Where is Christopher Macdonald?.....

[Caroline]

Just wondered if anyone could help me breakdown one of my brick walls.

The ancestor is CHRISTOPHER MACDONALD and this is what I know about him.

Born: 1861-1865 in Paisley (according to 1901 census, but I'm almost certain this isn't his birthplace)

Parents: Donald MacDonald (Crofter) and Margaret McLean. Donald was still alive in 1893 when Christopher married, but Margaret was dead.

Married : 1893 in Greenock

Died : 1943 in Paisley

The problem is that I cannot find him before his marriage in 1893. There is no record of his birth nor any sign of him or his family in any census apart from 1901.

Can anyone help - it's driving me mad!

Caroline

[CatrionaL]

Caroline

It's maybe not the right Christopher, but a search on www.scotalndspeople.gov.uk of the 1891 Census for all of Scotland for Christopher M*cdonald aged between 30 and 35 gives one hit. There are several hits if you expand the age range;

Best wishes

Catriona

[ellenavon]

Hi Caroline

I've searched the 1881 cds. there are very few Christopher (or variations)MacDonalds in the whole UK. What was your Christopher's occupation when he married? Are there any clues to potential siblings as witnesses to the marraige?

Of the three candidates which come up in Scotland on the 1881, this one looks most likely, as his widowed mother is Margaret - but that goes against the marraige cert saying his father was alive and his mother deceased at his marraige, and he's a little older than you expect.

Dwelling: 258 High St
Census Place: Perth Middle Church, Perth, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0203513 GRO Ref Volume 387 EnumDist 28 Page 19
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
Margaret MAC DONALD W 64 F Lairwells, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Fish Dealer
Robert MAC DONALD W 39 M Perth, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Ships CArpenter
David MAC DONALD U 34 M Perth, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Fireman
Jessie MAC DONALD U 27 F Perth, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Shopkeeper
Joseph MAC DONALD U 24 M Perth, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Blacksmith
Christian MAC DONALD U 22 M Perth, Perth, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Shopkeeper

The other two Scottish possibles have the wrong parents' names.

There are five in England on the index, one of them born in Wales, and one in Ireland, the others born England, all Lancashire if I remember correctly. I can look them up if you'd like.

Regards

Ellen.

[Caroline]

Hi Catriona

It's maybe not the right Christopher, but a search on www.scotalndspeople.gov.uk of the 1891 Census for all of Scotland for Christopher M*cdonald aged between 30 and 35 gives one hit. There are several hits if you expand the age range;

Afraid I've tried them all and none of them appear to be him. I thought it would be an easy task as there were only 15 Christopher M*cDonalds in the whole of Scotland - how wrong I was !

Thanks for trying.

Caroline

[Caroline]

Hi Ellen,

I've searched the 1881 cds. there are very few Christopher (or variations)MacDonalds in the whole UK. What was your Christopher's occupation when he married? Are there any clues to potential siblings as witnesses to the marraige?

When Christopher married he was a country servant and later on he was a labourer. The witnesses at the wedding were a Robert and Margaret Mckie who I assumed weren't relatives.

Of the three candidates which come up in Scotland on the 1881, this one looks most likely, as his widowed mother is Margaret - but that goes against the marraige cert saying his father was alive and his mother deceased at his marraige, and he's a little older than you expect..

I had alook at him Ellen, but his parents turn out to be Henry McDonald and Margaret Bell and as you say none of the other Scottish candidates match up.

There are five in England on the index, one of them born in Wales, and one in Ireland, the others born England, all Lancashire if I remember correctly. I can look them up if you'd like.

I had a look at these on the LDS site and again none of them have the right parents.

Thanks for spending so much time on this though Ellen I appreciate that.

Caroline

[karenmcc]

Hi Caroline,

I did a parent search on IGI. There is a Gilchrist McDonald b 09 May 1864 South Uist, Inverness Scotland. Right age. Mayby this is him and he just wasn't too keen on the name?

