MacDonald's of Twechar/Kirkintilloch

[Scottish007]

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone can help me find information or pictures of my family in Twechar.

My 2nd great-grandfather was Daniel Martin McDonald. He was a County Councillor representing the Labour Party from 1927 to his death in 1948. MacDonald Crescent in Twechar was named after him and that is where most of the family lived. His wife was Catherine Butterworth and they had 13 children together, with 3 of them dying in infancy.

I had emailed Dunbartonshire Archives to see if they could provide any pictures or information but they didn't have anything they could definitively say was him.

The MacDonald family was always close but my grandfather joined the LDS Church in 1977 and pushed his beliefs onto his relatives, which was not well received, causing our family to separate from the rest.

Any help would be appreciated

[CaroleW]

You say he died in 1948 - The only death for a Daniel Martin McDonald in Dunbarton was 1967 - born 1914 so could not be a councillor from 1921-1948.  Note it was Mc & not Mac

www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

[CaroleW]

Per SP - Daniel Martin McDonald was b 1913 Glasgow - mothers maiden name Butterworth so he was presubably the son of Daniel & Catherine (again Mc not Mac)

Marriage 1913 for Catherine Butterworth & Daniel McDonald - not Daniel Martin McDonald

There is no 1948 death in Dunbarton for a Daniel Mac or McDonald

[CaroleW]

The 1901 census has only one entry in Dunbarton for a Daniel McDonald - born 1894 parents James b Ireland  & Mary b Scotland.  In 1911 there were 8 children

However that Daniel seems to be the one on the 1950 US census for Pennsylvania

[Scottish007]

Daniel Martin McDonald (1893-1967) was their oldest son.

The county councillor died in 1948 in Townhead, they missed out his middle name on his death certificate which I have a copy of 644 / 6 / 421. He was also made the Justice of Peace a couple months before he died

The generation before him is confusing which I have made topics about before, but he was the first to move to Twechar. He was in Kilbarchan in 1901 called Daniel Lochhead, then moved to Cambuslang and went back to Daniel McDonald in 1911 then moved to Kirkintilloch/Twechar around 1919.

The family surname alternates between Mc and Mac. The original surname was McDonald but that obviously sounds way too Catholic, so we had to protestantise the name to MacDonald

[CaroleW]

Daniel Martin McDonald (1893-1967) was their oldest son.

 

The 1967 death was born 1913 not 1893  

Deaths per SP

DANIEL MCDONALD  54  1948   644/6/421   Townhead

Births
DANIEL MARTIN MCDONALD   1893   644 / 5 / 111   Blackfriars




   

[Scottish007]

Yes, that was my mistake. Sometimes I just type without thinking what I've written, too many Daniel McDonald's.

Daniel Martin McDonald Sr (1893-1948)
Daniel Martin McDonald Jr (1913-1967)

Daniel Sr was the county councillor

[CaroleW]

Have you already traced the Ancestry of Daniel Martin McD senior?  If not - who were his parents from his death cert?  There are 4 possible 1901 entries entries in Lanarkshire

[Forfarian]

The family surname alternates between Mc and Mac. The original surname was McDonald but that obviously sounds way too Catholic, so we had to protestantise the name to MacDonald

That's a new one on me altogether. Has anyone else heard that version?

In the Church of Scotland parish registers before from 1513 to 1854 there are 31,197 McDonalds and 10,455 Macdonalds. In the Roman Catholic baptisms there are 6633 McDonalds and 3033 MacDonalds.

Or to put it another way, 31% of Roman Catholic M(a)cdonalds are spelled Mac, but only 25% of the ones in the (Protestant) Church of Scotland registers. So Mac is actually more prevalent in the Roman Catholic baptism registers than in the Protestant ones.

That suggests to me that the idea that Mc is Catholic and Mac is Protestant does not fit the facts in Scotland.

BTW there are in total 665,693 records of McDonalds and 634,947 records of MacDonalds in Scotland's People in all time - or in other words 49% of records spell it Mac and 51% spell it Mc. There is no way that 51% of recorded people in Scotland since the records began in 1513 were Catholic. 

I have heard that Mc is Irish and Mac is Scottish, but that too does not appear to fit the facts.