Who, which and where Is Donald Macdonald?

[Skyye]

 I am so fortunate to be a descendant of the Macdonalds of Barvas , Ross & Cromarty area, South and North Dell on Isle of Lewis.

I am the daughter of Malcolm Matheson Macdonald ( 1922-2009 who is the son of
Alexander M ( Dell )Macdonald 1855-1971-  and Katherine S Murray 1887-1925.

Alex Dell is s/o
Murdo J 1854-1945 and Catherine M Matheson 1852-1923. (came to /Canada)

All above mentioned settled and lived in the Eastern Townships of Quebec in the Scotstown area  ( near Sherbrooke and Megantic)


Murdo J. was s/o of John Rorey 1822-1895 and Ann Thompson 1823-1882

John R is son of Roderick 1789-1867 and Isabella MacLeod 1803-1872

...........and then the  waters muddy and the confusion increases !!!!

Roderick's Dad is a Donald Macdonald 1769, perhaps married to Annabella MacFarlane although she cannot be found on a census or linked to Donald anywhere I have searched.

He is my brick wall that I just can't seem to knock down or get over.

 Would so appreciate anyone with this branch in their tree or any info that can shed any light or info to reply.

I lost my Dad 2 years ago  and my Mom last month and this is a labor of love and now my obsession A wonderful challenge.

Thanks !

[Lindasinclair]

Hello

I have a few details on this family. I am not directly descended from Annabella and Donald MacDonald but did a little research for someone who is. I will let them know about this post. He may be able to tell you more about Donald MacDonald. I was looking at the MacFarlanes.

Annabella Macfarlane was the wife of Donald Macdonald. My understanding is that they had 3 children - Annabella (?we think?) b1790s who married Angus McIvor; Roderick; and Catherine 1808-1866 who married Donald Murray and had at least one child - Angus. As I understand it (from an education record in the 1760s) Annabella was from Galson and had 2 siblings - Donald and Ann.

Donald lived in Galson married Margaret MacDonald and had 3 children John; Donald and Angus (1782-1859) a crofter tenant in Galson. Angus married Margaret Maclean. I have details of their children. I am descended from a Donald MacFarlane, who I think, but can't prove, is the brother of this Angus. My ancestor Donald, lived in South Dell next door to Annabella's sister Ann.

Ann married John Macleod in South Dell. I know of 2 children

 - Gormelia Dorothy (1796-1847) who married Kenneth Campbell (1801-1871) of South Dell. They had a large family and emigrated to Lingwick Township, Canada, where Kenneth was a lay preacher.
 - Norman (1798-1882) who married Ann Campbell and emigrated to Canada

As to a record of Annabella. There is one possible reference to an Annabella MacDonald in the 1841 census in North Dell. However, from another unconnected branch of my family, I know of another Annabella MacDonald of the same generation in North Dell - so it could be either of them.

There also seems to be some confusion on whether Annabella was married twice or there were 2 Annabella MacFarlanes married to MacDonald men.  The second possible marriage to a John MacDonald of South Dell - with children Ann (no dates); Margaret (1798-1880); Donald (1801-1836); John (1809-1890s). The dates overlap but it is possible there is some transcription error in the records that s causing the confusion. We have been unable to find a definitive answer. Sorry!

Hope this is of some limited help!

Linda

[kennymac]

Have you ever undertaken any y-dna testing on the MacDonald side?

[Lindasinclair]

Hi yes have had my mum’s paternal Macdonald YDNA tested via her brother. They were MacDonalds of Habost and poss before this North Dell in Lewis.

[kennymac]

Can I ask the result of the test please?  Do you know the haplogroup and whether it was Norse or native?  I, too, appear to be a MacDonald of Lewis descent and have undertaken y-dna testing, largely because my great-grandfather was illegitimate.  I am of native British/Gaelic/Celtic descent and match with a MacDonald of Bernera, Lewis.  I've also undertaken a-dna (autosomal - both parents' dna) with similar results.

Regards

Kenny MacDonald

[Lindasinclair]

Hi, no probs. My MacDonalds are Ness. We have a few different MacDonald lines in our tree. Are you on gedmatch - you can compare to our autosomal tests there if you like. The y-DNA test is R-M269. So Western European. We did the test before with a company now defunct called ScotlandsDNA and it said the lineage had been in West Coast of Scotland and in Ireland for about 2,000 years. Sounds about right!! :-) Not sure if that helps you. What were your results?

Was in Bernera the other day - at their museum. Saw quite a few references to MacDonald there - dont know of any Ness connections in recent times but they all did travel!

Linda

[kennymac]

Very interesting Linda.  Will PM you later for more details if that's ok with you

Kenny

[Lindasinclair]

No probs at all Kenny. Look forward to hearing more

[Carolec55]

Ah! Donald MacDonald. Sorry I can't hep, but here's yet another one, a brick wall in my husband's family tree.

My husband's ancestor, Ewen MacDonald was born about 1806 in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, according to the 1851 census of Aberdeen where they moved to sometime between 1841 and 1851. The family later settled in Liverpool, England.

I have Ewen's marriage certificate. He married Margaret Reid on 8/2/1832 and the parish record states his father was Donald MacDonald (sic), a shipmaster residing in Inaclet (sic). Margaret Reid was the daughter of the late Joseph Reid, boat shoemaker of Stornoway.  I think this place was called Enaclate or Einaclait. I'm not sure if it exists now but on an old map I saw of the Isle of Lewis, it was just south of Callenish. On various census and other records Ewen was also known as Evan.

Maybe our Donald MacDonald and yours are related.