author
W. (William) McDonald
1820–1901
A Methodist minister, editor, and hymn writer, this 19th-century author spent decades writing about holiness, Christian life, and revival. His books and hymns grew out of a long ministry that stretched from Maine to Wisconsin and New England.
1 Audiobook
The Young People's Wesley
by W. (William) McDonald
About the author
Born in Belmont, Maine, on March 1, 1820, William McDonald became a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1839. He was admitted to the Maine Conference in 1843, later transferred to the Wisconsin Conference in 1855, and then to the New England Conference in 1859.
McDonald is remembered as a minister, evangelist, editor, and prolific religious writer. Sources available online credit him with editing the Advocate of Christian Holiness for a number of years, and with writing books on Christian holiness, biography, and Methodist history, along with hymn texts and tunes.
He died on September 11, 1901. The records I could confirm point to a career shaped by preaching, publishing, and a steady focus on practical Christian devotion.