Found! And then there were four: Donald Matheson 1839-1859

Slowly, I continue to find the siblings, my 2nd great aunts and uncles, of my 2nd great grandfather, Frank Gillanders Matheson. I first found Frank's older brother, John Mathieson 1829-1908, followed by their youngest sister, Ann Mathieson Hossack (1842-1873).

As a refresher, I first listed Frank and all of this siblings in this 2016 blog post.

The latest discovery is that of the last born Matheson son, Donald, who was born in 1839. I found him in an indirect way, when I recently found the 1851 census record where he is listed with his mother and two sisters.

1851 Census, 12 Grant's Close, Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland

This census shows that in 1851, my 3rd great grandmother, Margaret McKenzie Matheson, was living in Inverness with her three youngest children:

• Elisabeth (misidentified here as Margaret), aged 14
• Donald, aged 9
• Ann, aged 7

Margaret is listed as a pauper. Her 14 year old daughter is a servant, and the only one in the household bringing in income. A visitor was staying with them, but I wonder if he was living with them, and therefore contributing to household expenses as a tile maker.

I went looking for more documentation, and came across a death registration for Donald Matheson at 11 Grant's Close. It had to be this Donald, since the address was on the same street as the 1851 census, and it was, correctly listing his parents as Donald Matheson and Margaret McKenzie.

Donald Matheson 1839-1859 death registration

You'll see here that Francis (Frank) Matheson reported his younger brother's death. I can't imagine being just 19 years old and dying from consumption. Donald had his whole life ahead of him. How sad.

What's intriguing to me is that on Donald the younger's death registration, it is stated that his father, also a Donald, was deceased, when he in fact died two weeks after his son, on 1 May. This suggests to me that Donald senior was estranged from his family. Or perhaps I'm reading too much into this. I wrote about the deaths of my 2nd great grandparents here.

I've come a long way in my research in just three years, but discoveries are still slow to come.

The never ending story continues....



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