Thank you all so very much for your replies. I will respond to each in the order in which they were sent.
1.) Carole: Annie died in Ontario, Canada during 1898. I have a copy of her death registration. No parents listed.
2.) ev: From the above you can see that yes, they did. They immigrated to Canada sometime between the time that the 1851 Scotland census was taken and 1854/55 (the possible years of the birth of their seventh child John Irvine Gauld). On the 1911 Canada census their son William has the year as 1852.
3.) JM: I had no idea that Donald and, Daniel were interchangeable. That puts a whole new light on candidate #2. One thing I need to point out is that Daniel was not their second son. Their first son was Alexander 3a. So I can keep them straight, I find it easier to refer to the husband of
Catherine Duffus as Alex 1. Annie’s husband as Alex 2 and, so on. The “a” is because Alex 3a must have died prior to June 1841 and, several years later Alex 2 and Annie reused the name for their eighth child. Thus, their second son was the William mentioned in #2 above. Consequently, Daniel was their third son. On the other hand, they most certainly could have slightly altered the
Scottish naming convention. As for Margaret, I strongly agree with you on Annie’s mother’s name being Margaret. Annie’s daughter Margaret’s full name was Margaret McPherson Gauld. She was my 3xgreat grandmother. As a side note, the order that I listed the three candidates in the original post was what I would have guessed to be the least likely to the most likely. I did not mention this because I did not want to influence anyone. There are a few interesting coincidences regarding the daughter of George and Margaret Reid. Finally, besides the Jessie you mentioned, I have found three other census records (1841 Scotland, 1861 Canada, 1871 Canada) that have a McPherson female living with Alex1, Alex 2, or Margaret (and her husband). All born in Scotland.
Again, my thanks to all.
Regards,
Craig