Mitchell states: "The first Orawaupum Hotel was built about 1844, near the New York and Harlem Railroad depot, and was kept by Mr. Isaac Smith. The name was suggested by the historian, John McDonald, it being the name of the principal Indian chief of whom the White Plains lands were purchased." For many years the story of the "McDonald Papers" and their author has remained a mystery. This is well illustrated by the following 3: "John McDonald is said to have practiced law in West-chester County from 1814 until 1826. He was a native of White Plains and presumably was born there prior to 1788, when that town was part of the town of Rye. In 1826 he moved to New York City where he became a Master in Chancery. He spent the latter part of his life in gathering materials for a history of Westchester County. The result of his labors, according to Mr. Scharf, was a manuscript which was later deposited in the Lenox Library, but inquiry at the New York Public Library, which afterward acquired the Lenox Library, has disclosed no such manuscript there." The following article is from Caleb Roscoe's "Westchester Herald," for October 7, 1856: Battle of White Plains.--We learn with a high degree of pleasure, from an occasional correspondent, that an account

1 Scharf, Vol. 1, p. 542. 2 Scharf, Vol. 1, p. 740. 3 "The Bar of Rye Township," by Arthur Russell Wilcox, 1918. 92 THE McDONALD PAPERS

of the Battle of White Plains, prepared by John M. Macdonald, Esq., of this county, now residing at Flushing, (L. I.) will be read before the New York Historical Society, at their Hall in University Place, this evening (Oct. 7), commencing at 7 o'clock. We have some acquaintance with Mr. Macdonald as a literary gentleman, and know him to have been indefatig-able in his effort to obtain and give the dignity of truth to the revolutionary events which took place in the county of West-chester; and we doubt not his essay will embody the most accurate account of that event offered the American public.