JOHN MACALEAN MACDONALD 1790-1863 <facsimilie signiture> (FACSIMILIE SIGNITURE)1 John MacLean Macdonald was the eldest son of Dr. Archibald Macdonald and Flora MacLean, his wife, and was born Dec. 27, 1790 at Franklin, Dutchess County, N.Y. (now Patterson, Putnam County, N.Y.). In an address before the Westchester County Medical Society, at its session held in White Plains, June 1, 1858,2 en-t…

meeting of respectable physicians of the county of Westchester, who formed themselves into a society, to be known and called by the name and style of "The Medical Society of the County of Westchester." Dr. Archibald Macdonald was elected President, and Dr. Matson Smith, of New Rochelle, Secretary. The principal views of their formation appear to be a harmo-nious establishment of a regular practice…

For a number of years he practiced his profession in North Carolina; he also served several years as a surgeon in the British army. "In the year 1787, he married in Dutchess County, in this State, and continued to reside there for several years, and finally, in the year 1795, settled at White Plains, where he practiced his profession down to the time of his death, which occurred on the 21st day of…

Archibald Macdonald had six (6) sons. John, the eldest, born Dec. 27, 1790; Alexander, born 1791 and died at Batavia, in the Island of Java, Aug. 15, 1823; Allan born Nov. 21, 1794, and died Jan. 8, 1862; Archibald born March 10, 1799, died Sept. 8, 1823; Donald born March 10, 1799, died Nov. 25, 1851; James born July 18, 1803, and died May 5, 1849. The latter was the only one of the sons who marr…

It was in 1814 that Sir Walter Scott's Waverley was pub-lished and Fergus MacIvor in that novel depicts another Macdonald of Glengarry, the last genuine specimen of a Highland chieftain. As the stories of Lauzun, Armand, Tarleton, Delancey, Odell, Oakley, Dyckman, Corsa, and others are read it is helpful to recall the antecedents of the author and the environment in which he developed. 1 See also…

Allan was prominent in Westchester County, having been Sheriff from 1826-1829, a state Senator from 1832-1835, and was Adjutant-General under Governor Marcy,1 his term of office expiring January 1, 1837. He was one of the founders of The Westchester Spy in 1830, the first newspaper published in White Plains; also active in establishing Grace (Protestant Episcopal) Church and one of its first Warde…

1 William Larned Marcy was Governor of the State of New York, 1833-1839. 88 THE McDONALD PAPERS for about sixteen (16) months; when he returned he assumed the whole medical responsibility connected with the manage-ment of Bloomingdale Asylum. "In 1837 he resigned and commenced the general practice of his profession in New York. In May of the following year (1838) he was married to Miss Eliza H. M…

To his widow was left the care of the family of small children and the devoted mother ably discharged her obligations; she was a zealous church-worker as the records of her parish bear witness and she carried on the farm and capably directed its management. It was in her household that John M. Macdonald lived for many years and she not only ministered unto his frail physique but she found time to …

As one reads them the enthusiasm of the student and interviewer is commingled with the pride of the witness in having personally been a part of the tale related. No one can read the inter-views without due recognition of some unusual circumstances in their collection. A guide who had served under Washington and Rochambeau was talking with them; a legally trained mind was asking questions in turn. …

The trials of the Neutral Ground were indelibly stamped upon the very soul of John Macdonald as his own life was a counterpart in suffering, in defeat, in unyielding struggles and finally in victory over all obstacles. He died in Flushing, Nov. 8, 1863. As he said "Andrew Corsa deserves to be held in honorable remembrance" let us here record in similar phrase that John MacLean Macdonald also deser…

It was a long journey in those days; then the papers were read and like many an-other auditor he fell asleep. He remembers his uncle huddled down in his seat listening intently. As the readings were finished the youthful interest was again stimulated by the ice-cream and cake and "repairing to the refectory" was an important and never-to-be-forgotten part of the occasion. And be it noted here that…

A careful search of the bibliography of Westchester County has disclosed comparatively few direct references to John 1 Geo. H. Moore, LL.D., was born in 1823. In 1841 he became assistant librarian of the New York Historical Society and librarian in 1849. In 1872 he was elected superintendent and a trustee of the Lenox Library. He died May 5, 1892, leaving a large and valuable collection of histor…

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 we…

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 hi…

"The movement which culminated in the dedication of a monument at this place to the soldiers of the Revolution, had its inception in the desire to honor the memory of the sturdy patriots who by their courage and valor well sustained the cause of liberty and independence on these historic fields,--not only those who were buried in the old Dutch churchyard, but in a larger, broader sense to honor al…

Nowhere else was the country so devasted, nowhere greater suffering, severer trials, but to the everlasting praise of the patriots of this manor be it said, they 'yielded not;' their endurance was like the granite of these hills. "An old redoubt thrown up during the Revolution, evidently to protect the legendary and historic bridge over the Pocantico, just on the verge which overlooks the old bury…

The work of obtaining subscriptions was then undertaken, to which the response was prompt and liberal beyond all expecta-tions, warranting the making of a contract for the proposed monument, and showing that the spirit of patriotism was still alive in the hearts of the people. Only the occasion was needed to call it forth. The site had already been donated by the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Association…

In the "Souvenir of the Tarrytown Monument," already referred to, Raymond has published a considerable number of the Macdonald reminiscences; but so far as research has revealed up to this time, the source from which they were obtained was not disclosed, either in the quotations in the "Tarrytown Argus" or in the "Souvenir." Raymond also published in the ''Souvenir'' a number of reminiscences of …

could possibly have survived from Washington's army, and the amount required to be paid during the first year was eleven times what had been estimated, and in the second year seventeen times. Acts of 1836, 1848, and 1853 provided pensions for all widows of Revolutionary soldiers whenever married. A curious result was that in 1868, when all the Revolutionary pensioners were dead, there remained 888…

The value of the "Interviews" in illuminating historical description is well shown by comparing the account of "Mosier's Fight" given by Judge Tompkins on pp. 61-62 and the description of the same affair prepared by Otto Hufeland, pp. 65-72. If as Emerson says there is no history, only bio-graphy, then the preservation of the reminiscences of the various participants in the Revolution is invaluabl…

The first was in 1858 which bequeathed his effects to his brother Allan. After the latter's death in 1862, another will was executed in that year leaving the effects to the children of his brother James. It would appear, therefore, that some-time between 1863 and 1868 the manuscripts were entrusted to Moore, for if he had known them as he did the "Papers" he would have undoubtedly referred to them…

When the interviews came to Mr. Hufeland the package was marked "McDonald Papers." The explanation probably is that his signature had not been seen by these writers in Westchester County and the facsimile reproduced in this volume is from the only one the editor has seen in carefully examining all of his records. The name has been found spelled variously as follows: McDonald (most frequently), Mac…

Since that time the "Papers" have been carefully read several times and such data of their author as could be found has been compiled. The "Interviews" were included in the Hufeland West-chesteriana in 1925 and are preserved there in splendid form. In scanning them my earlier impressions of the unusual merit of Macdonald's labors were confirmed and efforts to learn more about him continued down to…

He left no record of civic work; he was a stu-dent and worker in a limited field; but the spirituality of his writings will cause him to be remembered as long as the story of the Revolution is the background of the wonderful tales of 98 THE McDONALD PAPERS Cooper, and Irving, and a host of others, story-tellers, poets and historians, who have immortalized the territory now known as Bronx and Wes…