James MCDONALD b c1837 and Allan McDonald b c 1830

[Tgapitbull]

Thanks Forfarian.
I have today purchased the death registration for James McDonald who died in 1882.  Fingers crossed that I receive this before the office is closed for Christmas.
I have spent the day trawling through newspaper articles on Paperspast.
While I have not been able to confirm this information it appears that Allan McDonald had two brothers in New Zealand.  James who died in 1882 and Donald.  In a newspaper article about the bankruptcy of Donald in 1889, it refers to a brother Allan "the younger".  This could fit with your information above?
At around this time, 1888 there is a Legal Gazette Notice in the NZ Supreme Court re Allan McDonald, a lunatic - motion.  It appears that his Estate was put in the hands of Trustees [in Napier] under the Lunacy Act.
In 1890 there was an Auction of a number of properties/stock that he had a Freehold/Leasehold interest in as he was in default to the Bank of New South Wales.
Apart from a couple of newspaper articles I haven't been able to locate anythig further about his disappearance in Melbourne.  The Otago Hotel that he checked into in Flinders street has been demolished and there is a modern building on the site.
An initial look on Trove [Australian newspapers] I haven't been able to locate any further articles about his disappearance.  I wonder if he started a new life in Melbourne?

TPB

[MonicaL]

Likely this lead did not lead to anything?

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18980929.2.13?end_date=31-08-1905&items_per_page=10&page=4&phrase=2&query=allan+macdonald&snippet=true&start_date=01-04-1860

Monica

[MonicaL]

James MCDONALD b c 1837 died 1882 [17 April] Bellevue House, Auckland, New Zealand
Additional information: Lived at Achnahannet, Strathspey, Moray, Scotland
Source: Findmypast

Can I ask, is this a submitted piece of info on Findmypast? Or is it from official document?

Just wondering if it is submitted, whether it is wrong and we should be looking at a different family, with an Allan 

This is the 1841 entry for the family that Forfarian mentioned:

Donald Mcdonald 60 farmer
Ann Mcdonald 40
John Mcdonald 18
Elsbet Mcdonald 15
Ann Mcdonald 14
Jannet Mcdonald 12
Margaret Mcdonald 8
Donald Mcdonald 6
James Mcdonald 4
Mary Mcdonald    3

Address: Auchnahanet, Cromdale, Moray

Monica

[MonicaL]

Also, we are working on an approximate birth year for Allan of c. 1830. Do you know how this has been arrived at? Can't see any reference to his age on any of the newspaper reporting on him.

Monica

[Forfarian]

Here's an interesting snippet.

An Allan MacDonald died in New Zealand on 1 August 1893 aged 62, and the New Zealand Herald published a short obituary on 2 August 1893 in which they mentioned that he was a former Member of the General Assembly representing the East Coast electorate, but had suffered some reverses in recent years.

The following day it published an apology, saying that it was Mr Allan MacDonald of Coromandel who had died, not the former politician.

Is it, I wonder, possible that this is the source of the suggestion that Allan McDonald MHR, brother of James and Donald, was born about 1830/1831?

Also interesting that the apology mentions his numerous friends in Auckland, some of whom had known him from boyhood. Was he, therefore, already in Auckland as a boy? Or had so many of his boyhood friends also emigrated that the number of them in Auckland was noteworthy?

The Poverty Bay Herald of 7 August 1893 comments on the mistake, saying that the many friends in Auckland of Allan McDonald, ex-MHR, as well as being grieved, were at the same time surprised, for the subject of the par [sic] is in Otago.

(Just to add to the general confusion, another Allan McDonald, aged 30, chief officer of the barque Celtic Burn, disappeared after passing Port Phillip Heads on 23 February 1899.)

[Forfarian]

The Gisborne Standard of 16 August 1890 mentions an Allan McDonald, nephew and namesake of Allan McDonald, former MHR.

[Tgapitbull]

Thanks MonicaL and Forfarian.
In respect to your replys;
No 10 - pity newspaper article didn't mention where in Australia he had been sighted.  I have wondered if he walked out of the hotel and started a new life in Australia.

No 11 - information on FindMyPast is probably submitted as there was no source document.

No 12 - I don't know where Allan's age has come from.  Waiting a response from the Tarawhiti Museum, Gisborne re their information.  It could have come from the incorrect obituary?

No 13 - reports on his disappearance mention that he left Dunedin in May 1893, yet the Poverty Bay Herald of 7 August 1893 is reporting friends as saying he was in Otago?  Further research required.

No 14 - Allan McDonald nephew of Allan McDonald MHR mentioned in the Gisborne Standard of 16 August 1890.  This could be the Allan McDonald born 1863 to Donald and "Penuel" McDonald (NZ DIA Birth Index 1863/16956).  I couldn't find a marriage in the index for a Donald McDonald and "Penuel".

Thanks again for your postings with this information which is very much appreciated.

TPB

[Tgapitbull]

Now found on Ancestry one family tree.
Donald McDonald b 1835, Scotland (place not stated)
married Penuel Grant on 24 July 1860, Blythswood, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
Donald died on 18 January 1919 age 84 years and is buried in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Penuel McDonald was born in 1837 in Scotland and died in NZ in 1902

Parents of Donald and Penuel are not stated.
The Ancestry account has not be accessed for around 11 months.

A son Allan McDonald born in 1863 died in 1932 and is buried in Whakatane

I have yet to verify this information.

TPB

[Forfarian]

Now found on Ancestry one family tree.
Donald McDonald b 1835, Scotland (place not stated)
married Penuel Grant on 24 July 1860, Blythswood, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
Donald died on 18 January 1919 age 84 years and is buried in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.

Penuel McDonald was born in 1837 in Scotland and died in NZ in 1902

Parents of Donald and Penuel are not stated.
The Ancestry account has not be accessed for around 11 months.

A son Allan McDonald born in 1863 died in 1932 and is buried in Whakatane

I have yet to verify this information.

TPB

Donald McDonald who married Penuel Grant was the son of .... tada .... Donald McDonald and Ann Stuart! And he was born at Achnahannet, United Parishes of Cromdale Inverallan and Advie.