Find Ancestors

You may be correct about the "Mcs and the Macs" being 2 different families, Charles. It also makes perfect sense that they would possibly leave the 3 young children with family members at home, especially with the very high infant mortality rate in India at the time.
I wonder why they would name another son John though if the John born 1822 was still living.
This may be one of these situations where you never find out the answer, I'm afraid due to the lack of records at the time and also the extremely common name. :-( :-( :-(

To All.
The more I have studied these records the more I am convinced that there are 2 families with similar names.
I have noticed the different spellings of " Mcdonald & Macdonald " in the post's, perhaps this may confirm the theory of 2 families of Mcdonalds.

Alviegal and ArgyllGran.
Thanks both of you for your inputs. I have just read your messages, will study them in detail later.
There does appear to be two families, the John in your latest post ( 12.28 ) Alvie is a Colour Sergeant in 26 Reg., he is definitely my relation.
The other Sgt. Macdonald could be a Medic.
Just a thought to ponder over, would John Mcdonald have taken 3 very young children ( John 1822 , Ann 1824, and Alexander 1826 ) to India with him and his wife Catherine ???

Yes, I was beginning to think there might be two families with the same names, in the same regiment!

Catherine 1833 may well have died before Catherine 1835 was born, of course.
I imagine child mortality in India was even worse than in Britain at that time.

Here is another one.


First name(s)
Catherine Mcdonald
Last name
McDonald
Baptism year
1835
Birth year
1835
Place
Meerut
Presidency
Bengal
Mother's first name(s)
Catherine
Mother's last name
-
Father's first name(s)
John
Father's last name
McDonald
Baptism date
8 Nov 1835
Birth date
31 Oct 1835
Archive reference
N-1-41
Folio
238


Colr Serjt John McDonald HM 26th Regt. and Catherine, his wife.

This seems to be Catherine.



British India Office Ecclesiastical Returns- Births & Baptisms Transcription


First name(s)
Catherine
Last name
Macdonald
Baptism year
1833
Birth year
1833
Place
Meerut
Presidency
Bengal
Mother's first name(s)
Catherine
Mother's last name
-
Father's first name(s)
John
Father's last name
Macdonald
Baptism date
26 Jan 1834
Birth date
17 Nov 1833
Archive reference
N-1-38

Hospital Sergeant John Macdonald Hs Ms 26th Regiment and of Catherine, his wife.


EDIT Surely there must be 2 Sergeant John Mcdonald's of the 26th with wives called Catherine!!

I agree AG. John 1833 must surely have died as well before John Charles came along.

Re birth of John Charles -
the tree must have the wrong DOB for young Catherine, when it says she was born Oct 31, 1835.

Not possible if JC was born 5th Oct!

Alviegal, that's the 1833 John mentioned in the tree on Ancestry.

EDIT: I mean the one whose birth record you posted at 11:50.


So as I said, John 1822 must have died before then.

Birth for John Charles.



British India Office Ecclesiastical Returns- Births & Baptisms Transcription


First name(s)
John Charles Macdonald
Last name
Macdonald
Baptism year
1835
Birth year
1835
Place
Meerut
Presidency
Bengal
Mother's first name(s)
Catherine
Mother's last name
-
Father's first name(s)
John
Father's last name
Macdonald
Baptism date
25 Oct 1835
Birth date
05 Oct 1835
Archive reference
N-1-41
Folio
237

Serjt. John McDonald H.M. 26th Regiment and his wife, Catherine.

Birth for young John.(a different one?)

First name(s)
John
Last name
McDonald
Baptism year
1833
Birth year
1833
Place
Meerut
Presidency
Bengal
Mother's first name(s)
Catherine
Mother's last name
-
Father's first name(s)
John
Father's last name
McDonald
Baptism date
24 Apr 1833
Birth date
13 Apr 1833
Archive reference
N-1-35
Folio
115

Sergeant John McDonald HM 26 Regiment and Catherine, his wife.

This is the death of young Catherine.

British India Office Ecclesiastical Returns - Deaths & Burials Transcription

First name(s)
Catherine
Last name
McDonald
Birth year
1836
Age
0
Burial date
13 Aug 1836
Place
Ghazeepore
Presidency
Bengal
Archive Reference
N-1-46

Infant daughter of Sergeant John McDonald of HM 26 or Cameronian Reg.


There is a burial record for another Catherine McDonald in the same place on 14 May 1836 but she was born 1810 so can't be connected.

Catherine says she found that info on a tree on Ancestry.

