James Greer McDonald

James Greer McDonald (March 22, 1824 – January 23, 1909) was a surveyor in Los Angeles County, California, an authority on horticulture and a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of that city, in the 19th century.

Biography McDonald was born on March 22, 1824, in Wilson County, Tennessee, the son of James McDonald, a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The family moved to Texas in 1838 and lived there until 1853, when young McDonald was offered a job as a deputy surveyor-general of California, under John C. Hayes. He voyaged to California and crossed Mexico via the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

In 1858, McDonald returned to Texas and was married to Margaret V. Samuel. In the same year he organized a group to cross the plains to California by the southern route, surveying the Mexico–United States border. More than ten months later, his wife joined him, making the overland trip by stage.

Vocation

Besides his surveying work, McDonald attempted mining ventures with William Workman, but when they failed to succeed, he turned to citriculture, renting the "noted orchard" of William Wolfskill and later planting a 40-acre grove of his own, where he had his family home, in today's Central-Alameda district.

References and notes

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