Today's Thoughts on…
William McDonald
We first met William McDonald in a Surname Saturday - MCDONALD 2, on May 8, 2010, as the father of Joe McDonald, who was the father of Mildred (McDonald) Bevins of the infamous will in "Back to the Homeplace" - dated in 1986-7. He was therefore Mildred's paternal grandfather.
We second met William McDonald, born 1864, with his parents, the following week, in a Surname Saturday - MCDONALD 3, on May 15, 2010.
This was followed, on January 22, 2011, when we posted Surname Saturday - MCDONALD 4, with a story written by Mildred in her high school years, presumably:
Here is the second paragraph of that story:
"David Baldridge, a bachelor, had one sister, Sarah, who married the older of the two sons of Henry McDonald and his wife, Laura. Harry and Sarah had at least six children. The stories they have passed down from Civil War times will make another interesting report. The younger McDonald son, Daniel, was my direct ancestor. He married Jane Truesdale, a granddaughter of Eli Truesdale. Their son, William McDonald, was my grandfather. He was able to keep all the McDonald, Truesdale and Baldridge properties in our family so that my parents still have the original properties more than one hundred years later. We are all very proud of this accomplishment."
So, William McDonald was the grandson of a first settler of The Homeplace, as well as the grandfather of Mildred - who "got the story going" with her will "to keep the farm together" in "Back to the Homeplace."
I see William as the "glue" that binds the entire "The Homeplace Saga" together. It seems he was still living when Karen was born as a great-granddaughter in the 1930s.
Looking ahead:
1) William, as a twelve year old, will share the story of his cousin, Alex McDonald, during the Civil War in and around Oak Springs during the Civil War - over the next few Friday's installments of "The Founding" stories.
2) William, as a twelve year old, has already appeared as a character in The King Family of Oak Springs, Episode 3, along with his future wife, Charlotte Crane, here (they will continue to appear in the series, from time to time, as "across the valley" neighbors, and schoolmates of the King children):
3) William's birth and and related references will appear in several of the "Founding" stories, beginning with the Civil War story on his father, Daniel, following the feature Civil War story (see table of contents, Part III), here, tomorrow.
4) Journal entries that William makes throughout his later life, and into the 20th century, will play a key role in solving one of the mysteries behind "Three Threats to the Homeplace," the working title on the next full novel in "The Homeplace Saga" series of stories. Members of the Oak Springs Historical and Genealogical Society, founded in late 1996, in "Christmas at the Homeplace," will discover some of his journal entries at a time that is most helpful to families of The Homeplace - when it is in danger of being lost.
[If you haven't read them yet, I urge you to consider reading "Back to the Homeplace" and "Christmas at the Homeplace," for a fair grasp of the entire "The Homeplace Saga" set of stories.... available for immediate download at Amazon.com in ebook format - see sidebars]
"May everyone have a Homeplace, if only in their hearts!"
Dr. Bill ;-)
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