mcdonald arcan muir of ord

[moodyblues]

Trying to trace family of my great grandfather John McDonald born abt 1830 Arcan, Ross Shire.
Father Donald McDonald mother Ellen nee Gordon. A brother (name unknown) emmigrated with John to New Zealand and Australia in 1860s. John married a Catherine MacKay from Wick Caithness.

[MonicaL]

Hi Moodyblues

Welcome to RootsChat 

This is a possible 1851 census entry for John with family. The transcript for this entry is confusing in places and it might be worthwhile viewing the original image on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Alexander Macdonald 32, head, crofter b. Urray
Ann Matheson 22, wife b. Contin, Rossshire
Helen Grant 73, mother, Stocking Weaver b. Urray
John Macdonald 27, son, tailor b. Urray
Rebecca Matheson 27, visitor, shepherd's wife b. Lochbroom, Rossshire
Alex Maclennan 9 Mnths son b. Contin, Rossshire

Address: Arcan, Urray, Ross & Cromarty

There are also these other census entries which might be for the family:

1841:
Dond Mcdonald 50, crofter
Helen Mcdonald 50
Alexr Mcdonald 18
Mary Mcdonald 25
Mary Mckinnon 65

Address: Arcan, Urray, Ross & Cromarty - Points to note on the 1841 census: no relationships given within the household and everyone over 15 is supposed to have age rounded down to the nearest 5 years.

1861:

Ellen McDonald 78, pauper b. Urray
Mary McDonald 36, daughter b. Urray

Address: Arcan, Urray, Ross & Cromarty

Can't see any entries for births/christenings for the children of Donald and Helen on IGI at www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=igi/search_IGI.asp&clear_form=true. Might be worth checking on the Old Parish Register index on Scotlands People, on the link above.

Also, not unusual to find in Scotland married women using their maiden names as well as married name (in Scotland married women never 'lost' their maiden names and can often appear under either surname as you can see on the possible 1851 census entry).

Monica 

[moodyblues]

Thanks for that. I will certainly look up the last two. The Ellen McDonald and daughter Mary looks promising. This would tie in when the two brothers left for New Zealand. The father could have died by then. And John named his youngest daughter Mary. Possibly after his sister or family member. John became a store owner when he arrived in New Zealand. I think he may have fought in the New Zealand Land wars when he first arrived. This would have given him enough money at the end of the wars to purchase his business in Palmerston. in 1870. Palmerston in the 1870s was one of the starting points for Central Otago where the Gold rush was on, so a general store would have been quite lucrative. Have posted a photo.

[MonicaL]

Always great to see actual photos of the people we are talking about 

From the website I mentioned earlier, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk you can check for the death of mother Helen. There is one possible entry for her in Urray, R & C in 1868. A Helen Grant/McDonald died that year with a birth year c. 1777. Scottish death certs are very informative (if the details are known to the informant) and should include spouse's name, and parents' names amongst other info.

Monica

[moodyblues]

Hello Monica,
                 Thanks will check it out, but her maiden name was Gordon and her first name Ellen not Helen. But often registrars made boo boos.
Ann

[MonicaL]

Helen and Ellen are the same name so I wouldn't be concerned about that. A lot of names in that time had a number of variants which were commonly used. You can often see one name used in one document and then another variant elsewhere. This is always a good site to check for name variants www.whatsinaname.net A strong Scottish bias to this site. Some variants are more abstract (Peter and Patrick for example).

The death registration I mentioned is for a Helen with the surnames Gordon and McDonald. One will be a maiden name and the other her married name. You don't know until you look at the image which way round the surnames are. It is useful when searching on SP for married women that you can search with the two surnames as it helps to narrow down the search results.

Monica

[moodyblues]

Hello Monica,
                   The 1941 census looks good, but there is no mention of John who would have been either 10 or 15 depending on what birth date I go on.  Either 1825 or 1830. I guess he could have been at someone elses place when the census was taken, I do not have the financial wherewithal to pay for searches on Scotlands people to look among neighbours for him. Thanks for all your help.
Regards
Ann

[MonicaL]

Hi Ann

http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ is a good resource for the 1841 census. It has 100% coverage for Ross & Cromarty, the county we think the family lived in (with the reference to Arcan in Urray). The problem you will have identifying the right entry for John is that no relationships are given within the household for this most limited of censuses.

Not unusual to find young children already working away from home at an early age. Also, if he was staying with extended family, you can't identify whether he shows as nephew or grandchild for example. Frustrating this census in this respect.

Monica

[moodyblues]

Hello Monica,
                    Thank you for that website. Wish I had known about it sooner. It would have saved me heaps. Did not find any Johns around same age living in Arcan. However did find a McDonald family with same names in Inverness. Donald, Helen, John, Alexander, Donald and Catherine. The age of John fits in with his age on his tombstone and marriage certificate as being born around 1824-5.
John had a daughter that died at 5 weeks who he called Catherine Ellen. Family oral history says he came from Inverness so maybe the family moved there after he was born.
Will try cemetary records to see if I can find records of death. Census states the family lived in Boleskine & abertarff. If I can find out Helen in this family was a Gordon, it looks like a a match.
Regards
Ann