Help with Harris MacDonalds puzzle please.....

[Ina]

Hi Ellen,

You should be seeking verifiable documentation - ie. OPRs (pre-1855) and statutory records (from 1855). Also, where possible, the census reports to match them.

Andrew Paterson

The above quote from Andrew is very good advice Ellen. The only way to make sure you have the correct ancestor is by documentation. When I first started my research three years ago, I made the mistake of not documenting some info I had received. I spent a lot of time researching a family which turned out not to be mine.

Since then I document everything before adding it to my family tree.

Happy hunting.

Ina

[Montrose Budie]

Thanks, Big Wullie, for those few cheery words!
I'll get there in the end - but for tonight I'd better get to my bed, ready to be bright and breezy for those folk who pay my wages in a few hours time.
Thanks
Ellen.

Hi Ellen

Ah kin onlae dae ma best !!

No' so much cheerie, ken, jist mair horribully realistic

Davie (who plowters about the place as Montrose Budie)

[ellenavon]

Hello again everyone

Ok let me go through what I've got!

Started with Christina's (age 25) marraige cert to Alexander Sutherland 1888 at (you are right Wullie!) the Free Gaelic Church in Glasgow. (Scotlandspeople)

Parents Donald, Ploughman, and Maggie McDonald, m.s. McLeod.
Witnesses both Sutherlands, so no clues to Christina's side there.

Checked 1891 census. Alexander and Christina (28) living in Maryhill with Daughter Mary 5 mos. Christina's place of birth noted as Inverness-shire, Harris.

Eventually find Christina's birth (after getting lost up a couple of alleyways) on Scotlandspeople (through cross checking on Scotorigins etc) and have the image of birth cert, March 1861, with Donald as Farm Grieve and Margaret, m.s. McLeod, marr. 1849 March, Harris.
Notified by Mary Ross, Nurse, not either parent.

Also have her death (Scotlandspeople) at Glasgow in 1941, again showing Donald as Grieve and Margaret m.s. McLeod. Notified by her son Donald.

Siblings noted by Mary above seem to tie in with this.

The names and dates seem pretty consistent, although I appreciate that Christina, by the info above is shaving a couple of years off her age at marraige and census. This does appear to happen a lot with the other females in my family, especially where they were actually older than their spouse!

Further searches for Donald M(a)cDonald and Margaret (Maggie) McLeod pairings have not unearthed any Harris ones. So, although I must bear in mind Big Wullie's valuable, if depressing, information, these are the only recorded possibles that I can find.

Any further advice would be welcome please.

Cheers

Ellen.

[ellenavon]

Sorry again folks - this rogue cool smiley is now getting irritating! Christina's age at 1891 census is 28, not 2 smiley.
Ellen.

[MaryE]

Ellen

I did a national search - England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands - on my 1881 census CDs but couldn't find any possible Donald and Margaret McDonald. I think it's unlikely, anyway, that they would have strayed far from Harris.

The fact that they were not shown as deceased on Christina's marriage cert doesn't guarantee that they were still alive though. Two things might be worth doing:

1. Look for their deaths 1861- 1881 in case they had actually died before Christina married - I think someone said that they're going to introduce a cross-check on female deaths on SP which would help.

2. Look for marriages/deaths of Christina's siblings to see if these give info about whether the parents were alive at specific dates.

I tried to find Angus (b 1852) in the 1881 census (including a nation-wide search) but couldn't find any to match. The only Angus McDonald of the right age gives his birthplace as Isle of Skye. Couldn't find any of the daughters either but they may well have married and be under other names.

By the way, I see that many of your surnames are in the NE here. I have easy access to the Moray/Speyside records in our local library and also get through to the FH shop in Aberdeen reasonably often. Oddly enough, I'm also down in Stirling on a fairly regular basis at meetings which take place right next door to the archives building - I see that this is another of your areas of interest. I can't promise to break down any brick walls but am happy to do what I can to help if you like to post details!

Mary

[ellenavon]

Many thanks Mary.

Will spend a few hours tonight, see how far I can get, and will get back to you.
Much appreciate the help.
Regards

Ellen.