Donaldson’s in Bathgate

[JillDufour]

Hi I am new here. I am tracing family from mother’s paternal line in Bathgate. We have eight John Donaldsons, two Barrons and a few James’. I have hit a block in my search. I am trying to find what happened before Bathgate. Trying to find out where they came from before Bathgate. I have joined Clan Donald. I have no male paternal line descendant to test for y dna. Any Donaldsons from Bathgate, please contact me. I am doing this for my mother who is 82. I really want to find her paternal Donaldson line. 

My ancestry is as follows:
My maternal grandfather is John Robert Donaldson BD 10/9/1909 D May 5, 1981 Jersey City, N.J.
He had 5 brothers and 4 sisters ( Barron, Edward, George, and Donald who died at birth.)
Sisters are Gertrude, Edna, Margaret, and Helen. Gertrude and Edna were twins.
Great grandfather is also John Donaldson BD 10/9/1874 (yes same birthdate) Born in Jersey City N.J.
 
Great x2 grandfather is Barron Donaldson BD 1846 Bathgate, Linlithgowshire Scotland married Annie O’Keefe who was born in 1848

Great x3 grandfather is John Donaldson BD 1810 Bathgate, Linlithgowshire Scotland
DD Jan 1, 1878 Bathgate Midlothian Scotland Marriage to Helen Hamilton and had 7 sons and one daughter.
daughter: Helen
sons: Barron, Thomas, Robert, James, George, Alexander, John

Great x4 grandfather is John Donaldson 1785-1841 Death  Jan 18, 1841 Bathgate, West Lothian Scotland married Agnes ?

Great X5  grandfather is John Donaldson BD 1752 Carriden West Lothian Scotland
Married Anne Frew BD 1752

Great x6  grandfather is James Donaldson BD 1728 Edinburgh Midlothian Scotland
Spouse Jean Ritchie BD 1732 Marriage date 1/7/1753

Great x7 grandfather is James Donaldson BD 1690
Partner Mary Blyth BD 1705

This is as far as I got.

Thank you. I am greatly appreciative.

Jill

[MonicaL]

Hi Jill

Welcome to RootsChat 

Would help others if you added a few more details. Maybe describe the family that you have hit a wall with, with names of other family members and year etc.

Monica

[JillDufour]

Thank you very much. I have updated it with my ancestry as far as I’ve gotten. 

[Wendy2305]

Hi Jill and welcome as well
Have found a possible marriage for your 4x gr grandfather a John Donaldson married Agnes Barron in 1798 in Linlithgow

[Wendy2305]

Don't know if you have this there's a death in Bathgate for a Helen Donaldson other name Hamilton age 82 in 1898

[JillDufour]

Hi Wendy! Thank you for the information ❤️👍 I now have that. Every little bit helps.  I am still digging. Going to use Scotland’s People to see if I can get further. I am trying to get as far back as possible. On the Clan Donald Facebook group I made a post. I received replies. Was told by admin Chas McDonald that Bathgate was not a traditional clan area. My quest is to find out where they came from before Bathgate and to trace the geneology to determine which Clan Donald branch is ours. I got to 1690. Again thank you. 

[Skoosh]

 Jill, There are about twenty Donaldson's in the Bathgate Mortality Records 1860-1925, mostly mining families & the odd merchant. The names don't seem to match yours though. Don't think this "Clans!" business is the way to go!

Skoosh.

[Forfarian]

Was told by admin Chas McDonald that Bathgate was not a traditional clan area. My quest is to find out where they came from before Bathgate and to trace the geneology to determine which Clan Donald branch is ours. I got to 1690. Again thank you. 

Chas McDonald was spot on. The clans were a social feature of the Highlands, and Bathgate is about as far as you can get from anything Highland.

The fact is that the majority of Scotland's population always lived in the Lowlands, and until about the 19th century it would not have occurred to most Lowlanders to try to link themselves to a clan.

Obviously you must have had a Donald away back among your ancestors, but he need not necessarily have been a Macdonald. He could have been from an entirely different family and happened to be given the name Donald.

If I were you I would just forget about trying to link your family to a clan and concentrate on proving that the links you have listed are correct. Bear in mind that a large proportion of baptisms and marriages were never recorded, or if they were the records did not survive. Just because there is only one candidate in the records does not mean that it is the right person.

I did exactly that when I was new to family history, and only later, when I got a death certificate, did I discover that I had been working on the wrong tree altogether, that of someone with the same name as my great-great-grandmother, born in the same parish about the same time, but mine was not in the records.

So just concentrate on getting evidence other than the parish registers to confirm your older generations, and if you do get back to a clansman, of whatever clan, that's great, but don't waste effort trying to prove a link that may not actually exist.

[JillDufour]

Skoosh and Forfarian:

Thank you both very much!  The ancestry I listed was confirmed by my mother and my cousin. The main goal is to find ancestors as far back as possible and where they were before Bathgate.  Mom was curious about her Scandinavian ancestry. She was told by a geneticist that her eye condition is particular to those of Norwegian descent. Main goal is to find all I can, clan or not. Thank you so much for the information. It is very valuable to me. Have a great weekend