What became of James Joseph McDonald?

Several friends and I, some of us cousins, are puzzled by the career of a particular James Joseph McDonald born in Prince Edward Island in 1863/64. His parents were Neil Joe McDonald (b. abt. 1838) and Mary Ann (b. abt. 1842). Neil Joe's father seems to be an Alexander McDonald born about 1800 in either Scotland or Canada. Our James Joseph seems to disappear in his teens and we cannot decide among at least 6 James McDonalds who travelled to other places and set up homes and families. Most of us agree he probably went to sea, possibly landed in Australia and established a home base but kept working on ships most likely as a Ship's Steward. He may have died in New Zealand in 1911, from a skin condition in a Mental Hospital [!!]. A grave there mentions his wife (if this is he) Leonora Webber nee Reid/Reed and several children. Leonora and the children have good records in Australia but the father is a mystery. And may be a different man altogether. Can anyone get their teeth into this or is it too vague?

 

A tree on Geni has James Joseph McDonald born London died Petersham NSW in 1948 age 83 husband of Lenora Mary Webber Reid.
So it seems as Lenora is mentioned on the grave in New Zealand then the info on the Geni tree is wrong. Check Trove to see if there is anything there on the James who died in Petersham and NSWBDM who should have the parents.
I just checked NSWBDM and its not Petersham NSW!

 

1881 census has the family with head Sarah McDonald 48, Neil Joe 23, Mary Ann 21, James Joseph 17 farmers son, Teresa 11, Mary Ann 7, James Joseph 3, all born Prince Edward Island nationality Scottish.
Sarah 48 is listed as a farmer, Alexander McDonald 60 a carpenter, Angus 46 farmer, Joseph 42 farmer, Catherine 50, Mary 52
All are Catholic and born in Scotland
Then in November 1881 there is the death of a James Joseph McDonald age 18 buried at St Margaret's RC Catholic cemetery Prince Edward Island by the Rev DV McDonald. Father of Black Bush but no name on the card.
Just ruled him out as the headstone has his father as John McDonald who died in 1873. So that's one less James Joseph to search.

 

Oh boy!! You picked one of the most common PEI surnames there are, lol. Along with the Arsenaults and Gallants. I tried looking on the main PEI site but gave up. My ancestry is PEI back to 1827 from Scotland, but thank goodness I have an unusual UK name (Bowness).

So give it a try here......and I don't think Dave Hunter has any items for sale, so it should be all right. It is a collection of donated trees and items of interest (like passenger lists, maps, etc.) Btw, they have an unusual method of identifying "counties".....they are known as LOTS. Like a lot of mine are on Lot 25 and 26, in case you wonder what they are talking about.

Code:

http://www.islandregister.com/index.html

Good luck. The search engine is NOT the best so usually I just use my more unusual surnames on it. There are also a few PEI sites on Facebook that I belong to and I often see the above names come up because they are so common. Best one is "Prince Edward Island Genealogy"

 

I've got a list of PEI sources, but no time at the moment to post them here. Will attempt to do that later. Dave Hunter's site is the main GenWeb site for PEI, so has lots of info

 

Hey Granny!! Does this mean we are related?? (kidding). But a lot of Acadians went to New Orleans after they were kicked out of PEI and Nova Scotia....hence the name "Cajuns".

 

My PEI relations mostly passed away or moved to Massachusetts by 1850. Scots, and perhaps a few Irish.

Anyway, here's a list of sites (I'm using the "insert code" non-clicky method):

Code:

http://www.caimbeul.org/newsitems/pei_news_intro.html

Has transcriptions of old newspaper clippings.

Code:

http://islandarchives.ca/

Is the University digital project

Code:

https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/service/search-public-archives-material-online

Is the Provincial Archives search page (there are two collections at bottom of page).

Code:

http://peigs.ca/

Is the PEI Genealogical Society

Then, of course, FamilySearch has lots of records, which can be searc

You might also want to check New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as there was frequent travel between those 3 provinces.

