William R. Donald Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1096-1097 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				WILLIAM R. DONALD. 

	William R. Donald, editor and proprietor of the Sentinel, 
published at Britton, was born in County Down, province of Ulster, 
Ireland November 8, 1854, a son of Robert and Katherine (Cunningham) 
Donald, also natives of the same locality. The father, who occupied a 
position as foreman, died in Ireland, January 17, 1861. The mother, who 
was born February 15, 1830, is still living at the advanced age of 
eighty-five years. They were married May 2. 1851. and became parents of 
four children, of whom two are living, the daughter being Mrs. John 
Mercer, whose husband has had charge of a construction crew for the 
Michigan Central Railway Company since 1877. Mr. Donald was a member of 
the Presbyterian church, to which faith his widow still adheres. She 
came to America with three daughters in 1873 and is now living at 
Britton, South Dakota. 

	William R. Donald, crossing the Atlantic in August, 1871, landed 
at Quebec, whence he made his way to Toronto and afterward to St. 
Marys, Canada, where he lived with an uncle. He began learning the 
printer's trade in 1870 and continued work along that line after coming 
to the new world. For a time he and his mother also conducted a little 
store at St. Marys, Ontario. After mastering the printer's trade he was 
employed at different places and in March, 1883, went to Andover, where 
he began work as a carpenter Three months after his arrival he sent for 
his mother and sisters to join him. Various business interests have at 
different times claimed his attention. He established and conducted a 
hotel at Andover and took up a homestead in Marshall county which he 
proved up in 1889, following general farming upon that place from 1886 
until 1899. He then went to Langford, where he established a small 
hardware store but afterward sold out and in the fall of 1902 purchased 
the Britton Sentinel, which he has since owned and published, the paper 
now having a circulation of ten hundred and fifty. He also conducts a 
job printing business and does good work in that line. Success has 
attended his efforts but has not been achieved without the cost of 
earnest, self-denying labor. That he is well known in newspaper circles 
in the state is indicated by the fact that in 1907 and 1908 he was 
honored with the presidency of the South Dakota Press Association. 

	On the 20th of November, 1895, Mr. Donald was united in marriage 
to Miss Elizabeth Enders Byer, a native of Boundbrook, New Jersey, and 
a representative of a family of Prussian ancestry. Her parents spent 
their entire lives in Boundbrook, New Jersey, her father being a 
cabinetmaker and wheelwright by trade and very proficient in those 
lines. Mr. and Mrs. Donald are members of the Presbyterian church and 
he also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, both lodge and 
encampment, the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is one of the 
charter members of the Elks lodge of Aberdeen, has been president and 
secretary of the Modern Brotherhood of America and has held all of the 
offices in the Woodmen camp, in which he is now consul. Politically he 
is an earnest democrat and is serving as chairman of the democratic 
county central committee. On one occasion he was the party's candidate 
for representative to the state legislature and was defeated by only a 
small vote, although the party is largely in the minority in the 
district. Dependent upon his own resources from early boyhood, the life 
record of William R. Donald indicates that no matter what the 
advantages enjoyed in early life, the individual must essentially 
formulate, determine and shape his own character and make for himself a 
place in his community. By a well spent and honorable life William R. 
Donald has gained the goodwill and kindly regard of his fellow 
citizens, many of whom are his warm friends.