NC Pension file claims show that both Jonathan and his second wife filed for pension claims.
Discharge data supports both latter numbers.
All his children were born in his first marriage. He claimed service in Bryson's CO long before that and was serving as Commissary for Capt Bryson in 1862 when Confederate soldiers, hearing of it, came to his house, stabbed him in the right eye and beat him with clubs and rocks, leaving him for dead. McDonald continued to press claims for his own service until his death. Dr. S. E. Heighway of Murphy, NC said he died of uremic poisoning. All claims filed for his own service were rejected by the Pension Bureau because he received injuries prior to joining the Union Army.