Donald MacDonald

trish58 · Post by **trish58** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:02 am

Hi everyone

I have the marriage certificate of Donald MacDonald 1928 in Ballarat Australia, marriage to Ruth Irena Mounsey.

Donald's age is given as 28 born in Edinburgh, parents of Donald are given as John MacDonald - Edinburgh occupation farmer, Mother Florence MacDonald ms Dinny.

The problem now is I cannot find the birth of Donald on SP have dowloaded several certs ranging from 1893-1905.
Also not able to find marriage for the parents either John & Florence ms Dinny, have checked several SP certificates, also parent search on LDS, and marriages, still no luck.

Can anyone help please, just gone through another 90 credits on SP with no results

Thanks
Trish

Rach · Post by **Rach** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:58 pm

Hello Trish,
Many people will sympathise with you. It is so disheartening to use up all those credits to come up with nothing. However when the breakthrough comes you will forget all about that!!
Have you found the family on the 1901 census? [Sorry if this means buying even more credits.].
I have found 'familysearch' doesn't always have later marriages.
Just had a quick look on S.P., although you will have probably have seen these, there are 2 John and Flo*r* married in Edinburgh City, St Andrews district. One marriage in 1896 and the other in 1897.
Perhaps you could tell us which marriages you have looked at to eliminate them from our searches.
Do you know if Donald had any siblings?
I'm sure many T.S. members will have a look for you and hopefully come up with something to help you.
Rae

speleobat2 · Post by **speleobat2** » Tue May 13, 2008 8:55 pm

Hi Trish,

You've probably already tried this, but use wildcards for Dinny. One of my grandmother's uncles married a Dinnie from Kincardineshire in the early 1900's.

There are probably a few dozen variations of Dinny out there!

Best of luck!

Carol

trish58 · Post by **trish58** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:00 pm

Hi Rae/Carol

Thanks for your reply's.

I seached ALL marraiges from 1870-1905, have checked all census records, even just "Dinny" records.

I haven't been able to find if there are other siblings or not, due to not finding them on the census's,.
Even checked the passenger record on "find my past" to Australia, still no joy.

Not sure where to go from here, put the thinking cap on again I suppose

If anyone comes up with anything I will be very grateful.

Thanks again
Trish

Post by **Liz Turner** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:06 pm

Could there have been a mistranscription? Perhaps Dunne?

ChristineW · Post by **ChristineW** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:49 pm

Hi Trish

This certainly is a puzzler! I've looked at a birth notice for a Donald John MacDonald born on 16th September 1899 and registered in Leith North (Gros data 692/01 0674). That Donald MacDonald's parents are shown as William MacDonald (Seaman) and Marion MacFadyon who were married on December 2nd 1898.

Now, is it possible that 'something' happened to his natural parents and he was brought up by other family members? The reason I'm thinking this is because I spent a very l-o-n-g time looking for one of mine and I finally discovered that the father 'disappeared' and the mother 'farmed out' various children to other members of the family to bring up. (I couldn't find any siblings either - now I know why).

My ancestor used his 'foster' parents names on his marriage certificate - and no mention of his real parents was made on his DC either!

Could be worth considering - especially when you seem to have tried every other avenue!

Good luck.
Christine

trish58 · Post by **trish58** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:50 am

Hi Liz & Christine

Thanks for the tips, I have looked at the certificate mentioned plus lots of others,.

I also wondered if there could be a mistranscription, but untill I can be sure of Donald's birth I would just be guessing.

At the moment I am away from home due to the death of my Sister to breast cancer.

Will catch up with things when I return, but will keep searching when I can on the laptop.

Thanks
Trish

ChristineW · Post by **ChristineW** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:47 pm

Hi Trish

So sorry to read about your Sister - having recently lost my Mum to the same horrible disease, my heart goes out to you.

I had a look at the 1901 census returns for Edinburgh. There are only two Donald Macdonald who fit his apparent age at that time. These are:

Donald J Macdonald aged 3 born in London, England. Also detailed are:
Minnie C Macdonald (wife) aged 38 Minister's Wife
Flora H Macdonald (dau) aged 12
James H Macdonald (son) aged 10
(All above born in London, England)
Kate Goudie (visitor, widowed) aged 80 born in Shetland
Janet Donaldson (Servant, single) aged 18 born in Kinross.
(No mention of Minnie's husband. I presume he was outside Edinburgh when the census was taken).

The only other entry for a Donald Macdonald aged 3 born in Edinburgh has the following people in the same household:

William Macdonald (head) aged 45 Hall Keeper, born in Inverness
Sarah Macdonald (wife) aged 42
Sarah Macdonald (dau) aged 7
Alex Macdonald (son) aged 6
Donald P Macdonald (son) aged 3
(All children born in Edinburgh)

I don't know if this information will help or hinder you!! However, it may be that you can't find your Donald's birth certificate as he may not have been born in Scotland...................!!

All the best.
Christine

ChristineW · Post by **ChristineW** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:22 am

Hi Trish

Sorry - I forgot to mention the Donald J Macdonald who was aged 0 born Midlothian, North Leith) on the 1901 census!

His parents were the William (aged 37, Seaman, born Tiree) and Marion (aged 30, born Barra) noted in my first post.

There are definitely no more 'fits' on the 1901 Edinburgh City census.

All the best
Christine

trish58 · Post by **trish58** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:33 am

Hi everyone

Thanks for all the help with searches for Donald, it now looks as if the Edinburgh could be the Edinburgh in Canada

Following links there at the moment.

Trish