born 4 May 1845
married November 24, 1866 to Mary (Lee) Steel, divorced
married February 12, 1873 to Christina Comb Sim (a widow)
died June 25, 1916.
father of James Rowan Donaldson b 1877
grandfather of Karl Maeser Donaldson b 1897
great-grandfather of Chad Klaron Donaldson b 1943
JOHN DONALDSON
1845-1916
As Written by Verma Donaldson
With additions from Francelle, Ethella, and others
John Donaldson was born 4 May 1845 at Bridge of Johnston, Renfrew, Scotland. James and Mary Rowan took John to raise when he became an orphan at five years of age. Carl’s father was named James Rowan is appreciation of the kindness this family showed to Grandpa John.
Carl said that Grandpa had a beautiful handwriting and he could read, but Carl didn’t know how much schooling he had.
The following information is copied from a letter Uncle Ozz and Aunt Verma received from Ozz’s cousin, James Donaldson, July 7, 1948:
“I understand he (Grandfather Donaldson) was baptized in England and came to America on the high seas. Since he was an orphan (as I hear) he had a hard life. He was very strict, especially when the mother (Christina Sim) passed away. He did not spare the rod. He went to old Mexico not for Polygamy but because the Saints were told that grass grew to a horse’s belly or to the stirrups on a saddle. The place was called Zion down there, so Grandfather gave up his little home in Castle Dale and hit for Mexico with his trousers which stood up stiff from freezing. They walked from Castle Dale near the Mogollon Mountains. Dad used to tell of sailing hard dried biscuits off the sloping hills at Castle Dale, Utah, because he could not eat them. When he got to Old Mexico he wished more than once he had some hard biscuits. Cracked corn and sorghum kept them from starving to death in Old Mexico. Dad said they also had coal on their property in Castle Dale.”We don’t know how long Grandpa lived in Scotland or when he went to England, but we know he was in England in 1866, for he married Mary (Lee) Steel November 24, 1866, at Bethal, Parish of Bethal, Northumberland, England.
As Ozz understood, his grandfather worked in the coal mines while he was living in England.
John was baptized in March of 1868. We have no record of his wife being baptized, but he is said to have divorced because she refused to join the Latter-day Saint Church and come to America with him. We are not sure when he came to America, but we know that his son William Steel Donaldson was born in England in 1869, and he also had a daughter Margaret. He was married to Christina Sim in Morgan, Utah, February 12, 1873, so he had to come to America sometime between 1869 and 1873. James Rowan Donaldson said that Mary Steel was a widow with two children, and that while he was living in England he was a sailor. Carl understood he worked on the ship that he came to America on to pay for his transportation. Before going west, he worked for awhile in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Later he went to Bingham, Utah, and worked in the copper mines.
John first got acquainted with Christina at a boarding home where he was staying while he was sick. John and Christina Comb Sim were married in Morgan, Utah, February 1, 1851 (wrong). They lived at West Porterville, Utah. While there, they had four children, Mary Janet, John William, James Rowan, and Samuel Alexander. From there they moved to Grand Valley (Moab, Grand County, Utah) and had one child, Joseph Smith. Then they moved to Castle Dale, and there they had two more children, Margret Ellen, born March 26, 1883, who died the same day, and Hyrum Smith, born February 28, 1884.
The year 1886 was a rough year for the family. Christina was pregnant, and her health wasn’t good, for she had albumin. On April 25, 1886, she died, leaving her children motherless and John without a wife to love and support him.
It would be no little task to have the full responsibility of providing and taking care of a family of six children with the youngest being only a year old. No doubt a lot of the responsibility of cooking, washing clothes, cleaning house and especially taking care of the two younger children fell on the hands of Janet who was 13 years old.
Tragedy struck again when Joseph died on June 15, 1887. These last two years had been very traumatic for Grandpa and his family. When John heard the glowing stories of Old Mexico, how the grass grew to a horse’s belly, and that it was a warmer and more desirable climate, this must have sounded like an answer to prayer. It was called Zion so it should be a better place to provide for and raise his family.
In the Fall of 1887, John left for Old Mexico with his five children: Janet, almost 14 years old, William, around 12 ½ years old, James, around 10 ½ years old, Samuel, who was a little past 8 ½ years old, and Hyrum, who was 2 ½ years old. It isn’t certain which route he took, but they must have taken the old Mormon wagon road through northern Arizona and crossed the Colorado River at Lee’s ferry. What makes me feel that they took this route is that Karl Junior found an inscription on a cliff on this route about 80 feet from House Rock Spring in Northern Arizona. Scratched in the sandstone was “J. R. Donelson.” My guess is that he took the same route my grandfather Lunt did going through Winslow and Joseph City, Arizona, and then when he got to Holbrook instead of going to Snowflake he went by St. Johns and from there by the Mogollon Mountains and through Silver City, New Mexico, Deming, and Columbus, New Mexico, and on to Colonia Diaz, Old Mexico. (Carl told me that they went through Silver City, Deming, and Columbus.)
