History at a Glance

This story is from a history of Margaret McDonald written by her granddaughter Carmelita O'Neill Shackleford in 1966, and from the McDonald family file at the Mason County Historical Society Museum.

"My maternal grandmother, Margaret LaPlant McDonald, was born in Pontiac County, Quebec, Canada, on January 7, 1849, and was married there on November 15, 1869, to Donald McDonald, one of five brothers. After spending a year in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, they set out for the West. They traveled by train to San Francisco, where they embarked upon a sailing vessel and arrived at Port Madison, Washington Territory, two weeks later.

"I remember my grandmother telling me about the trip. She was pregnant with my mother, and the tossing, turbulent waters did nothing to alleviate the sickness of her pregnancy. One morning, the captain came into her cabin, very concerned and wanting to relieve her obvious discomfort. He asked, "How are you this morning, Mrs. McDonald?" to which she could reply only with a weary smile. "Now," he said, "if you will do exactly as I suggest, I'm sure you will feel much better." He left the cabin and returned shortly with a tumbler of port wine. He handed it to her with the admonition that she drink it all and no hesitation about it! Down the hatch, bottoms up! But it was no sooner down, than up it came, all over the captain. However, that was the turning point - from then on she was able to enjoy the voyage.

"My mother Jeanette was born January 10, 1871, about six weeks after their arrival in Mason County, where Grandfather's brothers had already settled. He joined them in the logging business and established a home at Hardscrabble, on Oyster Bay. Over the next 11 years, five more children would be born - three girls and two boys. Sadly, the second son, Thomas, born in 1878, died of encephalitis at the age of 14 months.

"In those days, logging was arduous work that required strength and stamina. One day while working on a log boom, Grandfather fell into the icy water, and as he was some distance from home, he became thoroughly chilled and contracted a severe cold from which he never recovered. After an illness of five years, he passed away in 1882, leaving Grandmother with five children, the oldest of whom was 12-year-old Jeanette, known by then as "Nettie."

"The sole assets of the family were two yoke of oxen and a six-month supply of provisions. What to do? Captain William Renton, one of the early successful lumber mill operators who had built a mill at Port Blakely, had purchased logs from McDonald Brothers. Grandmother decided to appeal to Captain Renton for assistance in establishing a store at Arcadia where loggers could get their clothing and other supplies necessary in their trade. She wrote to him, frankly telling him just what her circumstances were and assuring him that he would be repaid every penny if her business prospered, but would go down with her if it didn't. She had no security except her integrity and her two hands. He must have been impressed, besides being a kindly, generous man, and it was not long before a tugboat steamed into Arcadia with $2,300 worth of goods to set her up in business. She was somewhat appalled at the size of the bill, but when she found the goods were not enough to supply the needs of the loggers and settlers in the area, she did not hesitate to apply for more supplies and further credit. It turned out that Captain Renton had made no mistake in financing this business venture.

"I remember well Grandmother telling me about her entry into the general merchandise business, made possible by the generosity of Captain Renton. With a twinkle in her eye, she said, 'And I could have married him!' My reply was, 'Why in the dickens didn't you, with all his millions?' Apparently, she had no romantic interest in the man who had made her success possible.

"Grandmother was an able, resourceful woman, and she managed to rear her family and give them what in those days was considered a very good schooling. The girls were sent to the Convent school in Olympia, and son Angus was the first student enrolled at Saint Martin's College.

"After a few years, when Arcadia was no longer a logging center, Grandmother moved her family to Shelton and continued her business in a building on Front Street that had been erected as the Masonic Lodge. The ground floor had living quarters and space for her business, while the second floor was used by the Lodge.

"My mother Nettie married Thomas O'Neill in February 1889. All I know about their courtship is that when Dad proposed, Mother's reply was 'Yes, I'll be your wife, but not until you have a house built and ready to move into.' Soon after they were married, my Dad joined my Grandmother in her business and the McDonald Store became McDonald & O'Neill.

"McDonald & O'Neill opened a new, expanded business in the David Shelton building at the northeast corner of First and Railroad. The business carried on there for the next 20 years, until, according to Margaret's obituary, "their interests were divided and Mrs. McDonald joined with another son-in-law, Herbert Clinton." In about 1909, the new firm, McDonald and Clinton, opened in a frame building at the southwest corner of Second and Cota. In 1914, the building was destroyed in a fire that took out an entire block of downtown businesses. McDonald and Clinton rebuilt, with brick rather than timber, and continued in business until about 1935. (In 1969, the brick building, which housed Mac's Corner tavern and Lem Warren Refrigeration, was heavily damaged in a fire, and eventually demolished.)

"Margaret McDonald died on November 3, 1942, aged 93, in the house on Railroad Avenue that she'd lived in for more than 50 years. In her obituary, Journal editor Grant Angle wrote that "Mrs. Margaret McDonald had the distinction of being Shelton's first business woman, and she made a success of her undertaking largely from her own original effort, her industry and her thrift; and it was her proud boast in later years that no one had ever lost a dollar on her account, and that she owed no man a dollar."

■ Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at mchsparker@gmail.com. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."