Al McDonald Dies Suddenly Tuesday Afternoon

Al McDonald died at his home south east of Blair late Tuesday afternoon after an illness of only a few hours. Mr. McDonald complained of headache and was assisted to his bed and expired in less than an hour, a ruptured blood vessel in the brain being assigned as the cause.

Al McDonald was born on the land homesteaded by his parents six miles northwest of Ft. Calhoun July 19, 1866, and was 56 years old on his last birthday. He had been prominently connected with affairs of the county and was a successful farmer and a man who stood high in the estimation of the community.

Surviving him are his wife and nine children, Jack, Glen, Harland, Andrew, Byron, Allie, Mrs. Eva Wilcox, Fern and Hazel, all with the exception of Jack and Eva are at home. There are also four grandchildren; four brothers, William, George, James and John, and four sisters, Mrs. Mark Shipley, of Lyons, Nebr.; Mrs. Frank Shipley, of McLean, Nebr.; Mrs. Frank Overman, who lives in Colorado, and Mrs. Frank McBride, of Blair. His wife was formerly Miss Rachel McBride of Washington county.

The funeral will be held at the home at 1:00 o’clock Friday afternoon.

#2-Pilot 21 Mar 1923

The funeral of Allan McDonald, which was to have been held last Friday afternoon, was held Monday afternoon, having been delayed on account of the severe storm. It was impossible to use the hearse for the roads hadn’t been broken and a team and bob sled had difficulty making the trip to the McDonald farm and to the cemetery in Ft. Calhoun where burial was made. Mr. McDonald died very suddenly Tuesday afternoon of last week from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage, living but about an hour after the attack seized him. Allan was the fourth son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McDonald, pioneer settlers in that vicinity, on July 19th, 1866, and so was past 56 years of age at the time of his death. He was married to Miss Rachel McBride on April 24th 1895, and nine children were born to them, all of whom are living. They are John, Byron, Glen, Harland, Andrew, Hazel, Allie, Fern and Mrs. Harley Wilcox. He is also survived by his wife, who was not at home when death came, being with her sister, Mrs. Taylor French, who was critically ill. He leaves four brothers, John, William, George and Henry, all of the same neighborhood, and four sisters, Mrs. Frank Overman, of Ft. Lupton, Colo., Mrs. Mark Shipley, of Lyons, Neb., Mrs. Frank Shipley, of Pierce county, and Mrs. Frank McBride of this city. Mr. McDonald was born on the same farm where death found him. Though the old house has long since been vacated for the new and modern home, it is still carefully preserved. He was a good husband, father and neighbor and was therefore a good citizen, who will be greatly missed by all who knew him. The bereaved family and relatives have the sincere sympathy of a host of friends.

#3-Tribune 22 March 1923

PIONEER ALLEN McDONALD

We were sorry to learn of the death of Allen McDonald, one of our grandest farmer friends. We will remember our first visit to the home of Thomas McDonald, the father and mother of Allen. The grand old Scotch people gave us a grand welcome on the farm where they had settled when they gave up their store in Decatur – now across the river on the Iowa side – now on the homestead where Allen’s brothers were born over 60 years ago. Twice the father served with us on the township election board and once John McDonald and I saved the Ryan farm from a prairie fire, and in the years Doctor Gilder and I scoured this region for ancient Indian relics, the brothers gathered some of the finest flints and stone implements we ever saw, and thus the families and I have remained intimate ever since. It is very doubtful whether another family in the county has so many farmer families that have stuck to the soil and made good and always left a clean name and made so many friends in a continuous residence of over 60 years as they have, simply attending to their own business and having that grand feature of real old fashioned hospitality that has made the Scotch name a monument in so many parts of the inhabited world.

#4-15 Mar., 1923 - The Enterprise

ALLAN McDONALD

Allan McDonald, one of the best known of the early pioneers of this county, died very suddenly at his home south of Blair at about five o’clock on last Tuesday afternoon. The immediate cause is supposed to have been a blood clot on the brain which may have been the remote result of an injury sustained about two years ago when a tree which he was felling struck him, seriously injuring him. His recovery was very slow and in fact he never fully regained his former robust health.

Deceased was born in 1866 on the farm on which he died. He was the fourth son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McDonald, and was born in the old log house erected by his father in the early pioneer days. This same house, while long ago abandoned for the modern home now gracing the old homestead, is carefully preserved and tenderly guarded by the McDonald family who held it in reverence of the happy days of childhood.

He was married April 24, 1895 to Rachael McBride, and to them nine children were born, all of whom are living and with the exception of two who are married, are all at home.

At the time of his death the wife was not at home, she being called to care for her sister, Mrs. Taylor French, who is critically ill, but the children did all that could have been done as he was ill but about an hour. He complained of a headache, and accordingly he went to his room where within an hour he died.

The bereaved wife and children, four brothers and four sisters are left to mourn his death, and the whole neighborhood feels that a good neighbor and a man whose life was above reproach, whose word was a good as a bond, has passed from among them.

The children are: John, Byron, Glen, Harland, Andrew, Hazel, Allie, Fern and Mrs. Harley Wilcox. The brothers are John, William, George and Henry, all living in the neighborhood, and the sisters are Mrs. Frank Overman of Ft. Lipton, Colo.; Mrs. Mark Shipley, Lyons, Nebr.; Mrs. Frank Shipley, Pierce Co. and Mrs. Frank McBride of Blair.

At this writing no arrangements have been made for the funeral.

The funeral was delayed on account of snow drifts, but was held Monday in the Presbyterian church. W. H. Woods

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~