ABSTRACT
The story of Christian Donaldson is remarkable for how his father Francis, a Cambridge-educated barrister, turned to farming in Wales before emigrating to Ohio in 1816 to farm on a large scale. The family also became leading abolitionists. Christian Donaldson was for many years a member of the Donaldson Hardware Company, of Cincinnati, and for quite a time his home was at the corner of Sixth and Vine streets, now the site of the Palace Hotel. He was interested in many prominent business enterprises of Cincinnati, among which was the organization of the first bank of Cincinnati, known as the Franklin Bank, and later as the Franklin-Lafayette Bank, being a director of that institution. After his retirement from business life, Mr. Donaldson removed to Clermont county, where, in 1840, he purchased a farm one mile below New Richmond, known as 'Frandon'. He was a man of dignified bearing, a typical, sturdy Englishman.
