McDonald, Will

MCDONALD

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 10/2/2008 at 16:08:41

Will McDonald

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.188, Neola Twp.)
Will McDonald, flour merchant, Neola, was born in Illinois September 4, 1856, son of John and Bessie (McAlhaney) McDonald, natives of Ireland; he, born about 1832 is now engaged in business in Oakland, Iowa; she, born about 1835, died December 3, 1878, in Washington Territory, where she had gone for her health. The parents had four children - Ella, Jennie, Thomas and Will. After a common schooling, Mr. McDonald learned the trade of a miller. He worked at farming till 1878, when he went to Washington Territory to attend his mother, who was ill; remained there a year, until the death of his mother, and returning to Illinois, he located on a farm in Shelby County, near the town of Defiance. After six months in the latter place, he engaged in milling for a short time and was then appointed manager of the Neola Exchange Mill, which position he fills to the satisfacton of all interested. This mill was opened in April, 1880, and does a large business. Mr. McDonald was married, September 1, 1880, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Lottie Dingman, born in Council Bluffs December 28, 1861, daughter of John B. and Martha A. (Ritter) Dingman, he born in Canada October 16, 1828, she born in Virginia September 18, 1837. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald have one child, Theodore Lionel, born June 26, 1881. Mr. McDonald is a member of the Iowa Legion of Honor and in politics is a Republican.