Robert Lafayette (McDonald) McDonaldi (1844 - 1929)

Born 11 Mar 1844 in Jefferson, Illinois, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mahalah Alwilda (Joy) McDonald — married 10 Apr 1864 in Gillespie, Texas, United States

Descendants

Died 9 Feb 1929 at age 84 in Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico, United States

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Biography

Robert Lafayette McDonald Is buried in the McDonald Cemetery in New Mexico.

McDonald clan alive and well despite massacres!

Five McDonalds came to America in the late 1700s from Scotland after their clan survived a massacre. Their descendants came to Texas.

EDITOR’S NOTE — This is the 132nd of a series of articles marking Kerr County’s sesquicentennial. By Irene Van Winkle West Kerr Current

This is a story about a clan that survived numerous ordeals, and not just one, but at least two massacres. Separated by a vast ocean and nearly 200 years, the first occurred in their homeland, and the others in the New World.

It was 1692 in the rugged Scottish Highlands near Glencoe during the reign of William and Mary, who had overthrown James II. In the middle of a freezing February night, members of the Campbell clan, who had taken uneasy shelter for 12 days at the home of their rivals, the MacDonalds, killed 38 of their hosts, including Alasdair MacIain, the MacDonalds’ formidable chieftain.

They had executed a secret order that the MacDonalds be decimated “root and branch” by “fire and sword.” Although the MacDonalds declared fealty to William and Mary, they had missed a deadline, and paid the ultimate penalty. A marker in Glencoe still tells the story for visitors.

Sometime in the late 1700s- early 1800s, five MacDonald brothers came to America, arriving in Tennessee. Two of them, Linville, a farmer, and William, a Methodist minister, came to Jefferson County, Illinois. By the 1830s, they spelled their name McDonald, and had intermarried with Rev. Matthew Modglin Taylor’s kin, who had ties with the Joys of Japonica. (See the Joy and Taylor stories in the West Kerr Current issues of March 2 and March 9, 2006, respectively.)

Linville McDonald (1768-1858) wed Priscilla Luraney “Raney” Taylor in 1792, and had nine children: Celia, James M., David, Eleanor, Thomas (1803-1870), William, Elizabeth, John and Joseph “Joe” (1815-??). After Raney died, Linville and a second wife, Elizabeth, had James “Eli,” Sr. (1836-1864).

In 1854/55, Thomas came to Texas with Joe and Eli and their families. Another relative in the group was Olive McDonald’s husband, Hiram Nelson (later hanged by Confederates at Spring Creek). They migrated to New Orleans, across the Gulf of Mexico to Powderhorn (Indianola) and then northward into central Texas.

Thomas wed Rachel Axley and had nine children: Lafayette “Lafe,” William Augustus “Gus” and James “Monroe,” as well as Mary, Melvina, Mariah, Angeline, Josephine and Sam. Joe’s wife was Esther Elizabeth Taylor, and Eli married Caroline Taylor. When Lafe was 84 years old, his interview, written by nephew Leonard Passmore, appeared in the January, 1929 edition of Frontier Times.

Lafe said that Thomas, Joe and Eli settled on Willow Creek in Gillespie County. Thomas worked on and off at the Doss’s ranch on Threadgill Creek. Later, he moved to Spring Creek, where a historic cemetery 12 miles from Harper contains numerous graves of family members. The children were barely schooled, Lafe said, but he learned to read and write a bit.

“Most of my time was spent chasing cattle,” Lafe said. “We would go out sometimes for eight or ten days at a time on a roundup, taking our blankets and grub on a packhorse. ... We all went armed, for we had to be on the lookout all the time for Indians.”

Joe’s daughter, Clarisa, married Texas Ranger Jacob Rynierson Banta in 1850. Six years later, Jacob was killed by Indians while traveling between Burnet and Spring Creek. Clarisa moved back to Spring Creek with her three daughters (Elizabeth, Permilia and Susan) to live with Joe. She married Mexican vaquero Eusebio Joe Garcia and had four more children: Rhoda, William, John and Louis. The couple lived in their log cabin until she died in 1892.

In 1877, Permelia Banta wed Matthew Taylor’s grandson, John Wesley, a Texas Ranger, in the old cabin which sits at Harper’s park. It was moved there from 12 miles away by Floy Bode, Charlie Taylor and many others. Permelia lived to be 103 and was a Centennial Duchess in Harper’s 1963 celebration.

When the Civil War erupted, Lafe was about 18 years old, and followed his father’s politics: “(he) could never reconcile himself to the belief that it was right to rebel against the United States government.”

In 1862, Lafe became a Texas Ranger under Captain William Banta who led them from Camp Verde to “Camp Pumpkin-Head” on the Llano River, to Fort Mason, Spring Creek, and Camp Davis. At age 20, Lafe married Alwilda Joy, but their happiness was short-lived.

