Will County IL Archives Biographies.....McDonald, John 1823 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 5, 2007, 6:20 pm Author: Portraits & Bio Sketches, 1890 JOHN McDONALD. No resident of Frankfort Station is better known than this gentleman, who deals in grain, lumber, coal, hay and tile, and who has had an extended experience as a grain merchant. No better judge of grain can be found in the county than John McDonald, and he was probably the largest buyer within it in the early days of Frankfort Station. He still handles large quantities, and is recognized as the old and reliable grain merchant. The grandfather of our subject was John McDonald, a native of the Highlands, in Scotland, who ran away from his country during a revolution and became a farmer in Ireland. He had previously been an officer in the Scotch Rebellion. In County Tipperary, Ireland, his son John was born, and he also became a farmer, continuing his agricultural occupation until his death. He was also a road contractor. He married Ellen Gleason, a native of the same county, who bore him five children, namely: James, Patrick, Mary, Elizabeth and John. The latter is the only one now surviving, and he alone came to America. The natal day of our subject was December 11, 1823, and his birthplace in County Tipperary some six miles from Nanah. There he attended school three years, going back and forth every day, and securing excellent advantages by paying seven shillings per quarter. He read Latin and Greek and became well versed in the ordinary branches. He was assisted greatly in his aspirations and labors by the fact the teacher boarded with his parents. The master was very strict, compelling his pupils to polish their shoes, brush their clothes and in other ways make themselves presentable every morning. Mathematics was the hobby of young John, who, while he was helping on the farm and keeping his father's books, was able to figure anything. After keeping books for his father two years, the young man, at the age of eighteen years, came to America to see the country. Leaving Dublin for Liverpool in the summer of 1841, he secured passage on an American sailing-vessel and five weeks later was landed in New York among strangers. He had $2,000, every cent of which he spent in traveling through New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan. He did not engage in any occupation until 1850, when he began work for the Michigan Central Railroad at New Buffalo, Mich., which was at that time the terminus of the road. Subsequently he removed to Chicago, where the road terminated, in 1852, and there he checked freight two years. In 1854 Mr. McDonald came to Joliet, continuing his employment as a checkman until 1857, when he received the appointment of agent at Frankfort, which was just starting into life. He held the position of agent until 1875, when he resigned. In 1859 he began buying grain for J. L. Heard & Co., of Michigan, and he continued to transact this commission business until 1876. He then embarked in the grain business for himself, but although he desired to build an elevator, he could not do so on account of the lease of the railroad. He was compelled to put his grain through their houses until he caught them using his grain and was able to break their lease. He then built the second elevator in Frankfort, which was 35x50 feet on the ground and had a capacity of twenty-five thousand bushels. In 1885 Mr. McDonald bought out the other elevator which had been erected in Frankfort, and from that time operated both. On May 24, 1889, the first was burned to the ground, but he did not allow this catastrophe to interrupt his business. That summer he built an elevator on the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railroad, at Frankfort, which has a capacity of forty thousand bushels, is run by steam power and supplied with the Clipper and Cyclone Dust Consumer. He sends grain to New York and other large commercial centers and does an extensive business, mostly in corn and oats, although when he began buying, wheat and oats were his staples. It has been no unusual sight to see teams standing all around town waiting for the use of the scales, the contents of the wagons passing through the hands of Mr. McDonald. In the earlier days of his career as a grain dealer, Mr. McDonald ran a corn-sheller day and night. In 1881 he began dealing in lumber, and it was not long until he added coal to his stock-in-trade. He has a hay barn and bales that article for shipping and he likewise does quite an extensive business in selling tile. He is one of those busy men who are always full of affairs and find time for the successful prosecution of various lines of work. He is now the only grain dealer in Frankfort, and in this flourishing agricultural country a large amount of trade passes through his hands. He owns a valuable improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Green Garden Township. In addition to the business which we have noted, he was agent for the American Express Company eighteen years. The success, which first began to crown his efforts while working as a commission agent, has but increased in later years, and he has secured ample means. The marriage of Mr. McDonald and Miss Elizabeth Doty, a native of Will County, took place in Frankfort in 1859. The union resulted in the birth of four children, of whom the youngest, Elizabeth Doty, died at the age of eight months; Herbert John is a salesman for S. E. Gross, a Chicago real-estate dealer; Edward Everett spent two years in attendance at the University at Evanston, and one year in Souder's Business College, at Chicago; Charles Howard also attended the Northwestern University, at Evanston, and is now engaged in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Ohio. Mr. McDonald was Supervisor of Frankfort Township eight years, and held the offices of School Director and Trustee for years. He helped to incorporate the village and was its first President, resigning the office at the expiration of two years. He is identified with the Masonic fraternity, being enrolled in the Chapter and Commandery at Joliet and having a life membership in a Consistory in Chicago. In politics he is a straight Republican, and has been from the time he cast his vote for Fremont in Joliet, in 1856. He has served at various times as a delegate to county and State conventions and was a member of the Central Committee eight years. Additional Comments: Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/mcdonald521gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ilfiles/ File size: 7.1 Kb