My Genealogy Hound

Below is a family biography included in Portrait and Biographical Album of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio published by Chapman Bros., in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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FRANKLIN H. McDONALD. The subject of this notice was born in the place where he now resides, four miles southeast of Xenia, September 21,1839. He is a son of Wilford and Martha (Lyon) McDonald, natives of Tennessee and Virginia, respectively. Wilford McDonald was born in 1798, and in 1800, when only two years of age, was brought by his parents to Greene County, Ohio, where they settled on a farm adjoining the one now in possession of our subject. They remained there one year and then removed to the one upon which the subject of this notice now resides. The parents of our subject spent their last days on that farm, the father dying in 1883. They were the parents of seven children, named respectively: Hampton, Sarah E., Frank H., Willace, Columbus, America J., and Melvin. Wilford McDonald was a Whig at the time that party was in power and afterward cast his influence into the scale with the Republican party.

The Lyon family located in Greene County about the year 1816. The mother of our subject was a daughter of John and Catherine (Hook) Lyon. The ancestors of John Lyon came from England. Catherine Hook was a daughter of William Hook who was a native of Ireland and emigrated to this country in the last century.

Franklin H. McDonald is living on the old homestead, which is now his own property. It embraces one hundred and ninety-five acres of good land under a high state of cultivation. Our subject is also the owner of a fine stone quarry which is in a paying condition. He has made his home during all his life on the place where he now resides, but in 1862, on the 15th of August, he left his father’s house and went forth to do battle for the honor of the old flag which had been so foully dishonored by the rebellious hosts who were seeking to destroy its unsullied purity. He enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry. He served in some of the most severe battles of the war — notably those of Spottsylvania, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Monacacy Junction, Mine Run, the Rapidan, Petersburg, and was present at the surrender of Lee at Appomatox. He was discharged in June, 1865, as Second Sergeant and at once returned home. He was wounded at Monacacy in the left thigh.

In 1875, our subject was united in marriage to Miss Anna E. Heath. Mrs. McDonald is an intelligent, cultivated lady and an ornament to the society in which she moves. She is a daughter of Thomas and Anna (Hook) Heath, of Greene County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald are the parents of one child, Thomas Shem. Mrs. McDonald is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a regular attendant upon its services.

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This family biography is one of the many biographies included in Portrait and Biographical Album of Greene and Clark Counties, Ohio published by Chapman Bros., in 1890. 

View additional Greene County, Ohio family biographies here: Greene County, Ohio Biographies

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