Parents of Malcolm McDonald - born about 1801, Stornoway

[stuartd96]

Hi, I am trying to find the parents of my 4th great grandfather Malcolm McDonald. Malcolm, according to the 1851 and 1861 censuses, was born about 1801 in Stornoway. He had 5 children with his wife Margaret Martin: Margaret (born 1831, died young), Daniel (1833-1903), Margaret (1837-1904), Robert (1839-1902) and Malcolm (born about 1841). He died in 1876 in Greenock at the age of 73 - according to his death record his father was Daniel McDonald (farmer), there was no mention of his mother. His marriage record in Rothesay, 1831 says he was the son of Donald McDonald, farmer, Stornoway. In the parish birth records in Stornoway the only record of Malcolm McDonald I could find between 1790 and 1810 was in 1806, with Donald MacDonald listed as the father and no mention of the mother. I'm not certain whether this is the Malcolm McDonald I'm looking for though I'm very doubtful. Does anyone know how I can identify his parents - a farmer in Stornoway called Donald or Daniel and an unnamed mother/

[Gadget]

Donald and Daniel are often synonyms

https://www.whatsinaname.net/php/search.php?action=search2&search_name=daniel

Welcome to Rootschat 

[ColC]

Two marriages for a Donald 1770 – 1803 no Daniel.
MACDONALD   DONALD   ISOBEL MARTIN   22/12/1795   Stornoway
MACDONALD   DONALD   CHRISTIAN MCLEOD   09/01/1797   Stornoway

MACDONALD   MALCOLM   DONALD MACDONALD   18/10/1806   Stornoway

Plus many other children but only father Donald named, no Daniel but I agree with gadget and I have had the same problem with my research.

Records on https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Colin

[ColC]

You may already have this but just in case.

MALCOLM MCDONALD married MARGARET MARTIN
08/11/1831 Rothesay.

Colin

[trish1120]

The 18 Oct 1806 Bapt of a Malcolm has his Father Donald MacDonald as a Shoemaker.
(FreeREG)
As I haven't access to actual record only going by transcript on there.

Have you looked for Donald in 1841 Census?

Born;
1781 Occp S T    ( had to look it up ; Seasonal or Sitting Tennant), Wife Mary
1791 Occp S T, Wife Catherine
1766 Occp Cooper, younger Wife Isabella
1776 Occp S T, Wife Mary
1776 Occp Tenant, Wife Margret
1771 Occp Farmer, no Wife appears to be present, but other Family are there.

I ignored ones with Occp of Fisherman/Labourer etc.

[Forfarian]

In the 1841 census Malcolm's age is recorded as 45. In that year adults' ages were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 years, so he could have given his age as anything from 45 to 49.

The census was taken on 7 June 1841, so if his age is accurate he would have been born between 8 June 1791 and 7 June 1796.  However the 1851 says he was 50, which would imply that he was born between 31 March 1800 and 30 March 1801; and the 1861 and 1871 say 60 and 70 respectively, which again points to a birth in 1800 or 1801.

Clearly the 1841 age does not overlap with the others, so at least one of them must be wrong. The consistency of the other records does lend weight to him being born 1800/1801, but certainly not as late as 1806; and I think the occupations are enough to preclude the one baptised in 1806 being yours.

[stuartd96]

Thanks for replying. I suspected that Donald and Daniel could be synonyms - I couldn't find any Daniel McDonald in the area. The 1806 birth seemed too late to my ancestor's given his age in the census records - his birth most likely sometime between 1799 and 1803. It's annoying that Malcolm and his wife's daughters were likely named after his mother-in-law.

Looking at the birth and baptism records in Stornoway between 1790 and 1815 I've found 21 births with Donald MacDonald named as the father. Isabella MacIver and Catherine Graham were the only mothers I could find.