McDonald, Angus, 1816-1889

Angus McDonald was born in Scotland in 1816, and came to Fort Colville in what is now the state of Washington in the fall of 1839 as a trader for the Hudson's Bay Company. He went to Fort Hall in what is now Idaho in 1840. In 1842, he married a Nez Percé woman, Catherine, at Fort Hall; their marriage was solemnized by a Jesuit missionary in 1854. They had twelve children between 1845 and 1871: Duncan, John Christina, Donald, Anne, Margaret, Thomas, Alexander, Archibald, Joseph, Angus Colville, and Mary. Angus also had another son, Angus Pierre, by another Native American woman. Angus McDonald was sent to Fort Connah on the Flathead Reservation in 1847 and set up his own family home nearby at Post Creek. In 1871, McDonald retired from Hudson's Bay, which was closing down its U.S. operations, and settled back on the family home at Post Creek. He had a lifelong interest and education in English literature, particularly Shakespeare. He died in 1889.

From the guide to the Angus and Catherine McDonald Papers, 1858-1899, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)

Angus Pierre McDonald was the son of Hudson’s Bay Company trader Angus McDonald and a Native American wife (Okanogan tribe) that McDonald took for a year in the absence of his wife, Catherine. He was born about 1861. In his later years, along with many of his siblings, he had to fight to establish his status as a U.S. citizen in order to keep his land in Niarada, Montana, after allotment of the Flathead Reservation.

From the guide to the Angus McDonald Letter, 1914, (University of Montana--Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)