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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Establishing a family link between 2 men


Derek Robertson

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I have 2 men who I'm currently trying to link together as I have a strong suspicion that they are related in some way.

There is a prize of a coconut to anyone who can point me in the direction of a solution.

The men were:

Pte Archibald McDonald, no.S/22560, 6th Seaforths kia 24/3/18.

Son of Norman and Margaret McDonald of Orwell Cottage, Academy Road, Crieff.

Commemorated on the Arras Memorial. SDGW has Archibald as having been born at Rannoch and enlisting in Perth.

and

Pte.John McDonald, no.1700, 1st Bn Black Watch kia 6/11/1914, commemorated on the Menin Gate. There are no next of kin listed on the CWGC site for him. SDGW state that John was born in Inverness.

With the kind help of MALCOLM, I now know that there is a John McDonald listed under the Black Watch on the Crieff War Memorial. Is this the same chap as above?

Failing a trip to the library in Crieff or to the Scottish Registry Office in Edinburgh to hunt for evidence, is there any other way that I can link the 2 men?

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Hi Derek

In my logging of BW on memorials I have him as a possible for Crieff but cannot confirm unless there is a local roll.

I have a pic of his name on The Menin Gate if you need a copy.

Regards

Fred

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Funnily enough there are only two John McDonald's kia in the BW the other is 4697.

Plenty of James's though :D

Fred

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Funnily enough there are only two John McDonald's kia in the BW the other is 4697.

Plenty of James's though :D

Fred

WoW! That is pretty incredible as I would have assumed there would have been many more of them to that name.

Fred, I'd really appreciate the name from the Menin Gate if possible. Thanks.

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Derek

I am assuming that both were born before 1901.

If so why not have a look at the 1901 census details. The census for England and Wales is online at the National Archives website. The Scottish census may be online, if not it should be available to view in a local library.

Do you think they are brothers, cousins or ?

Without getting deeply into Family History research you may find a connection when you find them on the census. Family History is a complicated and frustrating affair.

If you find them on the census and need more on information on Family History research then please get in touch.

SEAN

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Hi Sean,

I don't think that they are brothers because one has CWGC family details while the other has none (unless of course he was the family black sheep).

I will certainly now follow up the Scottish 1901 census because Fred has suggested that John McDonald is quite a rare name. Until tonight I thought it was far too common and I would have been lost in the census reports.

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Derek,

I will be speaking to someone tomorrow ( 86 year old) who is a Crieff man and knows a lot about the Memorial and the people on it. I'll ask him about the MacDonalds.

Aye

Malcolm

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I'll ask him about the MacDonalds.

Malcolm,

Not to detract from Dereks thread; is there a difference between McDonald and MacDonald?? Ie are they interchangeable or is there a more sinister interpretation that may be yielded by a countryman himself?? :D

Roop

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£6 lighter and after having exasparated myself with the Scottish census records of 1901 I have found this:

Mc.jpg

Norman and Margaret McDonald have 8 children.

2 sons are called Donald(?) while we have a John aged 9 years and Archibald aged 3 years.

If this is our family then why would John not have any family details published with his CWGC records?

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Derek

Just send me your e.mail address and I will send it to you.

(It will be tomorrow night)

Fred

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I'll ask him about the MacDonalds.

Malcolm,

Not to detract from Dereks thread; is there a difference between McDonald and MacDonald?? Ie are they interchangeable or is there a more sinister interpretation that may be yielded by a countryman himself?? :D

Roop

Generally depended on the scribe and his education. I have seen either spelling for the same family. Some census entries have M'Donald.

Aye

Malcolm

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