Find Ancestors

So what does anyone think are my options now or aren't there any regards stuart

Options are slim to non-existent, as there are so many Mary Macdonald/McDonalds, and we don't know her age in 1927.

Once ScotlandsPeople is back up (not yet - they say "we need a bit more time to test the new site and satisfy ourselves that it is completely ready for launch" ) we can try to find Jessie's birth record, which may give some clue.

Unfortunately, we can't use mms as a search factor, so can't narrow it down that way.

Jessie and Mary are both needles in a haystack of Macdonalds.

Sorry Stuart, I hate admitting defeat but we have absolutely no info on Mary. Knowing she was a housekeeper in Inverness in 1927 is not enough to find her.

I imagine she was possibly related to Catherine's father but as AG has said, she could have had a very tentative link eg cousin, niece, greatniece etc. Highland families generally looked after their own and extended families. Catherine and her husband possibly could not have children of their own? Who knows, I'm afraid it's all just assumptions just now.

As AG has also said, once SP is up and running Jessie's birth may be there but what name would she be under? Jessie, Janet, Jean?

Ok thankyou anyway regards stuart

Stuart, depending on where you live, it may still be possible to pinpoint Jessie's birth. If you can spend a day in the Scotlandspeople Centre in Edinburgh, you can look at the birth registrations for as many Jessie/ Janet Macdonald / McDonalds, in the relevant period, as time permits. You would then be able to narrow your search. There may not be as many Jessies with mother Mary and no father named as you think. The birth registration should give Mary's usual address even if it's not where she gave birth to Jessie. Even if the informant was not Mary, it may be another family member and that too could narrow the search. As Jessie was born c1900, any possible entries you find could perhaps be confirmed or eliminated using the 1901 census. Sometimes on entries for illegitimate children there is an occupation given for the mother. The search could be very time consuming but it may prove worthwhile.

Good luck with your search.

Just another thought, as Mary was illiterate (I would have thought it unusual in 1927 that a person was unable to write their own name even if poorly educated) that her surname may have been Mac or McDonald. The registrar would have decided on the spelling. It is always possible that John was the illegitimate son of one of Catherine's brothers. It has been known for illegitimate children to be brought up by the father's family. As Jessie herself was illegitimate, she may not have had any siblings to rear John and her mother may have been a live in housekeeper and unable to provide a home for her grandson.

Also a thought re finding them on 1901 census -

even though it looks as if Jessie was born before the date of the 1901 census, and should therefore appear on it, if Mary was already a live-in servant somewhere (and there are a lot of such possibles in 1901), Jessie might have been living in another household, probably with a family member.

ScotlandsPeople is up again.

It'll take a bit of getting used to the new format - and it costs more!

An initial search for a birth for Jessie Macdonald (or variant of both names) 1900-01 produces no results, so presumably her first name isn't officially Jessie, and is something that SP doesn't recognise as a "variant".

EDIT:
Having changed the search option for the first name to "Fuzzy matching" instead of "Name variants", there's a long list of 74 possibilities.

As predicted, nothing to distinguish one from another without more info to go on, unfortunately.

But one of them is in Auldearn, if that's anything to go by.

MACDONALD JESSIE F 1900 121/ 2 Auldearn

[It now costs 6 credtis @ 25p each, to see the cert.]

No, that's probably this child:


Jessie McDonald
in the 1901 Scotland Census
Record Image No Image
Name: Jessie McDonald
Age: 1
Estimated birth year: abt 1900
Relationship: Daur (Daughter)
Father's name: James McDonald
Mother's name: Jane McDonald
Gender: Female
Where born: Nairn, Nairnshire
Registration Number: 123
Registration district: Nairn
Civil Parish: Nairn
Town: Nairn
County: Nairnshire
Address: 23a Harbour St
ED: 3
Household schedule number: 7
LINE: 14
Roll: CSSCT1901_37
Household Members:
Name Age
James McDonald 33
Jane McDonald 29
Mary McDonald 10
Eweina McDonald 5
Alexander McDonald 3
Jessie McDonald 1

Hard work this one but just to add I contacted the Highland archives today explaining I was trying to at least find birthplace of jessie very helpful I might add and he says because jessie MAYBE was there a while bablair house I mean she would have had to fill out the standard poorhouse application council form so he's looking for this if it exists but he was positive I did this for my great grandad in forres morayshire and because he's wasn't from this county forres somehow tried to get the money off his birth county haven't explained this very well but I did get hold of the document and it did state his yob and pob what you think on this one regards stuart

Good thinking, Stuart.

