Two of his brothers, Edwin Patrick "Ted" McDonald (1875–1919), and Fenley John "Fen" McDonald (1891–1915) also played VFL football; Ted, with Essendon, and Fen with both Carlton and Melbourne.
Fen enlisted in the First AIF, and was killed in action during the landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, in Turkey on 25 April 1915.
Another brother, Stanley David McDonald (1888–1945), also served in the First AIF, enlisting on 20 May 1915, before the news of Fen's death had reached his family.
Arch and Ted played together in their only game with the Essendon First XVIII: the last match of the season, against Fitzroy, at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, on 9 September 1905.
[7] This Australian rules football biography of a person born in 1882 is a stub.