Edward Nathaniel McDonald

Last updated May 06, 2019

Edward Nathaniel McDonald (May 9, 1832 - June 10, 1899) was a US businessman, the principal stockholder and president of the Globe Mills, and president of McDonald Grain and Milling Company.^[1]^[2]

Early years

McDonald was born in Oswego, New York, in 1832. He was of Scotch-Irish parentage and son of Colon and Jane Winslow McDonald. He was the youngest of eleven children. When 12 years old he went to Canada, where he remained until he was 16 years old, when he returned to Washington County, New York, where he learned the blacksmith trade.

Oswego is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 18,142 at the 2010 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in north-central New York and promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York". It is the county seat of Oswego County.

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States, stretching some 8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, with 70% of citizens residing within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Washington County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,216. The county seat is Fort Edward. The county was named for U.S. President George Washington.

Career

He came to California, arriving in San Francisco October 17, 1853, and in San Pedro the 25th of the same month. He worked at blacksmithing for Alexander & Banning until 1858, when he went into the mercantile business at San Pedro. Soon after, he moved his stock of goods to Wilmington, where he sold out and entered the employ of Banning & Company as superintendent of the building of wharves and warehouses. In 1859, in company with S. H. Wilson, he went into the sheep raising business on Catalina Island and continued in that business until 1862, when, by the dry season and low prices he lost all his property. He became employed again by Banning & Co., as wagon master, and soon had general charge of their freight business and workshops, where he continued until after the American Civil War. In 1865, he engaged in the butcher business in Wilmington. In 1866, he went to Arizona to fill a government contract, where he netted $15,000 in one year. Returning to his home in Wilmington in 1867, he invested his money in land and sheep with good success, and continued in the sheep business for 14 years. From 1886 to 1890, during the land boom, he sold much of his land at a large profit, and invested largely in Los Angeles city property. In 1876, he built the McDonald block on North Main Street. In 1892, he built another block across the street from the first one.^[1]

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a city in, and the cultural, commercial, and financial center of, Northern California. San Francisco is the 13th-most populous city in the United States, and the fourth-most populous in California, with 883,305 residents as of 2018. It covers an area of about 46.89 square miles (121.4 km²), mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second-most densely populated large US city, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is also part of the fifth-most populous primary statistical area in the United States, the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

Phineas Banning was an American businessman, financier and entrepreneur.

American Civil War Civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The most studied and written about episode in U.S. history, the Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people. War broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

During the later years of his life he was engaged in the grain business, and built several fine warehouses for storing grain. Together with Will E. Keller, McDonald went into the feed and grain business with a capital of $15,000, under the firm name of the McDonald Company. Initially a $100,000 a year business, it increased to $12,000,000 per year by 1915. Later, this company made its headquarters at Los Angeles, where they built a feed mill at the corner of Molino and Palmetto streets and were organized as the McDonald Grain and Milling Company with a capital of $200,000, McDonald being the president and Keller the secretary and manager. As the business increased, they also went into flour milling, putting up their first mill at 913 East Third street in 1898.^[2] McDonald was the principal stockholder and president of the Globe Mills.^[1]

Will E. Keller was a US businessman. He was president of the Globe Grain and Milling Company; president of the Valley Ice Company at Fresno, California and Bakersfield, California; president of the Globe Ice and Cold Storage Company at El Paso, Texas; president of the San Joaquin Valley Farm Lands Company; director of the Ralston Iron Works, San Francisco; and director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Los Angeles.

3rd Street in Los Angeles is a major east–west thoroughfare. The west end is in downtown Beverly Hills by Santa Monica Boulevard, and the east is at Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles, where it shares a one-way couplet with 4th Street. East of Alameda it becomes 4th Street, where it heads to East Los Angeles, where it turns back into 3rd Street upon crossing Indiana Street. 3rd Street eventually becomes Pomona Boulevard in Monterey Park, where it then turns into Potrero Grande Drive and finally turns into Rush Street in Rosemead and ends in El Monte.

Personal life

October 19, 1865, McDonald married Miss Mary Hamilton Winslow of Washington County, New York. They had two sons, Winfred Savage, born March 1, 1871, died June 22, 1896; Ransom Waldon, born October 26, 1872, died November 26, 1886. McDonald amassed quite a large fortune, valued at about $160,000. He died after a lingering illness, at his home in Wilmington, on June 10, 1899, leaving no descendants, his wife alone surviving him.^[1]

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References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles's "Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles" (1898)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : J. M. Guinn's "A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs: Also Containing Biographies of Well-known Citizens of the Past and Present" (1915)

The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

1 2 3 4 Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles (1898). Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles (Public domain ed.). The Society. pp. 274–.
1 2 Guinn, James Miller (1915). A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs: Also Containing Biographies of Well-known Citizens of the Past and Present (Public domain ed.). Historic Record Company. pp. 626–.

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[Society1898-1] 1 2 3 4 Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles (1898). Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California and Pioneer Register, Los Angeles (Public domain ed.). The Society. pp. 274–.

[Guinn1915-2] 1 2 Guinn, James Miller (1915). A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs: Also Containing Biographies of Well-known Citizens of the Past and Present (Public domain ed.). Historic Record Company. pp. 626–.