 

Sorry - my connection messed up a previous edit.

FamilySearch can be searched by location, then filtered. It has original images including the 1881 Census, which I think you must already have.

 

Also the baptisms, marriages, deaths, etc. on the PARO site. Perhaps you had it but I couldn't get the THIRD (not first) link to work. I just got a Google search. Found all my folks on the PARO one, btw.....

I don't know how to do the insert code thing....oops, found it when you gave it a name, I think. We shall see.

Code:

http://www.gov.pe.ca/parosearch/

Yay, it worked...thanks Barb. I never knew how to do that.

 

Yep. Several of us went that way- some speculative and misleading trees around the place.

 

Also went there and discovered his dad was John. It's impossible to write down all the tracks we have trodden trying to sort these James Josephs!

 

Thanks GrannyBarb! Will try these.

 

I had a thought

- but not the resources to check.... Is there any chance your chap joined the military?

 

Most of us think he may have been in the Merchant Navy, serving as an Assistant Ship's Steward or Pantryman and haven't seen any references to the military. I was just looking at a heap of voyages starting in 1883 on short legs around the Pacific, eg. Cooktown to Sydney; Noumea to Sydney; Melbourne to Sydney. This was a James McDonald born 1864, his origin described as British or Auckland (conveniently not mentioning whether UK or New Zealand).

 

Meant to hit like, sorry, so I’ll do that now.

 

I have gone back to Leonora Mary Webber Reed. She was born in Truro Cornwall in 1865. 1871 with mother Lucie, (Lucie Henrietta Incledon Webber, Samuel Hellings Reed died 1870) widowed and in 1881 still with Mum in Truro. Rootsweb has her married to S MacDonald with children Roy, Ronald Douglas, Hestor, Colin, and Olive.
Now to find who S MacDonald was.
But....Trove 28 Oct 1911
McDonald- October 26 1911 at Wellington NZ, James the dearly loved husband of Leonora McDonald 19 Merton Street Rozelle aged 46 years.

 

Son Roy, actually James Roy has death in 1971 father James Joseph and mother Lorna (Leonora?) Mary, Newton

 

James McDonald married Leonora M N (W?) Reed at St Leonard’s NSW in 1891 #7284
Maybe a good idea to order the death certificate from New Zealand. The number is 1911/8180 McDonald James 45 years. Could have his parents listed

 

Have all the children of James Joseph and Leonora accounted for in Australia, duly recorded in the Victorian and NSW BDMs. One of their children married a cousin, Juanita Kable. Another person is still insisting she has Birth Certificates for James Joseph and his sibs stating they were all born in London. I haven't seen them- why would there be duplicate people born to parents with the same surnames in Australia?

 

Have you checked 'Papers Past' at all for any info which may have been reported on? Even N.Z. electoral rolls may have those of whom you speak. I picked out a few items which may have helped or hindered people along the way.
Name: James J. Mcdonald
Spouse Name: Leonora M.N. Reed
Marriage Date: 1891
Marriage Place: New South Wales
Registration Place: St Leonards, New South Wales
Registration Year: 1891
Registration Number: 7284
..............
Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 for James Joseph McDonald
Name: James Joseph McDonald
Gender: Male
Spouse: Leonora Mary Webber McDonald
Child: Douglas Cyril McDonald
also found for Ronald & Hector
..................
James J. McDonald
BIRTH 4 Jul 1864
DEATH 26 Oct 1911 (aged 47)
BURIAL
Porirua Cemetery
Porirua, Porirua City, Wellington, New Zealand Show Map
PLOT Public (Non-Conformist) Area, Row H Plot 25
MEMORIAL ID 174785756 ·
Late of Sydney
Beloved husband of Leonora McDonald
Father of Roy, Ronald, Douglas, Hector, and Colin
................................
Name: John Joseph McDonald ????? perhaps a confusion?
Baptism Date: 7 Apr 1864
Baptism Place: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Father: Donald McDonald
Mother: Martha McDonald
..................
Certainly several James Joseph McDonalds out there.