Milton’s father was Joseph MacDonald. Joseph’s paternal grandmother’s birth name was Mary McMullen. Mary Mc Mullen (aka MacMullen) MacDonald was married to Robert MacDonald, Sr. Mary, was born in 1830 in North Ireland and died in 1897.
They had eight children, four sons and four daughters. Their children are Robert, Jr. born in 1853, Sarah in 1855, Elizabeth in 1856, Joseph in 1858, Katherine in 1860, James in 1865, Rebecca in 1867 and William in 1869. Milton descends from their first child, Robert, Jr. who was born in 1853.
Oral tradition carried by the grandson of William, Robert and Mary’s last son, gives us the following sad but updated information. “Then there was a younger daughter, Mary, who died as a toddler when she pulled on the handle of a boiling pot on the stove and was scalded to death. My grandfather (William) was a boy and was devastated by her death.”
According to Ancestry.com Mary (née McMullen) and Robert, Sr. were married in Pictou, Nova Scotia in 1852. Their first child, Robert,Jr. was born in Massachusetts in 1853 and their following seven children were born in Rhode Island. Therefore, they were the MacDonald couple who immigrated to the United States. Their first eight children were healthy and lived to adulthood!
According to the 1870 United States Federal Census, Mary could not read or write. More research needed to find out our McMullen ancestry, including when Mary came to Canada from North Ireland and the circumstances of why she was never able to get even an elementary education. (Interesting! Her great-grandson Joseph was known as the brightest young man in the county.)
- One final note or request concerning this Ancestry page. MacDonalds, Kenyons, Nichols, Waltons, Knights, Leaches, Farringtons, Mc Mullens, and Conlons, if you have any additional information and/or corrections on Milton Earl MacDonald’s McMullen ancestry, please add a comment to this web site and the web site author/editor will add this to the site. Thanks!