of Ohio. This second union has
been blessed with one child-Frederick Samuel. Mr. McDonald is a Mason and a
member of the V.A.S.; he is a member of the City Council and a Republican.

Cathy Joynt Labath
The Irish in Iowa
http://www.celticcousins.net/irishiniowa/index.htm

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