The next line to Research - The McDonald's







Michael McDonald & Anna Haggerty photographed with 10 of 15 their children.

The next line I will spend time researching is the McDonald's. I always knew we had many McDonald ancestors but did not have enough information to be able to accurately research them. My research trip to Pittsburgh to meet Virginia Dorothy McDonald my first cousin 3x removed provided a lot of insight and details to allow my to research the family. Virginiahad first hand knowledge of some members of Generation 2 (see below)

My plan is to combine Virginia's colorful stories with historical records to build a more complete history of the McDonald family.

The McDonald Family has to date covers eight generations:

Generation 1: David McDonald and his wife Bridget, (my 4th great grandparents) the immigrant's from Ireland who settled in Clarion County arriving to the wild's of Pennsylvania in the pioneer days.
Generation 2: The children of David McDonald including my (3rd great grandfather Michael McDonald). David and Bridget had at least 10 children, known to date are James, Mary Ann, John, Michael, Andrew, Bridget, David and Peter. Of all these children to date we only have more information on Michael's descendants and Peter's descendants. 
Generation 3: This generation would include the chidren of Michael McDonald and Anna Haggery - Robert McDonald (my 2nd great grandfather) and Ambrose Aloysius McDonald (Virginia's father).
Generation 4: Includes Loraine McDonald (my great grandfather) and Virginia McDonald (the daughter of Ambrose Aloysius McDonald  and Gertrude Anna O'Neill)
Generation 5: Includes Mary Eugina McDonald - my grandfather
Generation 6: Is my father
Generation 7: is me
Generation 8: the children of my cousins

My plans are to:

 -Source all the current information in my data base. This is a tedious, but important task to validate information.

- Incorporate the information received from Virginia into my research
- Research the McDonald family in the census, social security index and military records
- Attempt to validate if the stories that David McDonald's sons served in the civil war
- obtain a copy of David McDonald's will
- Determine if the arrival of David and Bridget can be located which would allow further research back in to the family in Ireland

As I come up with major developments, my plan is to share those in my blog with more regular updates.