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(This page is a narrative. If you would prefer to see our family tree in database form, please visit our Index of Surnames or download the latest version of our GEDCOM file.)
The earliest known origins of our McDonald family are in Inverness, Scotland. At some point after the year 1733, our McDonald ancestors left Scotland for Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada. The first member of the clan known in North America is my great-great-grandfather, Murdoch McDonald, a merchant who lived in Pictou Town. Murdoch's year of birth is estimated circa 1810. He is believed to have had a brother named William McDonald, and a married sister named Mary Nicholson, as Murdoch's name appears on Mary's Will as an executor. Murdoch married a lady named Isabella (surname and birth information unknown), and they had at least four children, listed below:
Donald Alexander McDonald (my great-grandfather, more details below), born January 1, 1833 in Pictou;
This McDonald family left Pictou in June 1844 for Dundas, Canada West (Ontario), where Murdoch served as Town Bailiff according to 1851 census records. They lived in Dundas until 1853, when they moved again to Hamilton, Ontario. In 1855, the four children -- with no record of their parents accompanying them -- moved to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, where they founded a lumber and shipping business called McDonald Bros. This company became very prosperous. With the later inclusion of Georgina's future husband William Andrew Sutor as accountant, the name of the business was changed to Gateway City Towing & Lumber. The company ran steamboats along the Mississippi River, and brothers Donald and Charles together made numerous purchases of land parcels from the government for their lumber business.
The book "A History of La Crosse, Wisconsin 1841-1900" by Alfred H. Sanford and H.J. Hirshheimer contains the following information about my family:
"In the 1850's, before the days of the towboats, three brothers, Donald, Charles and Jennings McDonald came from Canada to the Upper Mississippi and engaged in piloting rafts. Operating from La Crosse beginning in 1868, they were among the earliest to use steamboats for rafting; they gradually built up the largest fleet of raftboats on the Upper Mississippi. In 1873, their fleet consisted of the Ariel, Natrona, Dexter, Jim Watson, Kate Waters, Molly Mohler, and Enterprise. These boats were the basis of their fleet during the rest of the 1870's. From time to time they chartered additional boats when they had more towing business than their regular fleet could handle. In 1880 their fleet consisted of seven raftboats, and in addition they leased and operated for the season five others. There was no other fleet on the river comparable in size to the McDonald line at any time before 1900. This was only one of the firms in La Crosse engaged in the business..."
The book further states, "The McDonald yards north of Clinton Street on the Black River did nothing but service and repair work from 1875 to 1880, but in the latter year, the Zada and Bella Mac [shown below] were launched, and later, the Inverness, Scotia and Thistle were built."
All four children are buried alongside the Sutors in Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse. Georgina and W.A. Sutor married in 1873. Two of their three children died in infancy; from the dates, it is possible that Georgina died in childbirth at the age of 39. Also buried at Oak Grove is a 10-year-old girl named "Mae MacDonald," possibly the daughter of Charles, and someone whose gravestone simply reads "Robert Ross." The gravestones were had originally been overlooked because of the "MacDonald" spelling.
(In a thoroughly amazing coincidence, a La Crosse resident named Elizabeth Konkel began jogging through Oak Grove Cemetery circa 1998 and passed the McDonald/Sutor plot on her daily morning run. Betty was a frequent guest at Ocean View Inn and Resort, because she was in the process of relocating to Gloucester, Massachusetts. When Betty and I met at the hotel, we began discussing La Crosse, and she instantly recognized the names of my ancestors, explaining that they were all spelled "MacDonald"! She photographed their gravestones and brought the pictures to Gloucester on her next trip. By checking the dates on the gravestones and searching under the "MacDonald" spelling, we were able to uncover a great deal of additional information. Betty moved from LaCrosse to Gloucester in 1999, and our family is indeed grateful for her help!)
Donald Alexander McDonald married Anna Black Beers, who was born in Ithaca, New York on December 25, 1836. The date and location of the marriage is unknown, but Donald and Anna had four children of their own:
Walter Donald McDonald, my grandfather, born December 23, 1872 in LaCrosse;
After my great-grandfather died on February 11, 1906, Anna Black Beers McDonald moved with her daughter Louise to Washington, DC. There, Anna became involved in women's national democratic politics until her death on June 20, 1933 at the age of 96-1/2, which is especially remarkable considering this was the period of women's suffrage! Anna was returned to LaCrosse to be buried with her husband. I would love to know more about my great-grandmother, and I hope someone reading this page can help me; please write if you know anything about Anna!
My grandfather Walter married Alice Louise Trow (born March 30, 1873 in Eureka, Winnebago County, Wisconsin) on February 16, 1898 in LaCrosse. There are numerous pages on this site about the Trow family; please see the links below. My grandfather was an executive for Westinghouse, and the family moved several times before finally settling in Seattle in 1915. My grandmother had a college degree and taught English to the Wisconsin pioneers prior to her marriage. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and it is her love of genealogy that has been passed down to future generations. Walter and Alice had two children:
Alice-Louise Trow McDonald, my aunt, born September 21, 1899 in Minneapolis; and
My aunt Alice-Louise was a noted authority on silver, and became manager of the Tiffany & Co. store in Beverly Hills, California. She was briefly married to T. Frank Baughman (photo below), former Chief of the Secret Service and right-hand man to J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI.
The couple had a daughter named Shirley Alice-May Baughman, but after the divorce, the baby's name was changed to Alice LeFevre McDonald in honor of a Trow ancestor. This Alice married Henry Robert Williams II of Seattle, and had three children who are still alive today: my cousins Nathalie-Ann Elizabeth Williams, Alice-Louise Waldon, and Henry Robert Williams III ("Bobby"). Nathalie-Ann and her daughter Amber-Lynn Elizabeth Richey live in California. My cousin Alice-Louise lives in Louisiana with her husband James Waldon and daughters Tina (also a mom), Jocelyn and Shannon. Bobby lives in California. My aunt died in Placentia, California in October 1981.
My father's exciting life story is contained in another page on this site; see links below. After my father retired from the Naval Reserve in 1957, he relocated from Seattle to Bergen County, New Jersey. There he met my mother, Ingeborg von Held-Eibl, and they were married on Halloween 1959. My mother had a son from a previous marriage, my half-brother Lancelot Jeffrey Robertson, who lives in Germany. My father died in the VA Hospital Nursing Home in East Orange, New Jersey at the age of 84 on March 29, 1987. My mother died at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey at the age of 65 on June 25, 1990. My parents were members of the Neptune Society, and their funerals were conducted at sea off the coast of Freeport, Long Island, New York.
My own life story is all over this site (first-time visitors, please visit our Table of Contents)! On Christmas Day 1986, I was introduced to Greyton Henry Woitscheck, and our beloved daughter, Nathalie Alicelouise Tobiana Trow-McDonald, was born on October 8, 1997. We have the very brightest hopes for little Nathalie, and ask your help in presenting her with the most accurate genealogical records possible. Thanks for visiting "Depth Charge!" and for sharing your McDonald family information with us!
Many thanks to the members of the pictouroots@onelist.com mailing list for their assistance in our research. We are also deeply grateful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose FamilySearch site provides direct links to the genealogy pages on "Depth Charge!".
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