Welcome to our family history site

Posted on Thursday 22 February 2007

Welcome to this site which has been created to record various bits and pieces of McDonald family history and genealogy research. Although there are many McDonalds in the world, we’re concentrating on a family of McDonalds that lived in Iroquois and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in the 20th century.

Every research project has a starting point, and in this case, that point begins with Alfred McDonald and his wife Esther Lancaster (photo on left, click for larger view). On this website, you’ll learn more about their story and other related branches of the family.

Now, just a few words about how this website works. Down below, you’ll find a list of links to pages. Each page will contain some piece of information related to the McDonald family. Although there may not be too much to begin with, in time it’s hoped that the site will grow as materials are added, and as various pieces of family’s tree are revealed.

On the left, you’ll see a heading called Sections. That’s just another way to access the same links listed below.

On the left, you’ll also find a heading called Links. The links listed lead to other sites where you may find something related to the McDonald family or this site. One of those links leads to an online gallery containing old photos of the McDonald family. This may be of interest to you.

One last thing. You’ll see that most parts of this website have the capability of recording comments. If you wish to add some information to this site, or suggest a correction to any piece of information, please use the comments feature to do so.

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LINKS TO PAGES OF MATERIAL CONTAINED ON THIS SITE

* NEW! Some memories of my grandmother, Esther McDonald, by Bev Wigney.
* Events of My Life – memoirs of Alfred McDonald
* War time newspaper story – mainly on Bob McDonald, but other family members as well.
* Hockey news stories – news items from Alfred McDonald’s professional hockey career.
* A. E. “Cap” McDonald – obituary – copy of original newspaper obituary – contributed by Rick Roos, grandson of Alfred E. McDonald.

  1.  
    Jacqueline H. McDonald
    June 18, 2007 | 6:55 am
     

    My name is Jacqueline H. McDonald, I was looking for a site our immediate family keeps of pictures and this came up on google !!! I am the Daughter of Adrian Robert McDonald,son of Robert Paul McDonald from Ogdensburg,N.Y. My family used to live on Knox Street in Ogdensburg in the early 70’s. This Family History is very close to ours so!!! I wanted to respond, and so someone should keep history staight to say of the incredibe person this man was, my father Adrian R. McDonald. Thank you, Jacqueline H.McDonald. I will give my e-mail please do not send anything that is not secure.

  2.  
    Administrator
    June 18, 2007 | 12:53 pm
     

    Hi Jacqueline – I tried emailing you, but my reply to your comments bounced back, so I’ll post a reply here in hopes that you’ll see it. Here’s some info concerning a possible connection between McDonalds on the Canadian and U.S. side of the St. Lawrence River near Prescott-Ogdensburg. The McDonalds in our family are descended from one of two brothers who came from Ireland — we’re still not entirely sure of the date and how they came to be in the Iroquois area. My mother’s family are descended from James McDonald who remained in the Iroquois area for his entire life. The other brother, Patrick McDonald, married and had a family, but we don’t know anything about the descendants as it seems that the family may have moved elsewhere at some point. This is one of the parts of the puzzle that we are missing. It’s possible that they moved to the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence, or that they moved a little further west on the Ontario side. The other connection to Ogdensburg may be more recent. My mother’s father (Alfred Mcdonald), had a older brother who left home when he was 17. This must have been sometime around 1900. We think he ended up living on the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence, probably somewhere around Ogdensburg as my mother’s father used to go over to visit him. Unfortunately, we don’t know much more than that. If you can post some more information here in the comments, or send me an email, that would be great as my mother continues to work on researching the familly tree. I’m assuming I can’t reply to your emails, so I’ll post replies here.

  3.  
    Jacqueline H. McDonald
    June 20, 2007 | 5:50 pm
     

    Thank you for replying, and yes I will reseach what I have of our records and respond back. regardless, it’s very nice chatting with you as we all are in search for our history. thanks, Jacqueline. H. McDonald Please post an e-mail so I may foward some info also, may I have you phone # so we can speak.

