• John sailed to America in 1856 on the ship Enoch Train.

  Some secondary sources say that the family started for Utah with the 1850 Benjamin Hawkins pioneer company, but that after the death of James, Sarah and her children continued toward Salt Lake with the 1850 Aaron Johnson Company.  A primary source is needed to confirm this information.

  Several years later, he served as captain of his own company in 1856.

Benjamin Hawkins Company (1850)

• Age at Departure: 16

John McDonald Company (1856)

• Age at Departure: 22
• Company Captain

Sources

• 1850 Utah Census, Utah County.
• Excerpts from Important Events in the History of the James McDonald Family, 1841-1850 in Biographical information relating to Mormon pioneer overland travel database, 2003-2017, 10-12.
• McDonald, John, "Personal Reminiscences of Early Days in Nauvoo and Utah," Deseret Evening News, 20 Aug. 1910, 20.
• Perpetual Emigrating Fund, Financial Accounts 1849-1886, Ledger A, p. 250.
• "Pioneer Is Summoned," Salt Lake Herald, 29 Dec. 1910, 12.
• Portrait, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the State of Utah (Chicago: National Historical Record Co., 1902), 146.
• Saints By Sea: Latter-day Saint Immigration to America
• Utah, Early Mormon Missionary Database
• Utah Death Certificates.  
• "Was A Pioneer In Industrial Utah," Salt Lake Herald, 16 August 1910, 12.