MacDonald, John Angus, 1874?-1954.

Ranch hand, miner, merchant, and politician. Born, Denver, Colorado, 1870s. Died, Socorro, New Mexico, 1954. Died, Socorro, New Mexico, 1954.

John Angus MacDonald, ranch hand, miner and merchant, was born in Denver, Colorado in the 1870s. He grew up in a cabin on Saguache Creek in Colorado. His family moved to Alamosa in 1883, but when his mother died in 1887 he returned to Saguache to live with his maternal grandparents on their ranch. There he learned to ride and work livestock. After an argument with his grandfather he left home and worked as a ranch hand and prospector in Colorado. He first came to New Mexico around 1895 to work mining claims owned by his uncle in the Magdalena Mountains. He became the storekeeper for the Rosedale Mine and Milling Company and also served as postmaster of Rosedale.

MacDonald's expertise in mining took him to Arizona, Colorado, California and finally Mexico in the early 1920s. He also leased claims in New Mexico at Cooks Peak, Hanover and Kelly.

He founded a mercantile company, the McDonald Company, with a general store in Kelly that opened around 1907. He moved the store to Magdalena in the early 1930s when mining operations in Kelly declined. In 1916 he was elected to the New Mexico State Senate and represented Socorro County until 1928.

He died in Socorro on January 4, 1954.