BROUGHTON McDONALD, a retired
farmer and prominent resident of Ridgetown, County of Kent, Ontario,
was born in Utica, New York, in 1830, a son of William and Margaret
McDonald.
William and Margaret McDonald
were natives of Scotland, who, in 1730, emigrated to New York State,
where they resided for three years, the father following his trade
of a weaver. The family then came to the Dominion. Mr. McDonald
purchasing 100 acres in Howard township from the government at $2.50
per acre. this land was situated in the woods, and these worthy
people suffered many hardships during their pioneer life. As the
sons grew to manhood's estate, the work of clearing the land and
cultivating it was turned over to them, and the father spent his
time weaving and spinning flax for the neighbours who gradually took
up land about the McDonald property. The father lived a useful and
happy life, dying in 1869, on this farm, his wife surviving him
until 1878, when she, too, passed away, in Ridgetown. These two
most excellent people became the parents of eight sons and one
daughter: Donald died on his farm in Howard township; John, born in
Scotland, settled in the County of Kent, where he died, leaving a
family; William, born in Scotland settled in Orford, County Kent,
where he died; Isabel, born in Scotland, is the wife of Alexander
McKinney, of Howard, and has a family; Robert is a farmer in Howard
township, and the father of a son, William; Broughton; James, a
farmer of Orford, County Kent, has a large family; Hugh, born in the
Dominion, died in 1896 , in Ridgetown, where he was engaged as a
hardware merchant (he left no family); and Alexander, born at the
homestead in Howard township, purchased a farm in Orford, where he
died in 1896, leaving no family.
Broughton McDonald grew to
manhood on the old homestead, working on the farm in summer, and
attending the district schools in winter, as do most country boys.
In 1863, Mr. McDonald married Miss Margaret, daughter of Kenneth and
Margaret (Douglas) McLean, natives of Nova Scotia, who came to the
Dominion in 1851, settling as farmers at Aldborough, County Elgin.
Kenneth McLean was the son of William McLean, a native of Scotland,
who died in Nova Scotia. Of the family born to Kenneth McLean and
wife, four are now living: Donald, of Glencoe, Ontario; John, of
Abercrombie, County Elgin; Margary, married to Christopher McRae, of
Michigan; and Mrs. McDonald, born in Nova Scotia, in June, 1843.
After their marriage, Mr.
McDonald and his wife settled on a farm in Howard township, and on
it Mr. McDonald erected all necessary buildings, including a
comfortable dwelling house. They resided there until 1900, when he
rented his farm and purchased a house on Johns street, Ridgetown, to
which the family removed that same year. Mr. McDonald owns other
valuable real estate in this city and is quite well-to-do. To Mr. &
Mrs. McDonald were born the following children: (1) Kenneth, born
in County Kent, in 1864, lives in Howard township on the homestead
farm. He married Hannah Brown, of the same county, and has six
children: Jean, Henry B., Kenneth N., Thomas B., Hugh A. and
Lewis. (2) Margaret, born in 1866, married Thomas Price, a farmer
of County Lambton, and has six daughters, Margaret, a student of
Ridgetown high school; Margary; Ida M.; Eliza J.; Anna E.; and
Thelma J. (3) Margary, born in 1870, married William Howey, of
Howard township, and has three children, Bella, Kenneth P. and Edna
M. (4) Jennett, born in 1874, married William Cudmore, a farmer of
Howard township, and has one son, Broughton. (5) Bella, born on
the old homestead, unmarried, resides at home.
Mr. and Mrs. McDonald, as well
as the members of their family, are consistent members of the
Presbyterian Church, in which body they have worshipped for a number
of years. Politically, Mr. McDonald has always been identified with
the Liberal party. Having spent his life in hard work, the ease Mr.
McDonald is now enjoying is but a just reward of his successful
endeavours, and by his earnest efforts to take care of his
interests, and at the same time not interfere with the rights of
others, his pleasant and kindly disposition, and his charitable
acts, he has endeared himself to many, and gained the respect and
esteem of a large circle of warm friends.