Dr. Silas McDonald Source: St. Joseph Gazette-Herald 1901-11-09

DR. M'DONALD PASSES AWAY DEATH OF BUCHANAN COUNTY'S PIONEER PHYSICIAN.

Worthy Heritage from the Days When Rough and Ready Conditions Bred Stern Virtues

History of His Life. Dr. Silas McDonald, the pioneer physician of Northwest Missouri and the first man to practice medicine in Buchanan County, died at 9:30 o'clock Friday morning at the family residence, 519 North Seventh street, of catarrhal pneumonia, after an illness of fourteen days. For the past twenty-five years Doctor McDonald had lived a life of retirement, having been an active practitioner about forty years in St. Joseph and this county. He was married over sixty-two years ago. He is survived by his widow. Doctor McDonald was one of the foremost residents of this city and is especially well remembered by all old residents. Doctor McDonald was born in Washington County, Ky., April 18, 1812, and consequently was eighty-nine years, six months and nineteen days old at his death. Alexander, the father of Silas McDonald, migrated from Virginia in company with his twin brother, Richard, at an early day, each preempting large adjoining tracts of lands in the primitive forests of Washington County, Ky. In 1794 Alexander was married to Miss Elizabeth Taylor of Virginia, and to this union twelve children were born, of whom seven were boys and five girls. Silas was the ninth in order, and the last surviving member of the family. Silas received such education as was available at that day in a new country, chose the practice of medicine as his profession, attended his first course of lectures at Transylvania University in 1834, removed to Missouri in 1836, and the following year entered the Cincinnati Medical College, where he completed his course. In 1838 he returned to Missouri, settled in Buchanan County twelve miles south of St. Joseph, and thus became the pioneer physician of the county, continuing practice until about twenty-five years ago. Married Sixty-Two Years. On October 30, 1839, he was married to Miss Sarah Donnell (her father and family having then but recently migrated from North Carolina) who survives him. This proved to be a happy union, as for more than three score years they have loved, cherished and sustained each other throughout the various vicissitudes of life. They removed to St. Joseph in 1847, where they since resided. To this couple were born eleven children, six boys and five girls, the following of whom are now living: Martha, widow of the late Charles B. France; Joan, now Mrs. R.D. Gilkey; Mehetable, now Mrs. Ernest Lindsay; William, Silas Jr., and Alexander, all residing in St. Joseph, the latter only remining unmarried. Numbered among the very oldest citizens of this community, Doctor McDonald possessed a wide circle of friends to which owing to his genial and attractive personality, his unfailing cheerfulness and his keen sense of humor, he constantly added. To the younger generations with which he came in contact he was a lovable and worthy heritage from the days when rough and ready conditions bred stern virtues and molded virile character; and most beautiful among the many exemplifications of those virtues were his unfailing devotion and solicitude through sixty-two years to the wife of his youth, and his unceasing interest in the happiness and welfare of his children. He was indeed the ideal type of husband and father. Was Very Active. In spite of his great age doctor McDonald's naturally vigorous physique permitted him to maintain his activity almost to the last; while the extraordinary elasticity and alertness of his mind were never better evidenced than by the fact that all through his final illness and almost up to the hour of dissolution, he was not only conscious of his surroundings but was able to diagnose and describe his symptoms and predict when the end would come. Doctor McDonald, with his wife, united with the First Presbyterian Church of this city in 1856 by letter of transfer. . His piety was in consonance with character-quiet, unassuming but pronounced and vigorous. Possessed, unassuming but pronounced and vigorous. Possessed of a confident faith, he held his own goodness in low esteem, trusting solely to divine grace for salvation; and so, realizing his approaching end, he faced death with peaceful assurance.

The father of Rufus McDonald came to St. Joseph in 1838 being one of the first physicians to locate in Buchanan County. "His kind and sympathetic nature made him a welcome visitor in the sick room and, when active in practice, his calls were numerous and remote."