There are actually several members' trees with this family.
[EDIT: No, it seems to be the same person's tree showing up several times. Peter Macdonald ?]

One says Catherine Wallace died in West Bengal, in 1836, possibly at Ghazeerpore.
Her daughter Catherine, born Oct 31 1835, in Meerut, died Aug 13, 1836 in Ghazeerpore.

The tree owner apparently has young Catherine's birth cert, but there's no proof shown for the other dates.

A son John was born 13th April 1833 in Meerut - again no sources given.

It doesn't give a date of death for the son John born 1822, but presumably it was before the birth of John 1833.

Catherine.
Your 3 posts above are correct, I have John's attestation papers,he left India April 1838 to headquarters in Chatham, was discharged Aug 1840.
I am intrigued about your post about death of Catherine, I could not find any reference to her death in India although I suspected it. Where did you get this info?

Malyon.
Correct info. this is part of my family.
Thanks.

Malyon
Thanks for your post on John's India death.
I have checked my records, John (born 1800) was posted back to England on 10 April 1838 so John buried in India 30 June 1839 must belong to a different family.

possible second marriage????

Name: John Mcdonald
Gender: Male
Marriage Date: 5 Apr 1840
Marriage Place: Gillingham, Kent, England
Spouse: Margaret Rogers
FHL Film Number: 1042493
Reference ID: 124

A tree on ancestry has
Catherine :- died 1836 in India
John:- BIRTH 2 MAR 1800 • Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland
DEATH 4 FEB 1859 • Montrose, Angus, Scotland

1841
Name John Mcdonald
Age 40
Estimated Birth Year abt 1801
Gender Male
Where born Perthshire, Scotland
Civil parish Blairgowrie
County Perthshire
Address Union St
Occupation P
Parish Number 335
Household Members
Name Age
John Mcdonald 40
Margaret Mcdonald 20
Ann Mcdonald 15 - Ann Wallace McDonald BIRTH 15 APR 1824 • Kinsale, Cork, Ireland
DEATH 30 JUL 1857 • Montrose, Angus, Scotland
Alexr Mcdonald 15 - BIRTH 9 MAR 1826 • Kilcock, Kildare, Ireland
John Mcdonald 8 - (John Charles) BIRTH 05 OCT 1835 • Meerut, Bengal, India
Margaret Mcdonald 6 Mo

(if Catherine died in 1836 and Jean-Charles was born in 1835 I would suggest that she probably died from complications with the birth, but that is of course just a theory)

1851
Name John Mcdonald
Age 57
Estimated Birth Year abt 1794
Relationship Head
Gender Male
Where born Blairgowrie, perthsh
Parish Number 312
Civil parish Montrose
County Angus
Address 61 Bridge Street
Occupation Staff Serjeant Forfarshire Mititia
ED 4
Page 1
Household schedule number 5
Line 14
Roll CSSCT1851_68
Household Members
Name Age
John Mcdonald 57
Margaret Mcdonald 33
Ann Mcdonald 26 - born: Cork Brs, ireland
John Mcdonald 18 - born: Brit Lab, east indies
Margaret Mcdonald 10
Charles Mcdonald 1

........also gives name of second wife as
Margaret Porter Rodgers BIRTH ABT 1818 • Lowestoft, Suffolk, England
DEATH 27 OCT 1872 • Montrose, Angus, Scotland

I wonder if these discharge papers are relevant to your John Snr.

First name(s) JOHN
Last name MCDONALD
Birth year 1800
Birth parish BLAIRGOWRIE
Birth town BLAIRGOWRIE
Birth county PERTHSHIRE
Birth country SCOTLAND
Service number 147
Rank SERJEANT
Regiment Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) - 26th Foot & 90th Light Infantry
Document Type Discharge
Attestation year 1815
Attestation Day 12
Attestation Month 12
Attestation age years 15
Attestation age months
-
Discharge Corps 26TH REGT OF FOOT

Discharge service number 147
Series WO97 chelsea pensioners british army service records 1760-1913
Box 455
Box Record Number 89
Record set British Army Service Records 1760-1915
Category Military, armed forces & conflict
Subcategory Regimental & service records
Collections from Great Britain

Was discharged on 6th August 1840 as unable to perform his duty ? ? pains in limbs and back.


If this is him then he can't have died in 1839.

EDIT:- sorry, just realised that death would be that of John Jnr.

The death posted by Malyon, 26 Jun 2016 16:05, has his father John MacDonald, Lieutt. 50 Reg. N.I.