“I did not get to remain with her very long, for my services were required with the Rangers,” Lafe said. “I soon had to leave her, never to see her beautiful face again ....”

After Indians had killed a man in Mason County, Lafe said he went on patrol on Devil’s River near Noxville, with 11 men, including Dolph and Alonzo Reese (or more likely, Rees), and John and Jake Banta. Following a rapid grueling chase, they found and fought their prey, and killed their chief. Lafe also described in gruesome detail the death of his relative, Texas Ranger Pete Hazelwood, in 1873.

Lafe’s story was interspersed with tales of hunting bear, gathering honey, and how smart his favorite ranch dogs, Shep and Mollie, were.

In 1864, when notified that they had to enlist in the Confederate army, Lafe headed to Mexico with Ed Jaynes and John Joy. Captain Lewis Dixon’s men tracked the boys, who were forced to surrender. But they were determined to escape, and did so at their earliest opportunity — on foot.

“We ran as hard as we could go for about eight or nine miles when we stopped to rest,” Lafe said. “We listened and heard the tinkling of a cowbell. My hearing was extra good, and I knew what it was; but John Joy contended that it was the bark of hounds on our trail, so we started and ran again until we were completely exhausted.”

Hunger forced them back to Thomas’s house to resupply their provisions and horses. However, with no saddle, Lafe rode bareback all the way to Mexico. Across the Rio Grande, they arrived in Nueva Puebla and ran into trouble.

They were arrested at Piedras Negras, but after negotiating, they were freed — sans horses or munitions. They took jobs drying wet cotton bales, mining silver and splitting cypress. When Tobe and Dick Joy joined them and brought disturbing news about the death of a Mrs. Joy and a daughter, it made Lafe fearful. He lamented being separated from her, adding, “but such are the ordeals of war.”

From Piedras Negras, the young men walked 700 miles to the mouth of the Rio Grande; by February, 1865, they made it to New Orleans where they enlisted on the Union side. When the war ended, they headed home. In San Antonio, Lafe learned the grim truth from Joe McDonald — Alwilda and her mother were killed in December, 1864.

In 1869, Lafe wed Amanda Larimore, and the couple had 12 children. They lived at Spring Creek, then moved to Seven Rivers, New Mexico.

Another tragedy befell the settlers, commemorated on a marker titled “Site of The McDonald Massacre,” on Harper Road, near the intersection of U.S. 290. On Aug. 8, 1864, Eli McDonald was in charge of the family homestead there after Matthew Taylor and his son, Jim, were gone. While fetching water from the nearby spring, Jim’s wife, Gill, was ambushed by a group of Kiowas and died in front of Eli’s eyes. A fight quickly ensued and Eli was killed and scalped. Eli’s wife, Caroline, their daughters Mahala and Becky Jane, and three children of Matthew’s son, Zed (Alice, James and Dorcas), were all taken captive, and ended up in Oklahoma.

Matthew’s aged wife, Hannah (nee Axley), had made a desperate escape, running unshod and hiding in a cave behind the present park in Harper. She wandered all night and finally made it to Doss. When Matthew and Jim returned, they enlisted help from Monroe, Eli’s nephew, burying the victims at Spring Creek. Hannah was reunited with Matthew in a few days.

Ransomed by the Kiowas to the U.S. government, the victims all bore the scars from their ordeal. Caroline recalled their suffering — Becky Jane nearly died of fever, and Mahala had her hand forcibly thrust into a fire.

Caroline later married Pete Hazelwood, and then another man named Pope. She died in her home near Ingram. Mahala married Alan McDonald — seven of their children were buried at Spring Creek.

Becky Jane married Monroe Heron, and Alice wed Gaston Rayner who was killed on Devil’s River. Zed’s orphan, James, died several years after he was released.

Gladys Turner Jenkins, who moved back to Harper with her husband, Jim, is a descendant of Thomas and Rachel’s line; their son Gus’s daughter, Rachel Rosanna (1871-1955) married Virgil Copple. The Copples’ 10th child, Laura, married Jasper Turner and had 10 children including Gladys and her youngest sister, Karen. They have recently reunited, but admit that the family had many ups and downs.

Karen was taken in and raised by Dr. and Mrs. Theron Hawkins of Kerrville. Later, she moved to California, where she met her husband, Robert Pagnini. Sadly, Gladys and Karen’s relationship with their mother was strained, and some of the others siblings are not in touch with them.

Another of Gus’s descendants is Gene Bode, who lives between Harper and London. He grew up at Bode’s Feed in Harper, he said, which was down the street from the Bode home. Gene is still at the helm after taking over from his father, Floy.

