« Reply #6 on: Friday 03 July 15 14:03 BST (UK) »
Hi Rena & Skoosh,
Yes, I thought it strange that he was recruited from Aberdeen but says that he is from Kincardine, Ross.
Regarding his children. He had a total of 8 children, the first Eliza, then Donald Hessman (Maiden name of wife) Elizabeth Jane, Margaret, Isabella, Jane, Arthur William and Alexander Henry.
When he died his will gave everything to his wife and to his daughter Margaret and her husband. No other children are mentioned although most are still alive.
I looked at the Parish registers for Kincardine, R & C which says that there are no records between 1796 and 1804. I haven't had a thorough look at Nigg. Also there seems to be more than one Nigg.
According to FIBIS there is only the Depot Description list for Donald Snr. No attestation papers.
Your thoughts will be gratefully received,
Hilary
My only other thoughts are:
You didn't give any dates for the children and his wife's name escapes me; Donald senior married 1830 :-
(1) are you satisfied that Eliza was the first born child, in other words could another birth have been "sneaked" in between 1830 and Eliza's birth date? and
(2) are there any gaps in between the birth dates of the other children?
(3) We don't have any death dates, thus don't know if a child died. Jane seems to be an important name, thus I suspect it could have been the name of a grandmother? Also there is a thought that the names Isabel and Eliza/Elizabeth were interchangeable thus Isobella may (or may not) be a spare.
(4) You've listed two quite popular 18th/19th century M'kenzie names in Alexander, Donald and to a lesser degree William and Henry.
(4) "Hessman" sounds German and when researching German baptism records you'll find that their given name was written after the names of "sponsors"/"god parents" (the latter could be relatives or people of note in the area), thus Elizabeth Hessman would be recorded as (for example) Anna Sophia Elizabeth Hessman.
Aberdeen: Findlay-Shirras,McCarthy: MidLothian: Mason,Telford,Darling,Cruikshanks,Bennett,Sime, Bell: Lanarks:Crum, Brown, MacKenzie,Cameron, Glen, Millar; Ross: Urray:Mackenzie: Moray: Findlay; Marshall/Marischell: Perthshire: Brown Ferguson: Wales: McCarthy, Thomas: England: Almond, Askin, Dodson, Well(es). Harrison, Maw, McCarthy, Munford, Pye, Shearing, Smith, Smythe, Speight, Strike, Wallis/Wallace, Ward, Wells;Germany: Flamme,Ehlers, Bielstein, Germer, Mohlm, Reupke