MacDonald family tree

[mandern_orang76]

My name is Alicia MacDonald. My sister & I are trying to put together our family tree. Our father was Stephen Bruce MacDonald & his father was Eugene William MacDonald. Any info would be helful & appreciated!

[Polwarth]

Hello.
A little more info would be helpful - such as .... where your family lives - I suspect with the name 'Eugene', this may be the USA or Canada? Eugene is not a very Scottish name, although I know of a couple of Irish Eugenes!

If you ARE in the States or Canada (or Aus or NZ) - then you need to trace back from your generation - all the way back to the first immigrant to your country. Then you may be able to trace via your country's immigration records, or through ships' passenger lists, when that person(s) arrived and from which UK/Irish port. Many people with Scots surnames actually left from Ireland, where they may have lived for 2 or more generations, so that is why I say, UK.

When you have made that connection, this may lead you to know from where in Scotland your family (not the MacDonald name, but your specific family member) originated and you may be able to get further info re the old parish records.

It's a long and sometimes tedious and frustrating task for foreigners to trace back their families, but I wish you good luck with your research!

Forgot to add: Births/deaths/marriages in Scotland are all recorded (where available) at GRO, Edinburgh. When you finally get a handle on a Scottish-born ancestor, you may be able to access further details via the GRO's info. This service is not free, but if you marshall your questions, you should be able to ask a number of questions at the same time, making it more economical! Here's a link General Register Office for Scotland - Family Records

[mandern_orang76]

Thnx! My family does live in the US. My grandfather, Eugene, was born in June of 1910, was in the military, army I believe. He did marry, but I don't know what year. My father was born in 1946 in Seattle, WA. Do you think the military might have info on my grandfather?

[oneofthefew]

They should be able to help - especially if you know what unit he was in or where he was based!

[Polwarth]

I'm afraid you're asking Scots about the US systems of the military and your births/deaths/marriages systems... I know nothing about them, sorry.

[oneofthefew]

We might not know anything about the US system Pol, but it will work the same as ours - the more info you have, the more likely you are to find what you're looking for!

[CatherineB]

Are your other relatives alive? It would be a good idea to grill them for information and get it all written down.