Donald Fraser McDonald

[MonicaL]

It does get tricky now, with possible wrong viewings  The issue will be the commoness of the surname of M(a)cDonald. MacDonald is one of my main lines, in similar area, so I know how very hard it can be to identify people on the indexes.

What can help sometimes is to narrow down events to give you a time window for possible deaths. Sometimes looking for wife's death first can help as you can look for wife's death using both maiden name and married surname which can make it easier to find often. The wife's DC will show whether husband is still alive or already deceased.

The other way is to look at children's marriage certs as again this will show whether either parent was alive or deceased. In your case with Donald b. 1874 v. late marriage in 1931, that won't help! Looking for possible siblings marriages to help with this might also be tricky due to the common surname.

This was the family that we had from earlier in 1881:

Donald McDonald 39, station master b. Alvie Inv.
Elizabeth McDonald 40 b. Inverness, Inv.
Alexander McDonald 12 b. Kingussie, Invernessshire
Isabella McDonald 10 b. Inverallan, Invernessshire
Ewen McDonald 8 b. Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Donald McDonald 6 b. Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Mary McDonald 2 b. Dyke Morayshire

Address: Brodie Station, Dyke Morayshire

Monica

[MonicaL]

I wonder if mother Elizabeth Fraser had died by 1891? This is the closest I can see on the transcript for 1891, which implies a possible second marriage for father Donald:

D Macdonald 49 Retired Station Master b. Alvie
Maudline Macdonald 36, wife b. Rafford, Morayshire
Erven (?Ewen) Macdonald 18, clerk b. Dall (?spl)
Mary Macdonald 12 b. Dyke, Morayshire
Mary Macdonald 4 b. Dyke, Morayshire

Address: Railway Ter No 2, Nairn, Nairnshire

Monica

[MonicaL]

Struggling on possible census entries for 1901 for Donald Snr. but thought this might be son Ewen by now married (would let you confirm whether Donald Snr still alive through this marriage cert...if the right Ewen!):

Ewen Macdonald 28, clerk b. Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Jane Macdonald 27 b. Moffat, Dumfriesshire
Ewen F Macdonald 5 Months b. Partick, Lanarkshire

Address: 3 Alexandra St, Partick, Govan

Monica

[seek]

Not having much luck with this.
Typed in death for Elizabeth Fraser McDonald between 1881 & 1891, two possibilties 1886 in Kinloss & 1888 in Moray.Havent opened any as yet.
Typed in marriage for Ewen(1873) wife Jane between 1890 & 1901 no matches
Typed in marriage for Donald(1842) 2nd marriage wife maudeline between 1891 & 1901 no matches.
Going by previous information they could of said on cenus they were married but in actual fact they werent.

[seek]

Possibilites for Donalds death date. Typed in cenus dates 1881 & 1901 could be of 7 entries:
1894 North Vist Inverness, 1894 St Rollox Glasgow, 1892 Knockbain Ross & Cromarty, 1892 Nth Knapdale Argyll, 1892 Hutchesontown Glasgow, 1897 Dennistoun Glasgow, 1897 St.Rollox Glasgow.

[MonicaL]

Doing the same searches as you have done 

Mother Elizabeth Fraser, could be either death can't it! Right sort of age and location for both entries (based on where the family were in 1881) and of course, you won't know until you look at entries which way round the surnames are (maiden name v. married name).

Ewen's marriage. Try J*n* for bride (I think the first name is showing as Jeanie - can be a number of variants to Jane/Jean/Janet etc). There are two entries showing though, one in Glasgow and the other elsewhere.

Regarding a possible remarriage for Donald, there is one entry showing in 1890 where the bride's name shows as Magdalene searching as M*d*l*n* (likely the Maudline we saw on the transcript?).

I have searched MacDonald as M*Donald in all cases.

As you can see from all my '*' wildcards on searches, if you don't find what you are looking for or even before you start your searches, I always assume possible different spellings. Sometimes less is more specially with SP where spelling/searches are so rigid. For example, I always search for Mac/Mc names as M*c because there is no right or wrong for this one and it will come up as either. You get 25 results per page on SP for 1 unit. I use that as my marker so if I get too many results that might go over two pages (very seldom does this happen), I can always add more letters. If not, I have up to 25 entries with hopefully all sorts of spelling variations to chose from!

Monica

[seek]

Opened the two entries for mother Elizabeth Fraser death 1886 Kinloss, this says married to a Samuel McDonald & 1888 Moray says married to a Alexander McDonald. Her parents are William Fraser & Mary McBean.
Found sons marriage to Jeannie Dunn in 1897. His marriage says both Donald & Elizabeth deceased.

[MonicaL]

So we are still not sure about Elizabeth mother's death from what you have found (or not found in this case  ).

Good news on Ewan's marriage cert though 

If we do have the right entry for Donald Snr in 1891, then death year range for him would be 1891-97 by the look of it. Eight possibilities showing on SP though for a Donald M*cdonald born c. 1842 (he seemed quite consistent on his census entries). Pure guess, if you feel like a gamble here... There is one death showing for a Donald McDonald b. 1842 in Nairn, Nairnshire in 1891. Just thinking of that possible census entry we found for Donald with a second wife maybe in Nairn in 1891.

Monica

Added: Maybe next stage, when you are ready, is to try and check on the possible remarriage for Donald to a Magdalene we had in 1890.

[MonicaL]

...Maybe next stage, when you are ready, is to try and check on the possible remarriage for Donald to a Magdalene we had in 1890.

Or maybe not  Just double checked and that marriage I had found for a Donald and a Magdalene looks to have been in Edinburgh in 1890 (the only one I could easily see on SP before 1901).

However, there is a likely couple showing in Edinburgh on the 1891 census, which given their ages and lack of children, likely to have been the bride and groom from that 1890 marriage in Edinburgh. So I would now say....can't see a marriage entry that would help with Donald Snr and that possible 1891 census entry.

Monica