Their first home in Old Mexico was just a dugout. It must have been very disappointing to find out that Mexico wasn’t a land of milk and honey as he had been led to believe. It was a real struggle for the family to survive.
Carl and Ozz neither one knew how Grandpa provided for his family. Ozz recalls of his dad telling about how he and his brothers earned fifty cents a day grubbing mesquite for someone who was clearing some land to farm. It was while doing this that Uncle Sam got his eye put out. There was one time when Grandpa carried mail from La Ascensión and Palomas to the Mormon Colonies.
As long as Carl and Ozz remembers, Grandpa lived in a little two room home southeast of Colonia Diaz about half a mile from their home. Quite often their mother would send the children to take food to him. One day she sent Vearl and Ozz with some food. In appreciation, he gave them each a slice of bread with some molasses on it.
Ozz said, “Grandpa, there are ants on it.”
Grandpa, who couldn’t see very well, replied, “You dad-burn little rascal, you go on and eat it. There are not ants on it.”
One time Carl’s younger brother John asked his grandfather, “Grandpa, why do you call Carl “cattle”?
His emphatic reply was, “Ya dad-burned rascal, I didn’t call him “cattle,” I called him “Cottle!”
While Grandpa was serving as some kind of officer or judge, he had put an outlaw who had caused some disturbances in jail. This outlaw’s name was Charles Parks, who had killed a man in United States and had fled to Mexico to get away from the law. It really made Parks mad to think Grandpa had put him in jail, and he threatened to kill him the first chance he got. One night Grandpa felt impressed to not sleep in his usual place but slept in the other room. He woke up suddenly to a loud bang and his house shaking. Charles Parks had slipped out of jail and got some dynamite and threw it where Grandpa’s bed had been. It didn’t hurt Grandpa except it nearly scared the fire out of him (an old expression).
He was nearly a nervous wreck after this experience, wondering when Parks would try to kill him again. Finally, he just left Mexico and went to St. Johns for a while. After James, his son, and family moved to Hachita, he visited with them a while and he also visited with his son Hyrum in Douglas, Arizona. He was living with his son William in Bisbee, Arizona, when he passed away June 25, 1916.
John and his children sold their property there at Castle Dale and moved to Old Mexico in 1889. They had to leave Mexico when the rest of the Mormons were driven out during the Mexican Revolution. He then went to Phoenix, Arizona, then to Vernon, Arizona, then to Raton, New Mexico, and then to Bisbee, Arizona, where he died June 25, 1916.
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On March 25, 1991, I was checking my family group sheets to make some copies to go in the books I gave our children and grandchildren for Christmas, I found the following information that Daddy (J.R.) Donaldson had told me about his father:
John Donaldson was born in Scotland when he got older he went to England and there met a widow with two children and they got married. He was a sailor while he lived in England. A few years later he came to America and worked in the Coal Mines in Pennsylvania. Later he went to Bingham, Utah and worked in the Copper mines.
He first got acquainted with Christina at a boarding house where he was staying while he was sick. John and Christina Comb Sim were married at Morgan, Utah, February 1, 1851.
They lived at West Porterville, Utah, while there they had four children. From there they moved to Grand Valley and had one child. Then they moved to Castle Dale and there they had two more children. Christina died there from child birth.
He and his children sold their property there at Castle Dale and moved to Old Mexico in 1889 and had to leave Mexico when the rest of the Mormons were driven out. He then went to Phoenix, Arizona, then to Vernon, Arizona, then to Raton, New Mexico, and then to Bisbee, Arizona where he died June 25, 1916.
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Ethelia Donaldson (Carl Donaldson’s daughter) came and visited with us, September 17, 1948. She brought the old family pictures that Amy Grogan had. One of the pictures was of a young couple. Dick told Flossie that the lady was Margaret Donaldson, daughter of John Donaldson by his first wife Mary Steel. Which wife he is said to have divorced because she refused to join the Latter-day Saint church and come to America with him. Ozz and I have a picture of a family who were living in England and were cousins of Ozz’s but we didn’t know their names etc. Ethelia and I believe the mother and the father in this family picture of ours is the same couple as in Amy’s picture.
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