The family eventually moved on to Snohomish County, Washington as James is shown as a "railroad station foreman" there, in the 1900 U.S. Census. The census also notes that the McDonalds had 5 children but only 2 were still living in 1900, Alexander and Jessie. By 1910, James, Eliza, and their granddaughter, Cecil N. Johnston, Jessie's daughter, were living in Welangdon, Snohomish County, Washington.
James Renwick McDonald died December 18, 1925 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Everett, Washington. After his death, Eliza lived with her daughter, Jessie (who was also a widow by that time), at 2129 Maple Street in Everett. Eliza Ann Love McDonald died July 11, 1935 and is buried next to her husband.
Left: photo of Eliza Love McDonald (right front), daughter Jessie McDonald Johnston (behind Eliza), son Alexander E. McDonald (upper left corner), and Evelyn Hamshaw, granddaughter (in the middle). Speculation: the woman in front of Alex McDonald may be his wife, Estell Mounts McDonald; the identity of the boy to Eliza's right is unknown.
James and Eliza had three more children during their years in Nebraska; Jessie M. McDonald, born in 1870, Maggie E. McDonald, born May 11, 1873 and Nancy S. McDonald, born in 1876.
The McDonalds' great-great-grandson, Bruce Ollinger, contributed the following: James Renwick and Ann McDonald left Iowa in 1870 and took up a U.S. Patent on some land in Franklin County, Nebraska. You had to have a residence on the land and perform other things like planting trees to "prove up" the land. This generally took 5 years. The McDonalds were innovative in that they had a dugout on a hillside with a sod roof on the farm. They also had a "real" house in the closest town near them, which was Bloomington, Nebraska. James Renwick received title on the land from the U S Patent office on Oct. 1, 1875.
The 1880 U.S. Census shows the McDonalds living in Grant, Franklin County, Nebraska with James listed as a "farmer." Also listed are Orma F. McDonald (James' nephew) age 24, occupation "harness maker," and William Slack, boarder, age 30, "farm laborer."
James' uncle, Alexander S. McDonald, joined the family at about this time, taking out a patent on some land near James and Annie's homestead. Alexander's fondness of his nephew and complete trust of Eliza Ann are clearly evident in his Last Will and Testament, shown below.
This photograph of Eliza Ann (frequently referred to as Annie in census records), her husband, James Renwick McDonald (known as "Ren"), and their children, Alexander E., Fannie, Jessie M., Maggie E., and Nancy S., was taken in approximately 1885. A note about vintage photographs: the technology at the time required the subject to remain "still" for a lengthy period of time which may account for the lack of "smiles," and possibly some distortion.
The McDonalds moved to a brand new town in west-central Kansas called Santa Fe in 1886 (there had been talk of a railroad being built near the town). James and Ann became the owners of the Santa Fe House Hotel. When the railroad didn't come through and the harvested grain rotted, waiting to be shipped, people started leaving Santa Fe, including the McDonalds, who had a year's head start on the rest of the people. They moved to the South Bend, WA and Portland, OR area in 1889. Fannie Mae Hamshaw, the oldest McDonald daughter, died of consumption on April 27, 1894, in Portland, leaving three small children motherless. From the stories that were written and handed down, the children went to live with their McDonald grandparents while their father, Fletcher Hamshaw, went out to make a living. It is said that "Little Grandmother Love," as they called Ann, took charge of the children until their father remarried. Their fondness of "Little Grandmother Love" never faltered.
Below: June 12, 1885 Nebraska State Census for Franklin County, Nebraska listing the McDonald family members and their visitors, Ida Eleanor Love Moore (later Cooney) and her daughter, Ethel Beatrice Moore.
Eliza Ann Love was born January 15, 1846 in Cayuga, Seneca County, New York to James Hamilton and Susan Devitt Love. She married James Renwick McDonald on Monday, May 2, 1864 in the home of her parents in Albia, Iowa.
They became parents of two children while in Iowa, Alexander E. McDonald, born April 21, 1865, and Fannie M. McDonald born March 17, 1868.
The 1870 Census actually shows the McDonald family twice: in Louisville, Cass County, Nebraska and in Ashland, Saunders County, Nebraska. James had, apparently, been hired by the railroad and was listed as a "section boss." In addition to the two McDonald children, the census lists the names of 8 "boarders" living with the family in Louisville, and 9 in Ashland, all railroad employees and all "Swedish immigrants." Many of the same boarders were listed in both locations.
The big "land grab" was on and the railroads were instrumental in putting the buyers and sellers together. It may be that a railroad section boss would be expected to pick up and move at a moment's notice...with wife, children and boarders in tow.
1880 Map of Railroad Progress through Nebraska
Period advertisement aimed at settling "the West."
Note: James R. McDonald's Civil War Memorial located in Evergreen Cemetery, Everett, Snohomish County, Washington shows his birthdate as January 12, 1843. His birthdate is shown here as January 6, 1843 as that is the date his wife, Eliza Ann Love McDonald, reported for use on his death certificate in 1925.