“We’ve had that store since my father opened it on February 1, 1941,” Gene said. “I worked there every day from the time I was little.”

Gene is the grandson of Gus and Luanne’s youngest daughter, Ethel MacDonald (1890-1945), who married Oscar Bode, and takes pride in preserving history. He acquired his love of history from hearing stories told by great-aunt, Carrie Calentine, who talked often about her brother, Lafe.

“When Carrie passed, none of her five kids were interested in any stuff,” Gene said. “My dad got his great-grandmother’s Bible from her.”

While hunting bear at a Mescalero Reservation, Gene said that he located Lafe and Amanda’s graves at a Seven Rivers cemetery.

He convinced the owner of Gus’s property to sell him the rocks from the old homestead in Spring Creek, including from the threshhold of the front door, as well as a rock from a wall with a piece of iron used to hitch horses.

He has also just finished his third book, all about his hunting travels.

Although many McDonalds had tragic run-ins with Indians, Jay (John Wesley) Taylor, a descendant of Joe McDonald, has several Indian ancestors who have their own compelling stories.

Jay’s great-grandmother was Joe’s daughter, Clarissa. His grandparents were Permelia Banta and John Wesley Taylor. Their son, Charlie, married Nettie Mae Waddell. Grandma Waddell’s, paternal grandmother was a Comanche Indian. On Jay’s mother’s side, ancestor Mary Hamby was a full-blooded Cherokee from Florida who walked on the Trail of Tears. She married Robert Cavaness, and they came to Texas around 1849-50, settling in Honey Creek, Mason County.

“Mary broke the horses, while Robert raced them,” the legend goes. Their daughter, Irene Fannie, is Jay’s great-grandmother, who married Lee Roy Gentry, a Texas Ranger who was also part-Comanche.

Charlie and Nettie and had three children: Zula, Lula and John Wesley “Jay.” Matthew Taylor’s son, Thurman, married Elizabeth, the daughter of John and Mary Alexander. Mary was killed by Indians on Johnson Creek in 1867, while daughter Nancy escaped.

Charlie Taylor was a butcher and laborer, Jay said, who lived mostly in Mason County. Jay retired as an LCRA line foreman, and has a construction and blasting business.

Zan Toleda of Kerrville is from Gus’s line. Her parents were Clovis and Margaret Jones McDonald. Clovis was the son of Selma Bode and Gus’s son, Oscar. An example of two brothers marrying two sisters was exemplified in a photo in “Here’s Harper,” the centennial book from 1963. It shows a home once owned by Creed Taylor, and family members Oscar Bode and Ethel McDonald, and Oscar McDonald with Selma Bode.

Sue Roberts Black comes from Monroe and Rebecca Taylor McDonald’s line. She was only three years old when grandparents, Charles Angus and Miranda McDonald Roberts, died. Each of them was a single child, but they had 11 children of their own. Charles, like his father, James, was a butcher in Harper, and he also freighted from Kerrville. The town museum has a block from James Roberts’ Butcher shop, built from a big tree trunk.

Sue’s father, Roy, who married Irene Tobin, was a mail carrier. Irene used to play piano accompanying silent films, and still plays. Sue had two siblings: brother Donovan “Buddy” who was killed at age 14 in a hunting accident in Harper; and Beverly Taylor.

Her husband, Albert, was a principal in Katy, Texas after teaching in Harper.

One of her prized mementos are a story, and a set of photographs from Scotland where her cousin, Charlene Barr, visited the site of the first McDonald massacre.

Former Harper postmaster, George “Buzzy” Parker, is another cousin related on both Monroe’s and Gus’s lines, and is also a history buff. Buzzy lives a mile from Harper, but goes often to Noxville, where he keeps cattle.

“The coyotes ate up all my goats last year,” he said, sadly.

Charles Roberts is his great-grandfather, and Buzzy’s father, Carlos, married Floy Bode’s sister, Hallis Wilene.

Buzzy said his great-grandmother’s father, James Parker, married Mathilda Crockett. He believes she was kin to Alamo hero David Crockett.

The first post office in town was at the Parker home, where part of one room was cornered off and the mail was sorted there, Buzzy said. It used to be on the corner where Harper Highway runs into U.S. 290, on the first left-hand lot.

Buzzy said his grandmother, Olive, knew Mahala, one of the children who had been taken by the Kiowa.

“She used to tell me about her, and that she was always very reserved,” Buzzy said. “Her injured hand was always kind of curled up.”

Sources

• Find A Grave: Memorial #80468018
• McDonald clan alive and well despite massacres West Kerr Current Thu, Aug 21, 2008 https://wkcurrent.com/mcdonald-clan-alive-and-well-despite-massacres-p1564-71.htm