John MACDONALD (1809-1888) John Macdonald and his twin brother Murdoch, the youngest of eight children of John Macdonald and Marion Campbell, were born in Tiree in 1809. They were christened together on 31st May of that year. I have found no further mention of Murdoch , so he may have died in infancy or childhood John was a blacksmith by trade. At the time of the 1841 census he was unmarried and working as a blacksmith at Balinoe with his brother Donald. On 11th January 1843, when he was aged 33, he married Flora MacPhail, the 24-year-old daughter of Donald MacPhail and Catherine MacLean of Balinoe. John and Flora had two children: Catherine, born 7/3/1844, bap. 31/3/1844 (m. Edward Dash, 1866) Mary, born 5/1/1846, bap. 25/1/1846 Tiree, already overpopulated and with many people surviving at little more than subsistence level, was devastated by the potato famine which began in 1846 and lasted for almost 10 years. Flora MacPhail and her infant daughter Mary died in the early years of the famine. On 29th November 1848, John Macdonald, then aged 39, married Flora Campbell, the 19-year-old daughter of Hector Campbell and Ann MacEachern of Balinoe. There were nine children from this marriage, the earlier ones born in Tiree and the later ones in Australia: Hugh, bap. 5/3/1850, Tiree (m. Mary Grace Cross, 1881) Ann, died in infancy Hector born c.1852, Tiree; died 1867, Ararat, Victoria Sarah, died in infancy John, born c.1857, Victoria George William Campbell, born 1859, Ararat, Victoria Archibald, born 1861, Ararat, Victoria Annabelle, born 1863, Ararat, Victoria Flora, born 1865, Ararat, Victora; died 1871, Ararat, Victoria On 3rd November 1853 the family sailed from Liverpool for Australia as assisted immigrants on the ship "Utopia". They received a cash advance from the Highland and Island Emigration Society, as did many impoverished Scots families, to pay the deposit and other costs involved in applying for their assisted passages to Australia. "Utopia" arrived at Portland, Victoria, on 25th January 1854. As was the usual practice, local townspeople, or businessmen and farmers from Portland or further afield in Western Victoria, came to meet the ship looking for suitable domestic servants or employees to replace those who had left for the gold diggings. Some of the new arrivals signed on for employment immediately, but others, like John Macdonald, chose to seek out chances on their own. He went to the Ararat goldfield to try his luck as a miner. It seems he did not make his fortune because later Australia records suggest he resumed his trade as a blacksmith. John Macdonalds wife, Flora Campbell, died at Ararat on 18th July 1865 following the birth of a daughter, named Flora after her mother. John continued living in Victoria for the next 23 years, but little is known of this period in his life. In about March 1888, then aged 78 and in ill health, John Macdonald moved to Sydney to live with his daughter Catherine, her husband Edward Dash and their family. He died at his daughters home in Sydney on 16th August 1888. _________________ Keith Dash Sydney, Australia