Andrew Young Mcdonald

Biography

    Andrew Young McDonald, founder of the A. Y. McDonald Mfg. Co., was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1834. He was orphaned as a young child and became the sole support of his aunt, Eelen Young. At age 14, he began his apprenticeship as a plumber under the guidance of James Steele. A.Y., as he was known, was a very quick study in the plumbing trade and received his journeyman plumber certification a few months earlier than the usual seven year apprenticeship term. Shortly thereafter in 1854, A.Y. decided to leave his mother country and set off with his aunt for America, eventually moving to Dubuque where his sister, Martha, had settled with her husband, Mr. John Morrison. It was in Dubuque that A.Y. McDonald decided to settle and opened his plumbing shop. This shop was so small that A.Y. found it necessary to cut a hole in the outside wall to allow a length of pipe to protrude while the other end, held in a vise, was threaded in his shop. He was a young man with an inventive mind building his business a job at a time. The year was 1856.

Research Interest

  Hawke & Company Ag Agri and aquaculture