Lyman, W. D. "An Illustrated History of Walla Walla County, State of Washington." W. H. Lever, Publisher, 1901. p. 425. JOHN B. McDONALD deceased, a pioneer of 1882, was born in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, January 2, 1845. He was the first white child born in that county. His father was an officer in the United States army, and in 1830 had been sent into Wisconsin to keep the Indians quiet. Mr. McDonald resided in the neighborhood in which lie was born until nineteen years old, receiving a public school education, then started to do for himself. He visited New York state and Vermont, and finally entered the service of the United States government, his duty being to take horses to the front for the use of the army. He was present in Washington at the time of Lincoln's assassination, and was detailed for a short time to guard the city limits in order, if possible, to prevent the escape of the assassin. A little later Mr. McDonald went to Baltimore, where he was taken sick with fever and ague, and practically laid up for two years, but at intervals he was able to do a little at the business he then followed, namely, putting in lightning rods for the protection of buildings. In 1867, he returned to his old home in Wisconsin and farmed a year, afterwards going to Blue Earth county, Minnesota. He followed farming there one summer and in the fall purchased a threshing machine and engaged in that industry. A serious accident befell him, however. His foot was caught in the cogs of the power, laying him up for two years completely and making him permanently lame. In 1871 he bought railroad land, and for a while followed farming and teaming, but eventually sold out and engaged in selling farm implements, wagons, etc., for an eastern firm. Two years later, he was called home to take charge of his father's farm, and he was engaged in agricultural pursuits there and at Fond du Lac for the next four years, but in 1878 he removed to Petaluma, California. After farming there also for a number of months Mr. McDonald started via Portland, for this valley, but, owing to the Indian outbreak, wintered on the Lewis river, where the next spring he engaged in the dairy business. Shortly afterwards, he moved to a place thirty miles from The Dalles, and here Mr. McDonald worked in a sawmill until 1882. He then tried farming again, but lost everything by grasshoppers. In the fall of 1882 he reached Walla Walla, the point he had started for so many years before, and the next spring he took a homestead on Eureka flat. He was a farmer in that neighborhood until 1891, when he moved into the city of Walla Walla for the benefit of his children. He died on March 27, 1893. Mr. McDonald was for many years one of the leading men in his part of the county serving in almost all the local offices and once refusing the nomination for county commissioner. He was married in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, February 27, 1873, to Miss Eliza L. Sharratt, a native of Wisconsin, who assisted her husband by teaching and in every way in her power to acquire the competency they enjoyed before his death. She is now the owner of one thousand one hundred and twenty acres of land in the county. Mr. and Mrs. McDonald became parents of five children: John H., an attorney in Walla Walla, who has the honor of having served in the Philippine war as a member of the First Washington's; Elsie M., now Mrs. Edward H. Bradbury; Jessie E., a student in the Washington Agricultural College, at Pullman; and Lila G., a student in the public schools, also William F., who died at the age of eighteen. The family affiliate with the First Presbyterian church of Walla Walla, and Mrs. McDonald also belongs to the Woody Glen Circle, Women of Woodcraft, and to the Order of Washington. * * * * Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in July 2007 by Diana Smith. This biography was transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. Unless otherwise stated, no further information is available on the individual featured in the biography.