Karen

[Caroline]

Hi Karen,

You might be on to something there!

I checked on the 1881 census and Gilchrist is still living with his family in South Uist and his father is a widower. However there is no trace of him in the 1891 and 1901 census and no record of a death either, so there is the distinct possibility that Gilchrist might have become Christopher.

But where is he in 1891 and what's he calling himself as there are no Gilchrists nor any Christophers that fit the bill?

More investigations needed!

Caroline

[Russell]

Hi
Just noticed this thread and jumped on the description'country servant'.

the only places where I have heard that used as an occupation was in Greenock and in Edinburgh. It wasn't an officially sanctioned occupational description but seems to have passed scrutiny in these 2 places.
It might narrow down the search.

Russell

[eilthireach]

This "Gilchrist" is indeed your Christopher. "Christopher" is not a Scottish name, but in Gaelic-speaking environments, officials such as registrars and census enumerators (who, certainly in the early days, were not locals, and usually came from outside the area) tended to 'translate' Gaelic names into more recognisable English names. When it was a name that came from the traditional pool of common European names (John ... William ... Mary... Catherine ... Christina ... etc.) and for which there existed a direct Gaelic equivalent, there was -usually- no problem. When there was a traditional Gaelic name for which there is no direct English equivalent, that name would, by convention, be given an "equivalent" in English (and in this case, the convention was "Gilchrist", therefore "Christopher" - but don't try and work that the other way round, especially in other areas). These were not equivalents, either semantically or linguistically, but nevertheless that's what happened. And, to complicate matters, the conventions varied in the different parts of the Gaelic-speaking areas ... but I'd better stop my disquisition at this stage ...
Suffice it to say that this is your family in the 1881 Census for Inverness-shire, specifically the island of South Uist (which would almost certainly mean that your family was Catholic):



Census Place: South Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Source: FHL Film 0203428 GRO Ref Volume 118-2 EnumDist 5 Page 3
Marr Age Sex Birthplace

Donald MACDONALD W 51 M S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Farmer

Angus MACDONALD U 22 M S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Farmer Son

Peggy MACDONALD U 20 F S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Farmer Daur

Gilchrist MACDONALD U 17 M S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Farmer Son

Ann MACDONALD 14 F S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Farmer Daur

Mary Ann MACDONALD 9 F S Uist, Inverness, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar


Donald married Margaret Maclean on 20 January 1857 in South Uist, and you will be able to look at the entry for that on ScotlandsPeople and see also that Donald's father was also "Christopher" (remembering what I have just said ... ) and his mother was an Ann Mackellaig, Mackellaig being a South Uist name which you will find in a myriad of variant forms in the records.

The IGI lists the children born to them that appear in this census entry and two others (Mary and Christina). Luckily, the relevant entries there are all described as extracted records (i.e., they come from official GROS entries), so although you can have confidence in them, you will still have to doublecheck against the birth certificates, but the sequence of dates and the spacing of the births tends to make me think they are indeed this couple's issue. Remember neither parent's name is uncommon, and there could well have been other couples with that combination of names producing a family there at that time:


Angus b. 27 Aug 1859
Margaret ("Peggy") b. 21 July 1861
Gilchrist b. 9 May 1864
Mary b. 7 June 1866
Ann b. 26 Feb 1868
Christina b. 8 June 1870
Mary Ann b. 6 July 1872

I find the long gap (over two and a half years) between the date of the parents' marriage and the date of birth of the first child (Angus) somewhat unusual, and that's something I would investigate if I were researching this family ...

[Caroline]

Thank you very much for all that info eilthireach.

Looks like I might have found my Christopher McDonald at last after all those years of searching! Just a pity there doesn't seem any records for South Uist before 1855 to trace the line back further than his parents.

Just one another question - is Inishivale, where he was living in 1881, on any maps? I can find Howbeg and Howmore which were next door, but no Inishivale.

Caroline