McDonald
Land Company
McDonald Land Company
A Family Tradition
William Wallace “ W . W .” McDonald was born in 1817 in Cabell County , WV . He settled in Logan County in the 1850s and married Parthena Scaggs in 1857 . They had seven children : Millard , Bruce , Bilton , Wayne , Anne Brook , Miriam Alice and Marshall , who died in 1901 .
W . W . McDonald purchased approximately 10,000 acres in Southern West Virginia right after the Civil War , primarily for its timber value . He built his homeplace where Man High School currently rests and farmed the entire area where the residential section of South Man is today .
He was close friends with Devil Anse Hatfield and allowed Devil Anse to build a cabin on his land in Rockhouse Creek . This cabin was the retreat Devil Anse and his family used during their feud with the McCoys . Along the way , W . W . purchased additional properties at Huff Junction and around Earling . W . W . died in 1902 and left no will . His wife had died in 1873 , and thus his six remaining children were his only heirs .
During the next 10 years , his children could not agree on how to equitably divide his estate , and it eventually was set to be probated in court . Prior to the court date in 1913 , they agreed to form a company and issue equal shares of stock . Millard , Bilton and Bruce managed the company for a number of years . Around the same time the company — which came to be known as the W . W . McDonald Land Company — was formed , coal appeared on the scene as the primary source of energy for the U . S ., and the McDonalds quickly figured out the new found value of their lands . They donated lands to the railroads and subdivided many of the bottom lands for residential and commercial businesses and soon thereafter , the town of Man was built .
Over the next 30 years , additional properties were purchased by the company and by Bruce and Millard . Two other land companies evolved : the Bruce McDonald Holding Company and David B . McDonald Land Company . All three companies have always been managed by a common board whose members are all McDonald descendants by blood or marriage . Most shareholders today are fifth and sixth generation descendants of W . W . McDonald . The McDonalds have leased their properties to many various coal companies , gas companies and timber companies as this mix has been their primary source of revenue in addition to investments in the stock market starting right after the Great Depression .
The McDonalds have always been very active in their communities as the Man High School , Mallory Grade School , Earling Grade School , Man K-8 School all rest or rested on former McDonald properties . They also have donated their lands for ball fields and continue to look for ways to bring new jobs to the area outside of the coal industry . The McDonalds have donated generously to Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College , the Salvation Army , and the list goes on .
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