Sinclair / Macdonald...need help

[Jane Hollenbeck]

I have traced my father's family(Sutherland) on his mother's (Tait)(my grandmother's) side
back to the death cert. of George Macdonald sep 24th 1880, age 85. His mother was Helen Sinclair, married to George Macdonald, a crofter, all from Caithness. Where do I find information for these people?
Jane.

[Gadget]

Hi  and Welcome 

There's a marriage showing for Helen Sinclair and George McDonald on 6 July 1799, Halkirk, Caithness

and a birth showing for a son, George, to them on 28th July 1803, also at Halkirk

This is an IGI extracted record from www.familysearch.org

I wonder if the informant got his age wrong?

In addition to the familysearch site, Scotlands People www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk is a good source for Scottish records. It's pay to view but very reasonable. Also, Freereg has quite a number of Caithness records. Also, have a look at this thread:

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,24468.0.html

Where was he living before his death and, who was he married to?  This would help to check for his age on the censuses.

Regards


Gadget

[Jane Hollenbeck]

Thankyou so much for the help. I did get my original information from Scotlands people website. There appear to be at least 3 George Macdonalds in the family. His death in 1880 was in Halkirk...so your info is very promising. He was married to Williamina Macleod who died in 1900, age 84, and she was the daughter of William Macleod (crofter)and Mary Mackay.  George and Williamina had a son 'George', he was the informant on their death registrations. They also had a daughter Christina (domestic worker) who married Donald Tait (boot and shoemaker) in 1873 oct 09th. They are the parents of my grandmother, Margaret Campbell Tait.
Thankyou for the links, I will look them up

[Gadget]

Here we are

1871
Harpsdale, Halkirk
37 ED 3 page 6

MacDonald
George, 68 (so born 1803), farmer of 4 acres arable, b. Halkirk
Williamina, 53, b. Sutherlandshire
George, 16, farmer's son, b. Halkirk
Barbara, 12, scholar, b. Halkirk


Gadget

[Jane Hollenbeck]

again...my thanks. I presume this info comes from a census ? would that be the reason their daughter Christina, who would have been 33 at the time, was not listed? She was a domestic worker so I presume lived elsewhere in 1871.
How do I trace the Sinclair line back with some degree of accuracy?

Jane.
p.s... interesting that Williamina was born in Sutherlandshire... Sutherland is my family name and that's where I started this journey from.!

[Gadget]

All the censuses are on SP but it is costly. There are other sites which have indexes - Ancestry for one and the 1841 is on Freecen.

If you want to trace Helen Sinclair's line, you could use the IGI or Scotlands People. For example, if you go to the IGI page on family search and put in the parents names and Area, Country and County only, you should get a list of children to her parents. You could use them to see if there was a naming pattern to identify possble parents. Traditional naming patterns were often used:

1st son - after father's father
2nd son - after mother's father
3rd son - after father
4th son - after father's eldest brother
etc.

Daughters were named similarly but with the first daughter being named for the  Mother's mother, etc.


Gadget

[Jane Hollenbeck]

I have just found Helen's death cert. She died january 07 1858 age 80. She is recorded as a widow at the time, her father's name is George Sinclair , a farmer. There is no mother's name.... odd.! Her death was informed by son George Macdonald, and signed with an X.
It also says 'Halkirk churchyard as certified by Francis Sutherland, grave digger' !

Jane.

[Jane Hollenbeck]

I have come accross a marriage registration for George Sinclair in Waidale(?) + Margaret Waiter in Stainland(?) married dec 17th 1783.
Then 2 birth registrations : Helen Sinclair in Weydale born to George by Marg Waiter june 29th 1786,  and Donald Sinclair baptised march 29th 1788 son to George by Marg Waiter in Weydale.

I hope this is my Helen Sinclair !!!

[Gadget]

Have you found Helen on the 1851 census - that would give her pace of birth?