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Angus William McDonald Papers, 1860. Accession 21877. Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Lent for copying by Rose McDonald, June 1941.
Angus McDonald was born 14 February 1799 in Winchester, Virginia, to Angus McDonald (1769-1814) and Mary McGuire (d. 1809). He attended Old Winchester Academy and was appointed to the United States Military Academy 30 June 1814. Graduating 17 July 1817, McDonald was appointed 3rd lieutenant and eventually rose to the rank of 1st lieutenant. He resigned his commission 31 January 1819. He surveyed lands in Illinois and Missouri with his brother Edward Charles McDonald (1803-1862), then became a partner in the Missouri Fur Company in 1821. When the company failed, McDonald returned to Virginia, settling in Hampshire County, where he became deputy sheriff. One 11 January 1827 he married Leacy Ann Naylor (d. 1843) of Hampshire County. After her death, he married Cornelia Peake (1822-1909) of Missouri. McDonald relocated to Winchester 9 September 1856. Two years later, 26 March 1858, Governor Henry A. Wise (1806-1876) appointed him a commissioner for Virginia in a boundary dispute with Maryland. In 1860, McDonald travelled to England with his son William Naylor McDonald (1834-1895) to get copies of records held by the British government. He returned and was in Richmond, Virginia, when the state seceded from the Union. He went to Harper's Ferry and raised a regiment of cavalry for service. After seeing active military duty early in the Civil War, he returned to Richmond and became a military advisor in the War Department. Because of illness, he travelled to Lexington, Virginia, to be with his wife in December 1863. The following June, Union troops captured McDonald and he was imprisoned until released on 7 November 1864. He returned to Richmond, where he died 1 December 1864 and was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.
Papers, June-October 1860, of Angus McDonald (1799-1864) of Winchester, Virginia, who was a commissioner on a boundary dispute between Virginia and Maryland and who travelled to England to collect documents concerning Virginia's boundaries. Papers include receipts and accounts concerning the copying of documents; letters to and from McDonald and William Naylor McDonald (1834-1895) concerning their trip to England for documents, personal and family matters, and the shipment of documents back to Virginia; and notes on items to be copied.