Prof. A. C. MacDonald, 1888 Eastman Business College

I don’t believe Mr. MacDonald has any direct descendants looking for him, although I hope I’m wrong. A colleague of Mr. Christie and Mr. Gaines from the 1888 Eastman Business College photo, Professor A. C. MacDonald was Alexander MacDonald of Canada. He was born about 1855 and although his exact date of entry to the United States isn’t known to me, he was definitely here by 1886. That’s when he married his wife Elizabeth D. MacDonald. They had one child, named after mom, born in 1888.

Professor MacDonald and family show up in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, New York in the 1892 NY census (unlike Mr. Christie), the 1900 census and the 1910 census. MacDonald was a life long teacher apparently. I can’t confirm his location in 1880 – he may have still been in canada. And no record of any of the 3 family members seems to extend past 1910 – even the daughter. But my research hasn’t been deep.

Interestingly in 1900 there were 2 foreigners living with the family. A Jorge Juan Soroa, an 18 year old male from Cuba whose parents were Spanish; and N. Tamaoki, a 19 year old male from Japan. Were these foreign students attending his school? Much like exchange students of today – although they weren’t exchanged per se since the younger Elizabeth (12 at the time) was still at home. Mr. Soroa traveled to the US several times after that based on an “Alien Arrivals by Airplane” list and other documents.

Let’s hope the younger Elizabeth didn’t disappear after 1910. Maybe she’s living in Spain or Japan!