Dear Brian: As this was a 6th great grandfather of mine, I have a great deal of interest in Charles Donaldson, and over the years have come to some theories about it. Speculation, but perhaps others can add to it. First let me say that reading early court records of Monongalia lead me to believe there's not much difference - people murdered, raped, lied, and slandered with a great regularity, based on the population size. Anybody out there have the real statistics? They would be interesting. Just my opinion , but if you look at the body of work, rather than certain family lines (my eyes wander), I was shocked. Petty suits abounded - "he said, she said" type slander cases. Following the trail of who owes who is a nightmare; debts were traded like cash, and some of these folks ended up being sued by strangers for debts as they changed hands multiple times. Currently looking at another murder where someone got an ax to the head...not a pretty picture. Charles Donaldson was pretty well off and well respected in the community, from information gleaned at the time. He first appears around 1769, and by 1789, he had holdings of 2068 acres in the Blackburn Glades area. James Stewart accused him of stealing a meager amount of 16 century groceries. Even the judge who had him held anticipated a community uproar, saying: "it appearing to the Court that an attempt may be made to resque Charles Donaldson a Prisoner Indicted for Murder. It is ordered that the Sheriff Summon a Guard of fifty men over him and if necessary to Call the whole force of the County of Monongalia and not to suffer any Person to go into the Jail except Counsel." So why would a 70 yr old man go bad all of a sudden? He wasn't destitute. He had the means to obtain funds, even if only by selling land. I have often wondered about the character of the accuser, James Stewart - he was the one who started the ball rolling initially, when he accused Charles of stealing a yard of thread soaking in a bucket, and 5 pounds of hog lard. [James Stewart, aka James Douglas, would be accused of being a horse thief on March 16, 1797. Others who would accuse the Donaldson in court in later years had past run ins with Charles, also. ] STEWART DESCENDENTS, PLEASE DON'T BE OFFENDED. AFTER ALL, MY GRANDFATHER IS THE CONFESSED MURDERER! Why would a man with > 2000 acres property with improvements do such a thing? When his home was searched, he continued to deny the charge, even when they found thread etc., insisting that it was his wife's. During the search, it was noticed that his wife was hiding something that turned out to be thread. When questioned by Frances Warman, Charles and then, Mary, confessed. Now this is weird: Says he didn't steal, when they find initial thread, still denies it....and then they both admit to it? Did the son steal or plant it? Bishop Asbury stated that he had heard the son was going to give evidence against Charles - did his pride fuel this act of murder? There must have been some powerful emotions going on for him to tell his son point blank that he intended to kill him. For some reason, his son was dead to him BEFORE he killed him. I have come to believe that William had a role in this that was never revealed, again, possible due to pride. On 23 September l796 John Alleswald, late of Monongalia County, a hatter, was indicted as an accessory after the fact in the murder of William Donaldson. He was accused of "aiding and abetting" in the attempt to break Charles Donaldson out of prison by passing him a "pistol loaded with powder and ball" through the jail window on 20 September l796. John Alleswald was found not guilty. The court tried the wrong person initially in the Alleswald case, and then on l8 May, 22 May, and 24 September l797 the Harrison County district court issued arrest warrants for John Odewalt, who was accused of passing the pistol to Charles Donaldson. John Odewalt was a guard for fifteen and twelve day intervals between ll July l796 and 8 August l796, so he was in a position to do this deed. On 26 September l798 the court issued an order to seize all of John Odewalt's property. Odewalt could not be found, and he had no property in the district. Another thought: I believe Charles had his youngest daughter's interest at heart when he entered into the agreement below - basically, Christopher Stealey would get the land minus anything spent on raising Susannah. [31 May 1796: 25b / personal papers, Monongalia County. 31 May 1796, Charles Donaldson and Susannah his youngest daughter and Christopher Stealey, entered into an agreement where by Donaldson binds his daughter to Stealey who is to pay 800 pounds for 800 acres of land to include the old improvements and the Blackburn Glades, no money to be paid until Susannah reaches age 21, she being 11 years old on 1 May 1796. Expenditures (clothing, lodging, schooling, etc.) of raising the child and whatever is furnished to Donaldson while in confinement to be deducted fromt he purchase price.] Last but not least, there is always the possibility that Charles Donaldson was loosing his mental faculties. A 70 in a frontier type community had to be an OLD 70. We can only speculate, and it is too bad we will never know the whole truth. Just so many questions can be raised. Thanks for spark this conversation, Brian. Although this is a sad case, I am happy to say that most of these traits did not pass down to descendents. LOL. Unless, of course, my son doesn't stop leaving clothes on the floor of his bedroom. Cheryl Massey