I am a keen traveller.
One of my ambitions is to visit 50 countries by the time I am 50. I am up to country 42. Being an Aussie, I have numerous ancestors
who travelled vast distances so am spoilt for choice by the prompt “Travel”, so
I have decided to write about an ancestor who lived in at least 3 countries
(like me).
USA
Malcolm Macdonald* was born in North Carolina, USA, around
1806. His death certificate gives his
place of birth as Williamsburg and there is a tiny place (still) of that name
in Rockingham County, North Carolina, although I can’t find any trace of
Macdonald’s living in that area in the early 1800's.
Scotland
I don’t know anything about Malcolm’s childhood in North
Carolina or how long he lived there. By
the early 1820’s, Malcolm and his family had moved (or returned) to
Scotland. Family legend says that there
was a connection to the famous Flora Macdonald, who did spend some time in
North Carolina, but I have no evidence to support the claim.
Malcolm’s father was Angus Macdonald, a flour miller, and
his mother may have been Janet McLean.
Janet was the mother of his sister Mary who was born about 1825 in
Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Malcolm also had siblings Angus, Marion and possibly Neil, born about
1822 in Greenock. Angus, a sailor,
Marion and Mary all feature in family correspondence that I have copies of.
Janet McLean died in 1854 just months before
Scotland introduced civil registration with certificates containing lots of
family information.
On 25 February 1826, Malcolm married Agnes Donaldson in
Greenock. They had five children:
Malcolm (my ancestor), Agnes Kay, Angus (1831-1831), Angus (1833-1837, died of
whooping cough) and Annabella. Sadly, only Malcolm and Agnes survived
childhood. Agnes Donaldson died not long
after Annabella was born, leaving Malcolm a widower with two young children.
On 4 October 1836, Malcolm married Rachel Macdonald in
Kilmuir, Inverness. Malcolm and Rachel
had eight children, six born is Scotland (Annabella, Flora, Mary, Roderick,
Rachel and Marion) and the last two (Charles David and Margaret) born in
Liverpool, England. Roderick died young
but the others all survived to adulthood and feature in the family
correspondence.
England (and France?)
From at least 1835, Malcolm worked as a clerk for shipping
companies, so his move from Glasgow to Scotland is not surprising. From letters, it looks like his work took him
to Le Harve in France and maybe other places.
I have not been able to find Malcolm in the 1851 census (for either
Scotland or England), so I wonder if he was out of the country at the
time. He wasn’t in Liverpool with his
wife and children. At the time of the
1861 census, Malcolm was living with his family in Liverpool and the census
record says that he was a naturalised British Citizen born in North
Carolina. At the time, it seems that
marrying a Brit was enough to gain citizenship and he had married two.
At some point in the 1860’s it seems likely that Malcolm and
Rachel’s marriage broke down. Whatever
happened, one of his daughter’s had not forgiven him by the time he died. Of
Malcolm Macdonald’s thirteen children, Malcolm jnr is the only one I know
married; Charles and two of the daughters I am not sure about yet. I wonder if
their parent’s marriage failure put the daughters off marriage.
Australia
Before December 1873, Malcolm moved to Melbourne, Victoria
(now Australia), leaving his wife and daughters behind in Liverpool. Both sons, Malcolm and Charles, were living in
Victoria by this time, one in Ballarat and the other in Hotham. In Melbourne, Malcolm snr worked as a
collector for Messers Campbell and McCullock and lived in lodgings at 145 William
Street.
In the winter of 1877, Malcolm contracted pneumonia
following a fall where he injured his chest.
He took to his bed and treated it with port and whiskey. I know from his inquest report that this
remedy failed.
Following Malcolm’s death, his son Charles was eager to
split the inheritance, of £121, between himself and Malcolm jnr. However, Malcolm jnr, somewhat surprisingly,
given his reputed poor character, waited waiting a reasonable time (several
months) for return mail from Liverpool whereby the sisters could claim their
share.
So Malcolm was born in the USA, married in Scotland, lived in
England, probably visited France, and died in Australia; definitely an intrepid
traveller at a time when all that travelling had to be done by long sea
voyages.
*This is the spelling that my modern Macdonald relatives
use, however every version you could think of occurs in the records.
Notes on lineage: Me > Mum > John Macdonald Charley
> Constance Mary Macdonald > James Gordon Macdonald > Malcolm Macdonald
> Malcolm Macdonald
