All we knew about our family was that our grandfather, Alexander H. Macdonald, was born in Galt, Ontario and moved to a farm in Wiarton, Ontario in 1869 when he was two years old.
My grandfather Alexander Macdonald and my father Burton Macdonald - circa 1928
No one thought to question this story - until my brother found an old obituary for our grandfather, written by his wife, in an old bible. The newspaper stated that his parents immigrated to Canada from the Orkney Islands! My brother wouldn't rest until he found out the truth - when and where did the Macdonalds come from? Unfortunately, my father passed away in 1983 and all we could go on was memories of stories he had told us.
We first learned that Alexander had changed our name to Macdonald! Apparently to differentiate himself from the many Alexander McDonald's in town. That small piece of information was so vital - we would have wasted months looking for the wrong spelling.
First thing we needed to find out was the name of our great-great grandfather. We knew that the great-grandparents were Robert McDonald and Catherine Fraser but that was as far back as my father had known.
We found the family farm in Wiarton in the 1901 census - and there for the first time they had asked the populace the question - "What year did you immigrate to Canada?" To our great surprise the year listed by Robert McDonald was 1861! Our family hadn't been here as long as we had thought!
Our lucky break was locating Catherine Fraser's death certificate. On the certificate was her birthplace - Beverly township - which was very close to Galt and Catherine's parents names - a Simon Fraser and Mary MacDonald.. Upon checking the marriage registrations in Beverly we finally found our great-great grandparents - Alexander McDonald and Ann Meldrum. I also noticed another McDonald marriage a year later - same parents! We had found a sibling of Robert! Her name was Janet McDonald and she had married a Donald Fraser.
Robert and Catherine had nine children:
Died - April 2, 1936 - Brussels, Ontairo
married Cecelia Flarity - January 1, 1907
Alexander Macdonald and Cecelia Flarity
Their wedding day - Jan 1, 1907
one son: Burton Macdonald married Sara Pierce September 24, 1931
My parents - Burton and Sara Macdonald off on their honeymoon!
Mary Born: May 27, 1868 - Beverly Township
Died: unknown
married name Rutherford
Annie Born: 1870 - Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: unknown - between 1891 - 1901
Jessie Born: December 3, 1871, Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: unknown
Spinster
William (also known as Simon) Born: March 18, 1873, Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: WW1 - unknown
What a find! We found a pic of Simon
Catherine Born: 1874, Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: unknown
married name Arkles
John (Jack) Born: February 1, 1876, Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: unknown
last known - moved to Carnduff, Saskatchewan, married a woman named Mabel, who after Jack's death moved to Regina.
six children; five girls (Kathleen, Jean, Isabelle), one son (Alistair or Allison) who we *think* moved to Calgary, Alberta to be a barber
Recognize anyone in this photo of a wedding?
My father Burton Macdonald visiting Jack McDonald out west
Died: Unknown
married name Hahn
Robert Born: April 27, 1883, Keppel Township, Wiarton
Died: WW1 unknown
click here to see his WW1 medal.
The family was eventually found in Beverly Township and in Creiff, Ontario. Ann Meldrum was there in the 1901 census showing the year of immigration as 1861 - living with a William, listed as the shoemaker in Crieff.
My brother then made a trip to Ontario and spent a few days in the Crieff area researching in libraries, graveyards etc. He noticed, from reading gravestones and the history of the Crieff church, that many of the people originated from the Badenoch area of Inverness-shire. A search of the Baptismal records in the Morman Research Centre of the Parishes in Bedenoch finally turned up our family! For the continuation of the story - please visit the page outlining our search in Scotland.
