In a message dated 1/4/02 5:02:51 AM Eastern Standard Time, SCT-EDINBURGH-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > This is my first posting and I am a complete newbie regarding Scottish > genealogy. I learned recently that my great grandmother was born in > Scotland. My information is very limited but hope springs eternal. > > Her name was: Elizabeth Crighton McDonald, dob abt. 1858. > Her father's name was: Malcolm McDonald > > My first question will show my complete ignorance. Were Mc and Mac used > interchangeably or were records fairly strict to keep them separate? Although there are a number of theories about different meanings for "Mc" versus "Mac", in my experience (I have LOTS of Mcs/Macs in my family tree) they are interchangeable until fairly recent times. Keep in mind that clerks who were recording information didn't ask how to spell the name - but used the convention with which they were familiar. > I ask because I found an Elizabeth MACDonald, daughter of a Malcolm. In the > 1881 census there's a Malcolm MACDonald of the appropriate age married to a > Jane Mitchell. One of their daughters was Isabella. My great grandmother > named > her first daughter Elizabeth Isabella. > This is certainly possible. The best way to be sure is to obtain the death record for your G-grandmother to see if her parents names are listed. From you email address, I assume that you live in the US, and conclude that your Ggrandmother would have emigrated to the US sometime after 1881 - if this is so, you could also look for immigration records which could give you a port of departure and possibly some additional information about the Scottish family. (It wasn't clear if you knew that she was born in Edinburgh or if you wrote to the Edinburgh list because of the census listing which you found.) Also, the fact that her "middle" name is Crighton suggests that it may have been a family surname. It was not unusual to use a mother's maiden name or a grandmother maiden name as a middle name to signify who she had been named after. BTW, there is also a birth record in the IGI for this same Elizabeth (see below). The complete entry will provide additional information - such as marriage date for the parents, father's occupation etc. Elizabeth MACDONALD Sex: F Event(s): Birth: 2 Oct 1858 Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland Parents: Father: Malcolm MACDONALD Mother: Jane MITCHELL Source Information: Batch number: Dates Source Call No. Type C116851 1855-1862 <A HREF="http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=filmhitlist&columns=*%2C180%2C0&filmno=6035516">6035516</A> REGISTER Film ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ good luck, Sheila