John Oliver Macdonald(32) was the seventh of eleven children of James Macdonald(1151) and Isabella Thomson(1152). He was born at his father's house, 17 Windsor Street, Edinburgh, on 23 Jul 1881. The full date is from a printout of the official record obtained via the Scotlandspeople website (District of St. Andrew, p.253, no.757). According to his, and his siblings', birth records, James Macdonald and Isabella Thomson were married on 05 Sep 1871 at Tain, in Ross and Cromarty, but I have not found the registry record of this marriage. James Macdonald is always described as a solicitor at the Supreme Courts. Since I have their birth dates from the Scotlandspeople wsebsite, the full list of the children of James Macdonald and Isabella Thomson is:
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Margaret Macdonald | Born on 05 Jul 1872 at 5, Viewforth Place, Edinburgh |
| Jane Macdonald | Born on 07 Aug 1873 at 5, Viewforth Place, Edinburgh |
| Frederick Clark Macdonald | Born on 31 Aug 1874 at 5, Viewforth Place, Edinburgh |
| Flora Macdonald | Born on 19 Aug 1876 at 5, Viewforth Place, Edinburgh |
| James Harold Macdonald | Born on 01 Mar 1878 at 5, Viewforth Place, Edinburgh. |
| Charles (Eric) Macdonald | Born on 25 Dec 1879 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. His second name appears in census returns, but not in the births register. |
| John Oliver Macdonald | Born on 23 Jul 1881 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. |
| Marybel Macdonald | Born on 13 Jan 1883 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. In census returns her name is spelt Maribel. |
| Alexandra Janetta Macdonald | Born on 11 Nov 1884 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. |
| Ralph Dalziel Macdonald | Born on 21 Feb 1887 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. |
| Helen Muriel Macdonald | Born on 03 Jan 1884 at 17, Windsor Street, Edinburgh. |
John Macdonald appears at his father's residence at 17 Windsor Street, Edinburgh, in the 1891 Scotland census, aged 9 and attending school. Ten years later he is no longer at home and I have not found where he was. In fact the only one of the sons staying at his parents home in the 1901 Scotland census was James Harold, who is described as apprenticed to a Writer to the Signet, and so on his way to becoming a solicitor like his father. At some stage, John Macdonald started working for the Bridport rope and net maker Joseph Gundry and Co., a firm said to have been founded in 1665. He lived, at least towards the end of his time with Gundry's, at a house called Roundham. Their visitors book from their time at Roundham is amongst the family papers.
On 07 Apr 1910 he married one of my maternal grandmother's sisters, Mary Riddel (29). The date of the marriage is recorded in her mother's birthday book, but not the year. The marriage is recorded in the GRO marriage index for the June quarter of 1910 (Chorlton, 8c, 1496). They had no children. On John Macdonald's retirement, towards the end of the 1940s, he and Mary moved back to the town of his birth, Edinburgh, and lived at 127 Grange Loan. This was still his usual residence when he died on 24 Apr 1954 in the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. His entry in the deaths register (District of George Square, p.215, no.645) describes him as a net manufacturer (retired). Basically he died of old age. The informant was his brother James Harold, whose address is given as Goodtrees, Kinellan Road, Edinburgh.
© John Stowell 2006