Daniel McDonald, one of the younger class of county officers, and a very capable man, is a native of Huron county, and was born in the township of Stanley, August 19, 1844. His father, Donald McDonald, is a native of Inverness-shire, Scotland, and came to Canada in the year 1831. He settled on the London road in the township of Stanley, where he has since lived, linking the very earliest settlement and pioneer hardships of the “Huron Tract” with the now highly developed and flourishing County of Huron and being one of the very few remaining witnesses who can refresh and embellish the incidents, associations, and vicissitudes of early bush life, and give it a reputation almost as enduring as history itself. The mother of our subject was Janet Munro, who was also Scotch. She is the mother of three children, of whom Daniel was the second child. He received his education in the grammar school of Goderich; studied law here with John B. Gordon; was admitted as an attorney in 1871; practiced two years at Brussels, county of Huron, in company with Wilmot R. Squier, now Senior Judge of the County; and in October, 1875, was appointed Clerk of the Crown, Registrar Surrogate Court, and Clerk of the County Court, which offices he still holds. He is prompt in discharging his duties, courteous and obliging, and hence very popular.
In the summer of 1875 the subject of this sketch traveled on the continent and through Britain. His manners are ingratiating and easy, and in conversation he is pleasing and instructive, having a mind well stored with the treasures of learning, and being particularly familiar with the political world. On all occasions he is highly gratified by the charms of conversation and the pleasures of society, of which he is very fond.
Mr. McDonald was reared in the Reform school of politics, and before taking his present offices, was quite active, serving for years as secretary of the County Reform Association.
Prior to his appointment to office, he, on all occasions, extended to the Reform party an unswerving and devoted loyalty, and to the Conservatives he extended a fearless and uncompromising opposition. His political speeches were always eloquent, and contained sufficient of the scorpion for the tastes of his opponents.
He is an Odd fellow, and has been Noble Grand of the Order; is a member of the Presbyterian church; and from what we can learn, has always borne a character far above reproach.