The first known appearance of Elizabeth Donald’s name is in 1803, the year that she and her son, Hezekiah Donald, were granted administration of the estate of her husband, James Donald, in Chester County, South Carolina. She is found as the head of a household on the rolls of the 1810, 1820, and 1830 census schedules, but after that, her name disappears.
Little is known of Elizabeth’s life, especially her background. Some online family trees—without attribution—identify her maiden name as Johnston. Ironically, we do know one snippet of information about Elizabeth: she had an interest in family history.
“I have from our Grandmother all of the traditions of the Early dispersion of the family,” wrote Dr. Alexander Donald of Mobile, Alabama, to his cousin, Robert Donald, in 1867. Apparently, Elizabeth told to Alexander when he was in his teens about her father-in-law who was also named Alexander Donald. The senior Alexander, an immigrant from Scotland, “wore the Plaid & Bonnet of Blue after he came to America, even until the time of his death,” his namesake reported.
Dr. Alexander Donald’s letter to his cousin indicates an intention to revise a “my Book of Geneology.” What became of that project is unknown; the only published record we’ve found so far is his one-page typeset sheet entitled “Genealogy,” published in Opelousas, Louisiana, in 1877. “Take care of this sheet; it may serve as a reference,” it states. “It has been produced from memory.” This “traditional statement” is a list of the descendants of immigrant Alexander Donald, all drawn from Dr. Donald’s personal knowledge of the names and localities of relatives within the past four generations. Unfortunately, it does not identify the Donald wives—even Elizabeth, the grandmother and keeper of family traditions.