Georgia:  Coweta County:  Biography of WILLIAM S. McDONALD 

====================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
free information on the Internet, data may be used by
non-commercial entities, as long as this message
remains on all copied material. These electronic
pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
written consent of the file contributor.

The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb
Archives to store this file permanently for free access.
This file was contributed by:
Nel Rocklein 
TAROCKLEIN@aol.com
====================================================================

WILLIAM S. McDONALD, a prosperous young farmer of this county, is of Scotch 
ancestry, his grandfather, Neil McDonald, having been born in Edinburgh, 
Scotland, in 1777. His father, Roderick McDonald, was concerned in the great 
religious dissensions which in those days disturbed Scotland. In 1803 Neil 
McDonald emigrated to Virginia, and after two years' residence there he moved 
to South Carolina, where he married Miss Sarah Curry. In 1827 he moved to 
Newton county, Ga., which he made his permanent home, clearing up for himself 
a farm in the midst of the woods. Here his son was born and reared with the 
few educational advantages incident to the period and that sparsely settled 
region. He enlisted under Capt. J. M. White in Company B, Thirty-fifth 
Georgia regiment, and after about eighteen months' service in this company 
was transferred to the Fifty-third regiment, in which he served to the end of 
the war. He was wounded five times, the little finger being shot from his 
left hand at Spottsylvania. He was in the great battles at Seven Pines, 
Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill and a number of less importance, 
and was at Appomattox at the general surrender. After the war Mr. McDonald 
returned to Georgia and in 1865 moved to Coweta county. His wife, whom he 
married in 1854, was Miss Melissa Curry, who was born in 1833 in Franklin 
county, Ga., where she was also reared. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald were parents 
of seven children, of whom William S. is the eldest. He was born in Newton 
county, Dec. 8, 1854, and in 1881 married Miss Dora M. Arnold, daughter of 
James D. and Nancy (Owens) Arnold, and who was born in Coweta county in 1861. 
Mr. McDonald is a member of the M. E. church; his wife is a Baptist. Five 
children have been born to them: Alvin, Florence, Harley, Jesse and Watson. 
The second child of young McDonald is Margaret Jane, wife of T. J. Young: 
they have five children: William A., Victoria, Joseph H., Ernest McD. and 
Paul. The third child is Thomas W., who in 1884 married Miss Sallie L., 
daughter of Leonard H. and Melissa (Bowers) Walthall; she is a Presbyterian 
and he a Methodist, and they have two children living: Roy A. and William D. 
The fourth child is Bartow. The fifth John Y., who married Roxy, the 
daughter of David D. and Amanda (Carpenter) Neeley; both are members of the 
M. E. church. The two remaining children are Sallie E. and Robert E. Lee. 
William S. McDonald, although deprived of early advantages and compelled to 
begin life empty-handed, has shown himself the possessor of those qualities 
which win; he is now the owner of an excellent farm and is widely respected. 
He is a member of the masonic order.

Transcribed from MEMOIRS OF GEORGIA published by the Southern Historical 
Association, 1895.