If your contact at the Highland Archive Centre can find a record of Jessie, that could be very helpful.
Fingers crossed!

Yes, fingers crossed for you Stuart. I have been to the Archives in Inverness a few times and found poor relief records for my ggrandfather and other family members which had a lot of information on them.

The members of staff are extremely helpful.


AG I wonder if this is the family of the Jessie that you have found. Still no help though!


1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Park Cottages, Auldearn, Nairn, Scotland


Household Members
First name(s) Last name Relationship Marital status Gender Age Birth year Occupation Birth place
Alexander MacDonald Head Married Male 24 1877 Ploughman Inverness, Invernessshire, Scotland
Transcription
Margarate MacDonald Wife Married Female 24 1877 Ploughmans Wife Auldearn, Nairnshire, Scotland
Transcription
Jessie MacDonald Daughter - Female 1 1900 - Auldearn, Nairnshire, Scotland
Transcription
Alice MacDonald Daughter - Female 0 1901 - Auldearn, Nairnshire, Scotland
Transcription
Donald Kennedy Boarder Single Male 50 1851 Shepherd Inverness, Invernessshire, Scotland

Yes sorry I won't be able to go to the archive centre myself anytime soon as I live in the south West of England

Yes, that looks more likely, Alviegal.. But as you say - it doesn't solve the puzzle!

Surname Forename Title Status Place Parish Year Reference Number Image View
MACDONALD
DAVID
Tenant Occupier
HOUSE 2 NESS PLACE HAUGH ROAD WEST SIDE
INVERNESS
1925
VR004200042-
Buy credits
MACDONALD
JAMES
Tenant Occupier
HOUSE 2 NESS PLACE HAUGH ROAD WEST SIDE
INVERNESS
1925
VR004200042-

This is from the Valuation Rolls 1925.

Same address as Mary gave 1927 isn't it any ideas could they be related to her

Just noticed there's a david macdonald born 1901 haugh road in someone's treatment here on genes

The 1901census in Scotland was taken in April.
so a 1901 birth the age would be 1 month or 1 if 1900 birth.

Three possible births to maybe match that, on ScotlandsPeople, if you want to buy credits to see the details of address, parents' names, etc:

MACDONALD

DAVID

M

1900

098/ 161

Inverness



MACDONALD

DAVID FORBES

M

1901

098/ 42

Inverness



MCDONALD

DAVID ALEXANDER

M

1901

098/ 502

Inverness


[The new website copy/pastes results as above, not in a nice neat line as before!]

Ness Lane doesn't seem to feature in the 1901 census.
There are Ness Walk, Ness Place, Ness Square, Ness Bank, Ness Side, but no Ness Lane.

There are four different M*Donald households in Haugh road, but none with a David.

This is the only David M*Donald listed who might be the one born 1901 (possibly the third birth above, with grandfather's name as middle name?):

David MacDonald
in the 1901 Scotland Census
Name: David MacDonald
Age: 1
Estimated birth year: abt 1900
Relationship: Son
Father's name: John MacDonald
Mother's name: Isabella MacDonald
Gender: Male
Where born: Inverness
Registration Number: 98
Registration district: Inverness
Civil Parish: Inverness
Town: Inverness
County: Inverness
Address: 2 Celt St
ED: 16
Household schedule number: 144
LINE: 25
Roll: CSSCT1901_29
Household Members:
Name Age
John MacDonald 31
Isabella MacDonald 26
David MacDonald 1
Alexander Cameron 58 - father-in-law
Jessie Maclean 70 - aunt


I think David's a red herring, and can be ignored.