Who Were Jessee & Anna Donaldson?

Born in Huntsville, Alabama in 1846, Jessee was believed to be the son of Levi Donaldson, his white plantation owner & enslaver, and Sarah. Levi and Levi’s wife Charlotte (Ammonette) Donaldson enslaved Sarah and her four children, including Jessee, at the former home of Elizabeth Routt in Hazel Green. Levi listed Jessee as “mulatto” in the 1860 U.S. Federal Census. In 1862, Jessee escaped the plantation and joined Union recruiters, making the perilous journey to Shelbyville, Tennessee, enlisting and serving during the Civil War in the United States Colored Infantry 15th Regiment. He was also a combat veteran sustaining lifelong significant injury.

After the war, Jessee lived in Pulaski, Tennessee in the 1870s, and eventually settled in Trenton, Georgia. In 1871, Jessee was accused of stealing hogs and was jailed in the Giles County Courthouse in Pulaski until 1873. He married Anna Smalley in 1875 and they began a family. In the 1880s, Jessee was approached by Black American community leader, labor recruiter, and politician James Shepperson, to relocate to the Pacific Northwest. Shepperson had become enamored by the area’s natural beauty and decided to relocate from Virginia and work for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Jessee elected to remain behind with the rest of the family to obtain his pension, for which he had been denied multiple times. 

After much consideration, it was decided that Jessee’s oldest son General (“Jeneral”), who was 13 at the time, would go alone & scout ahead. General boarded a train that picked up more Black American families across Tennessee. In Saint Paul, Minnesota, Pinkerton Guards, hired by the Northern Pacific Coal Company, boarded the train. Unbeknownst to these passengers, they had de facto been hired to break a coal miner’s strike. In May 1891, General disembarked in Cle Elum, WA, with the train traveling further west to Franklin, WA, facing hostility and violence from the striking white coal miners. Estimates range with an upper end of approximately 2,000 African American laborers recruited to mine statewide, many of whom were directly recruited by Shepperson.

Jessee & Anna moved the family from Tennessee to join General, arriving in Roslyn in August 1894. Jessee worked in the coal mines and farmed his land, and purchased land for his family’s home in 1897. Anna served as President of the Women’s Home and Foreign Convention and took leadership roles with the Baptist Church. In 1904, Jessee finally received pension approval, though Anna sadly passed away the same year from tuberculosis. In August 1913, Jessee moved to the Washington State Soldiers Home in Orting, WA, and he died at his home in Roslyn in November 1913.

Jessee and Anna’s seven surviving children began families of their own throughout Washington State, including Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Renton and Yakima. Descendants of Jessee and Anna’s seven children represent seven branches of the Donaldson extended family.

“The Donaldson Odyssey: Footsteps To Freedom”

In 1991, Lillian “Babe” (Donaldson) Warren & her husband Robert “Bob” Warren self-published the book “The Donaldson Odyssey: Footsteps to Freedom.” The book is foundational for the Donaldson family to document the history of Jessee & Anna (Smalley) Donaldson and their descendants. Babe and Bob conducted extensive research and included copies of many primary sources and records.

Today, the project continues on with a committee of family members committed to extending the shared goal to recognize the Donaldsons alongside the hundreds of Black American families who migrated to the Pacific Northwest in the 19th century seeking an improved life.

This research and publication project has two phases:

1. Expanding the narrative of Jessee and Anna (Smalley) Donaldson and two of their sons including General and George (“Sharkey”) Donaldson.

2. Expand the scope with additional collaborators to further include Jessee and Anna’s children Hattie, Samuel, Thad, Elizabeth”Lizzie”, Mary, William “Willy, Eugene “Gene”, Ethyl Evelyn, Roy, and Henry with their related genealogical branches.

Project Team

Principal Investigator: Ryan Anthony Donaldson

Committee Members: Raymond Donaldson, Rose Donaldson, Paula Terrell, Al “Butch” Smith