Henry+McDonald+family

=Henry McDonald family=

Henry McDonald and his wife, Laura Wallace, were each born in Kentucky in 1801. They were married there in 1821 and removed to the Big Piney River region of south central Missouri where Henry was employed in the logging business.

Their first son, Harry, was born there in July 1822.

In the late spring of 1833, the three members of the Henry McDonald family joined the group of first settlers who migrated together into the Oak Creek valley several miles to the east southeast. Henry had been instrumental in choosing this site as he recognized the good water source along with the best land in the region along the streams in this particular valley. He and Laura sought a successful farming operation.

Early in their time in the valley, along with his young son, eleven year old Harry, Henry saw the need for a regular freight wagon run back to the lumber camps. They organized and led the early work to prepare the roads. They obtained the wagons, along with the animals, to begin what became a successful, regular service that served both them and their neighbors in the valley for years to come.

In July, 1838, sixteen years to the month after her first son, Laura (Wallace) McDonald gave birth to a second son, Daniel.

Harry McDonald married Sarah Baldridge in 1842, when each were 20. They had put an expansion on the McDonald house and they young couple lived there with his family.

In early 1843, Henry McDonald won the first postal mail contract to the new Oak Springs post office from the lumber camps. Their good work allowed them to continue the service until the war suspended postal service.

Henry's wife, Laura, died in May 1848 at the age of only 47, leaving a young son, not yet ten years old, for the family to look after. With Laura's passing, Sarah became, essentially, the "lady of the house."

Daniel McDonald married Jane Truesdale in June, 1859, and they lived in the Truesdale farm house as her parents had moved to a new home in Oak Springs shortly before their wedding.

Henry McDonald died in March 1872 and was buried beside his wife in the McDonald Cemetery.