My Genealogy Hound

JAMES McDONALD. The business of dealing in lumber is not a mere matter of buying and selling haphazard. No business requires greater exactitude, better management, wider range of observation, or greater study of the market. Among the prominent business men of Benton Harbor who have made a success of this industry is James McDonald, manufacturer of lumber and dealer in hard and soft wood. He is a native of Ft. Stanley, Canada, born June 30, 1844, and the son of James and Isabella (Leach) McDonald. James McDonald, Sr., was born in Scotland and inherited all the sterling qualities of those of that nationality. For many years he was an hotel-keeper, but about 1843 he brought his family to America and settled in Port Colborne, Canada, where he kept an hotel a short time. His death occurred in 1844, after which the widow and family moved to Buffalo, N. Y., and thence, in 1852, to Berrien County, Mich., settling on a farm in Benton Township. A year afterward the family moved to St. Joseph, and thence to Sodus, where the widow died.

James McDonald of this notice grew up and received his education in St. Joseph, this county. Later, he became a sailor, at the age of twelve years, on Lakes Michigan, Erie and Huron, and continued on the water twenty-three years, beginning as cabin-boy and cook. He was promoted through different offices until he became captain and he then ran a schooner between Benton Harbor and Chicago. This vessel made the fastest time on record up to that time. In 1872 he ran the schooner, “Cynthia Gordon,” and made thirty round trips in sixty days, loaded with lumber and other freight. This he continued until 1880, when he sold his interest in the schooners and retired from the Lakes.

Shortly afterward he formed a partnership with A. S. and W. O. Packard, under the firm name of McDonald, Packard & Co., and engaged in the wholesale and retail lumber business at Benton Harbor. This partnership continued seven years, at the end of which time Mr. McDonald disposed of his interest and soon started in the lumber business alone in the same city. Later he took in as partner P. W. Van Denser, and the firm became McDonald & Van Denser, which continued two years. At that time Mr. McDonald purchased his partner’s interest and continued the business alone. In 1892 he purchased a stock of boots and shoes, which business is now conducted by his family, and the following year he formed a partnership with Samuel McGuigan, and built the McGuigan & McDonald Block, which is 75x80 feet, three stories in height and a substantial brick. Stores are on the ground floor and offices above. Mr. McDonald is the owner of valuable city property, consisting of dwellings and real estate, and he also owns woodland in the State. He has a sawmill at Osceola Junction, and this year has manufactured his own lumber.

In November, 1870, Mr. McDonald married Miss A. E. Rector, a native of Berrien County, Mich., and the daughter of William H. Rector. Three children have been born to this union: Flora Belle, William and Ora Maude. Politically, Mr. McDonald is a Republican, and, socially, a Knight of Pythias, Knight of Honor and Woodman of America. He has been the owner of the following vessels: the “Anna Robinson,” “Two Brothers,” “Humboldt,” “William Bates,” “Garibaldi,” “Louisa” and “Addie,” and he sailed the “Banner” and “Cynthia Gordon,” but did not own the two latter.