The State of Iowa, through C. P. Hutton and T. S. Dawson, Commissioners of Jones County, donated to Jones County the northeast quarter of Section 36, in Wayne Township, on the 20th day of June, 1840. This, with subsequent additions and modifications, constitutes the County Home or "Poor Farm." It now contains about 200 acres, and the county has occupied and improved it since about 1860. The first Steward was O. B. Doyle. It has been for ten years in charge of John Platner and his wife, who are regarded as thoroughly competent.

General farming is practiced. The beneficiaries of the institution average fully twenty in constant attendance, and comprise nearly all nationalities and all colors, and all ages, from the nursling to the veteran of nearly ninety winters. The county is burdened with several who are incurably insane. While the policy of the county is to decline furnishing a comfortable retreat for all the lazy, able-bodied, willingly dependent applicants for its charities, nevertheless, the treatment of all its unfortunates is considerate and humane.

From The History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, by R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910

Andrew and Margaret (Smith) McDonald, both natives of Perthshire, Scotland, as young people came with their parents to the United States about 1855. Subsequent to their marriage Andrew McDonald and his wife acquired a place to the west of their son's present farm, and there spent the active years of their life, until they retired to Center Junction, where their deaths occurred in 1906, the father's at the age of seventy years, the mother's at the age of seventy-six. Reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church they passed away attended by its consolations, for their lives had been spent in strict conformance to its doctrines. In the years he had lived here, Andrew McDonald had become one of the well known men of Jones county, having held the position of commissioner for a number of years and for six or seven years having been steward of the poor farm. His duties he ever fulfilled with honor and to the entire satisfaction of his constituents.

From The History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, by R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p.384