The ancestral line of Richard Hayes McDonald can be followed far back into the ages when history becomes lost in myth. For the earliest records of the McDonalds (formerly McDonnell) of Ireland and Scotland, I refer to "Biography of Richard Hayes McDonald."¹

My story begins with Brian and Mary McDonnell (and it is the Brian who changed the name to John, William, James, Brian (or Bryan) and Mary. Brian served in an Irish Volunteer Regiment in the cause of King James II (Glorious Revolution of 1688) and, after that cause was lost, in 1690 he, with his wife and five children, emigrated to America. He purchased 600 acres of land from William Penn, situated on Mill Creek in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware. Here he died, leaving the above mentioned five children plus Richard and Annabella.

Soon Bryan moved, about 1753 to Botetourt County, Virginia and died in 1757, leaving the following children: Richard, James, Edward, Joseph, Rebecca, Catherine, Mary, Bryan, and Priscilla.

Bryan's son, Joseph, who was born April 4, 1722 in Delaware moved to Greenfield, then to a place in the Alleghenies near Blacksburgh, Montgomery County, Va. He died in 1809, leaving the following children: William, Elizabeth, Jonas and James. Richard and Alexander moved to near Mackville, Washington County, Kentucky, where some of their descendants live today.

Bryan's son Richard, who held the rank of Major in the Indian wars, was born in 1763 and died Feb. 10, 1809, leaving the following children: James, Joseph, Griffin, Elizabeth, Mary and Ursula.

Richard's son, James was born near Mackville, Ky., Dec. 16, 1791. On Sept. 28, 1819 he married Martha Shepard Peter, daughter of Jesse and Milly Peter. She was born Feb. 25, 1801. James, or "Colonel James", as he was always called, having been regularly advanced in the militia from private, served four terms in the Legislature of Kentucky, three in the House and one in the Senate. In 1851 he, with all the family who had not already gone, left for Andrew County, Missouri. They lived there two years, then, in 1859 crossed the plains to California. James died March 16, 1865 and was buried in Sacramento, but was subsequently moved to the Masonic Cemetery in San Francisco. James and Martha had twelve children: Richard Hayes, Milly Ann, Martin Pierce (died in infancy), James Monroe, DeWitt Livingston, Marion Jasper, Marcus Linsey, Joseph William, Josephine Bonaparte, Maria Louis, Alice Fisk, and Martha Harriet.

Richard Hayes McDonald, my grandfather, was born in 1820 and died in 1903 at the age of 83. I over heard him speak of his twelve brothers and sisters but the only one familiar to me were James, a prominent and wealthy man, living in San Francisco; DeWitt; Jasper (full name : Marion Jasper); Mark (full name Marcus Linsey) who, with a large family, lived in Santa Rosa; and Josephine, also of Santa Rosa.

At the time of my grandfather's biography was compiled, he was president of the Pacific Bank in San Francisco with his brother, James, holding the office of VP. James was also president of the Keystone Gold Quartz Mine in Amadore County, California as well as being a State Senator for two years (1859-1861) and later ran for Mayor of San Francisco but was defeated by less than 100 votes. He never married but lived a bachelor life at 912 Union Street in San Francisco in one of his own houses. His life was interwoven with my grandfather's.