Everyone in McDonaldville is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day

Thursday, March 6, 2014

There were so many Irishmen named McDonald in early Algoma that one local newspaper editor, Frank Elliott, asked why the town wasn’t renamed “McDonaldville”.

After all, Algoma has never had a problem with changing its name.  In 1859, it was called Wolf River.  Then it became Ahnepee.  In 1873, the spelling was slightly changed to Ahnapee.  Lastly, in 1897, the name was changed to Algoma.  At one time, “McDonaldville” would have been a very fitting name for the town.  There were several branches of the McDonald clans in Algoma. 

On Fremont Street lived Mr. and Mrs. J. R. McDonald.  He was a lawyer, a justice of the peace, and served in several other town offices.  They had three sons:  James; George; and Frank; and a daughter, Nellie.

Across the street lived Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel McDonald.  Nathaniel was a woodsman.  They had three sons too:  Eugene, Walter, and Robert. 

Nathaniel McDonald’s brother, Charles, who was a veterinarian, lived just two blocks east.  That McDonald family also had three sons:  George; Edward; and David; and one daughter, Ida.

A few doors down the street from Charles lived the Michael McDonald family.  Michael was an attorney, businessman, and Civil War veteran.  He and his wife, Ella Louise Elliott McDonald, had (you guessed it, didn’t you?) three sons:  George Irving “G.I.”, Herbert, and Rutherford.  And, one daughter, Frances. 

Michael McDonald’s widowed mother Jane also lived in Algoma.  She operated a hotel and tavern on First Street just south of Steele Street.  She was an early settler who came to Wolf River with three sons:  Michael; John; and Andrew; and one of her daughters, Mollie.

Captain William Henry McDonald and his wife lived at the corner of Fifth and Fremont.  (William was a brother of Nathaniel, the woodsman, and Charles, the veterinarian.)  Captain William’s family owned the Ahnapee House which was later renamed Hotel Stebbins.  Their three sons were Alvin, William Jr., and Thomas.  They had three daughters: Theresa, Millie, and Eva Belle.

John McDonald (the brother of Michael, son of Jane), and his wife, Mary, owned the Opera House in Algoma.  The building was used for roller skating too.  John was a fisherman and held several other careers after losing an arm in the Civil War.  His family was large with at least nine children including: Mary Jane, J. Francis, Andrew, Elizabeth, Charles, Ellen, John Jr., Bessie, and Henry.

It seems fitting that Algoma receive one more honorary renaming--to “McDonaldville”—if only for St. Patrick’s Day.     

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