  4.  
    August 14, 2007 | 3:14 pm
     

    My Brother-In-Law Glenn Clark (son of Howard Clark and Elinora Clark (nee: McDonald)never has seen most of
    these pictures. Glenn has no access to a computer so I am doing this for him. He is especially interested
    in the pictures of his Grandparents Alfred and Esther McDonald in their younger days. Also pictures
    dealing with his own parents Howard and Elinora Clark. Please note we all knew his mother as Elinora and
    not Elinor as stated with the pictures. But anyways, Glenn would be interested with anything to do with
    his Grandfathers’ Hockey Career. O–heres a Question for you. Did Alfred McDonald ever play for the
    Ottawa Silver Seven way back when? Glenn seems to think so. I haven’t yet found his name anywhere but
    The Sidney Millionaires. Glenn would be over the Moon if I
    could. I am also a Family Tree Nut!!! If this is going to cost us, we would be willing to pay. JUDE

    JUDE

  5.  
    Administrator
    August 14, 2007 | 4:36 pm
     

    Hi Judy — I’ll reply to your comment in an email. However, to respond to the question about Alfred McDonald’s hockey career, as far as I know, he didn’t play for the Silver Sevens — but someone else in the McDonald family may know more about that than I do. Most of what I know is based on his memoir on this page of this website.
    http://magickcanoe.com/blog5/events-of-my-life-memoirs-of-alfred-mcdonald/

  6.  
    Marian McDonald
    October 5, 2007 | 5:02 pm
     

    Actually I just wanted to note how odd an experience this was for me finding this website. You are right in saying that there are a lot of McDonalds and yes we are all searching our family tree. My family is from North Carolina and my great-grandmother was native american mixed. I just thought it odd about the names. My great grandmother was Katie, my dad was James McDonald and I have the name of a member of your family.

    Our ancestors came from Ireland too. I did enjoy your website and who knows there could be a connection in our families somewhere. Great site!!!!

  7.  
    Ordella Davidson
    December 30, 2007 | 6:58 pm
     

    My grandfather lived in Ottawa ON., His name was Micheal James McDonald, his mother was Mary Hall also from Ireland. I don’t know his father’s name some say Micheal but we are not sure but he came from Cork Ireland. He had a brother called(Paddy) Patrick,Jack, a sister Margaret married to a Bell, another sister Ella who lived on Kent St. in Ottawa ON
    My grandfather married Elizabeth Loken of Campbell’s Bay P.Q. and I am the daughter of Lois McDonald-Wilson deseased. Would like to know more of my Grandfather’s family.
    Thank you, Ordella Davidson of Pembroke ON

  8.  
    Sandra Stewart
    February 25, 2008 | 8:20 pm
     

    Hello,Great site! I am researching my Mcdonald branch and a lot of the names are the same asin my family. My Gr Gr father was James Micheal Mcdonald.He had Patrick, Jack, and James and a daughter called Maggie. James Jr was my grandfather. That’s all the names that I remember from the family. My Grand father said they came from Ireland.My Grandfather lived in Ottawa in the early 1900’s and married my grand mother in 1910 in Ottawa. He worked for the railway and lived in Campbell’s Bay in Pontiac County, Quebec.Don’t know if we are of the same branch.If any of this sounds familiar, please get in touch. Loved the pictures and keep up the good work you are doing. Sincerely, Sandra Stewart

  9.  
    Administrator
    February 25, 2008 | 8:36 pm
     

    Hello Sandra, I’ll have my mother take a look at your comment and see if she thinks there’s a connection in our families. She’s the one who is doing most of the research on the family tree. regards, bev

  10.  
    Jen
    July 24, 2008 | 11:31 pm
     

    Hi. I stumbled across this website and thought I would post. This is a long shot but I am hoping someone can help. I am trying to find more info on my family. My mom was adopted and by the time she found her biological mom, she couldn’t remember alot of information. My grandmother’s maiden name was Velma Joy McDonald. She married a Jack Wellman, possibly Arthur Gene Wellman. Velma’s mom’s name was Alice and I don’t know her dad’s name. If anyone has information please email me at jenbutlermohn@hotmail.com

    Thank you

  11.  
    Administrator
    July 24, 2008 | 11:42 pm
     

    Hi Jen,

    I don’t know anything about your family history, but maybe another visitor to this site will be able to fill in some pieces.

    Good luck!
    Bev

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